Green | December 11, 2008 | 7 comments

Wetter and wilder: the signs of warming everywhere

Image
JanforGore
And what will come from Poznan? Nothing significant to address climate change as it must be addressed now.... so we will sit for another year waiting for Copenhagen for a bunch of rich people to get on jet planes to pollute the air again to sit at a meeting saying the same thing as this year as people worldwide continue to suffer the effects of climate change as the Arctic ice continues to get smaller. If there truly is a God, it boggles my mind why it would deign humans as the species responsible for the stewardship of this planet. We are FAILURES at it.

From the article:

In the third part of our series on the eve of the Poznan conference, we look at how climate change is already changing ordinary people-s lives from Australia to Brazil.

Joao da Antonio-s eyes are full of tears. If good rains do not come, he says, he will pack his bag, kiss his wife and two children goodbye and join the annual exodus of young men leaving hot, dry rural north-eastBrazil for the biofuel fields in the south.

Da Antonio, 19, can earn about £30 a month for 10 hours gruelling work a day cutting sugar cane to make ethanol, and more than a million small farmers like him migrate south for six months of the year because the land can no longer support them. Tens of thousands a year never return, forced to move permanently to Sao Paulo or another of Brazil-s cities in search of work.

Life here is one of suffering, Da Antonio said. I will do anything to earn some money. None of us want to die, but the lack of water here will kill us.

Around the world, millions of people like Da Antonio are feeling the force of a changing climate. As UN negotiations towards a global climate deal continue in Poznan, Poland, this week, evidence is emerging of weather patterns in turmoil and the poorest nations disproportionately bearing the brunt of warming.

While rich countries at the talks seek to set up global carbon trading, using financial markets to tackle - and profit from - climate change, poor countries want justice. They are seeking environmental justice: money to adapt their economies to climate changes they did not cause, and technology and resources to allow them to escape poverty while preserving their forests and ecosystems.

Article Continues:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/dec/10/poznan-brazil-climate-change-e...
  1. groups:
    News and Politics,   Green,   Earth and Science
  2. tags:
    News and Politics Green Earth and Science Environment 6 more
  3. recommended by:
    Vierotchka
  4.     
    |

7 comments // Wetter and wilder: the signs of warming everywhere

  • Mike_Johnston
    • 0
      Mike_Johnston  
    • It is interesting to watch the climate change predictions play out. Of course there are natural cycles and unusual events or periods within these cycles. That is what makes it hard to prove to people that a spate of unusual weather is due to climate change. Unusual amounts of precipitation can just as easily be attributed to climate change because a warmer atmosphere will hold more water.

      My thought has always been "better safe than sorry". Why not switch to cleaner ways of living and producing energy now, so if all this is due to human activity, at least we can say we tried.

    • 3 years ago
  • JanforGore
  • aknitter
  • jahbini
    • 0
      jahbini  
    • Naturally.

      If God wanted us to have water to areas that need it, He would have put a river there.

      Is this your meaning rxqueen420? Should we consider flying and medicine as sins against God?

    • 3 years ago
  • rxqueen420
    • 0
      rxqueen420  
    • jahbini:

      I'm sorry, it was very difficult to find the point you were attempting to make in your comment.

      Perhaps you misunderstood my comment.
      I didn't mean anything more than just "it occurs naturally". No where did I state anything about a "sin to god." I wasn't bringing me into the equation.

      but I see I must have upset you. Sorry about that. I hope in the future if our comments cross again, it will be direct and easier for the both of us to understand. I will make a note to try to be more direct with my wording, making it less likely it will be misunderstood. good luck and continue researching.

    • 3 years ago
  • rxqueen420
  • Mike_Johnston
    • 0
      Mike_Johnston  
    • There is a huge amount of methane hydrate locked in the frozen tundra of the arctic. Problem is that the permafrost is melting and this will release the methane. Methane is a much worse greenhouse gas than CO2. This year methane levels in the atmosphere shot up as the permafrost melted. This is the most under reported facet of climate change and is happening NOW

    • 3 years ago
more from Green:

top videos