Everybody's talking about the BP oil disaster, which in my mind is frightening. But did you know that if this spill had occurred in Nigeria it would have been considered routine and probably wouldn't be known worldwide, as the Gulf spill is known. See for instance this article. But then the suffering is endured by those that have been called "the unpeople." Poor blacks in Africa. It's not noticed.
The year 2009 capped the hottest decade on record. 2010 will be the hottest year ever recorded if trends continue. That's tough on the unpeople of Pakistan who are enduring temperatures of 129F these days. The expectation is that the melting of glacial sheets in Russia and other locations will cause the release of vast quantities of methane, which is a greenhouse gas far more potent than carbon dioxide. Most scientists believe that man made CO2 emissions are contributing to the melting of these glaciers. As methane is released this will accelerate global warming, melting more glaciers, releasing more methane, etc, to where a cycle of heating is induced that will be difficult if not impossible to stop.
The brunt of the pain initially will probably be bore by the unpeople of the world. Poor farmers in India that rely on the cycle of glacial melting that irrigates their crops. These things tend to go unnoticed as the suffering of Nigerians today is unknown. When the pain reaches the West people will start to notice. By then it might be too late.
1 comment:
While I don't want to take away from your deep caring reflection of the " unpeople of the world", I do want to point out that rising temperatures actually saves lives.
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