|
Deep Peace I heard a lovely Gaelic blessing at yoga tonight:
African Americans and Climate Change: An Unequal Burden Releasing a report by the US Congressional Black Caucus Foundation titled African Americans and Climate Change: An Unequal Burden in July 2004, Rep. William Jefferson (D-LA) Chair of the CBCF said: We are long past the point where global warming is considered a myth. We are seeing its effects all around us, especially in my hometown of New Orleans, Louisiana which is expected to experience an increased incidence of flooding that could potentially destabilize its economy and endangers its populace. Pointing to the report in an article in our paper today, Dr Clive Hamilton, the executive director of the Australia Institiute, says: It identified African Americans as the 'canaries in the mine shaft', on the front line of the social, environmental and economic upheaval from the effects of global warming. In the analysis stunningly borne out by the events in New Orleans, the report said that there was no doubt that African Americans would carry a disporportionate share of the public health bruden caused by climate change. Black America, especially in the southern states, would bear the brunt of deaths from heat waves and extreme weather events, the spread of infectious diseases and those due to urban air pollution. The reason was simple: they were much more likely than whites to be poor, uninsured and unable to protect themselves. For those who understand the dangers of climate change, and the utter irresponsibility of the US and Australian governmens' refusal to act, it is difficult not to feel some Schadenfreude at Katrina's effects, a grim pleasure directed not, of course, at the helpless victims of the hurricane but at President Bush who chooses to listen to fossil fuel lobbyists instead of eminent scientists." I can't pick up Hamilton's article online at the moment, but I'll post a link if I find one in the next few days. |
Hil's opml blog
|
