I'm not an environmental scientist. I don't pretend to understand all the intricacies of climate change but I'm not blind either, and like you I have noticed that there appears to be a number of 'extreme weather' events that could be a result of changing weather patterns; which could be a result of a 'rich humanity's' exploitation of the environment; and which seem to impact most, the poorest and most vulnerable.
Climate change and its impact on the world is not just a scientific debate, it’s primarily a social justice issue. But until now all the rhetoric and argument has been presented as a problem of collective guilt. ‘We’ must repent and mend our ways.
This assigns blame in a way that mocks democracy and pretends that the poor and the rich are somehow equally responsible for the political gamesmanship that drives the agenda of governments and multinationals. Meanwhile the real crime – the very existence of rich and poor – continues to create havoc.
There are rich and powerful interests who will be quite content if social justice stays out of the climate change debate and no doubt will fight (as Copenhagen suggested) to keep it off the agenda. There are also climate change activists who seem to care little about the rights of their fellow humans, let alone their happiness.
But we had better start taking an interest because until the grievous infringements of dignity that most of humanity endure are addressed there will be no answers to climate change and its increasing influence on our world.
