Climate Change Costs: 25 Million More Starving Children by 2050
October 2, 2009 · Print This Article
Conservatives love to whine about perceived costs of climate legislation, but they’re clearly more worried about their own bottom lines than about the true costs of catastrophic climate change. A new report issued by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) states that the world will have 25 million more starving children by the year 2050 as climate change causes food shortages and soaring food costs.
From The Guardian:
The grim scenario is the first to gauge the effects of climate change on the world’s food supply by combining climate and agricultural models.
“The food price crisis of last year really was a wake-up call to a lot of people that we are going to have 50% more people on the surface of the Earth by 2050,” said Gerald Nelson, the lead author of the report. “Meeting those demands for food coming out of population growth is going to be a huge challenge – even without climate change.”
After several years in which development aid has been diverted away from rural areas, the report called for $7bn a year for crop research, and investment in irrigation and rural infrastructure to help farmers adjust to a warming climate. “Continuing the business-as-usual approach will almost certainly guarantee disastrous consequences,” said Nelson.
The G20 industrialised nations last week began discussing how to invest some $20bn pledged for food security earlier this year.
Some regions of the world outlined in the report are already showing signs of vulnerability because of changing rainfall patterns and drought linked to climate change.
And this is the great irony about religious conservatives in particular: they’re so worked up over abortion, yet they don’t seem to give a rat’s ass about the people who already live on our planet. Twenty five million starving children in addition to the millions that already exist – now that’s something to be angry about.
Link [The Guardian]
Photo credit: MiaFarrow.org
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I seem to have lost the point here. 18 months ago, the Roman Catholic church announced what it considered the 7 deadly sins of modern times, which included one relating to “ruining the environment” – later clarified as pollution and contributing to climate change. I can’t see where in that the church comes off as ‘not caring about climate change’, and why they should do so more than any other group of people. Furthermore, I’m slightly horrified that when there’s not enough fresh water to go around as it is, and a sizable portion of land is now too saline – as a result of irrigation – to grow crops, money is being put aside for more irrigation rather than tackling trade barriers and using the mountains of grain that never reach starving people to begin with.
Starvation: Climate change is not the only problem. Last summer’s headlines about a tripling in the price of rice and starvation had to do with resource depletion.
We need a Strategy for Both Global Warming (carbon emissions) and the Depletion of Resources (a shift to renewable energy and conservation). Cap-and-trade is not enough. The approach at the link above would do both.
More details at:
Global Warming, Cap-and-Trade Alternatives, Renewable Energy, Resource Conservation, Carbon Taxes, Etc.