A scientific panel released a 1,572-page report yesterday and it is alarming, although not surprising.
In its most detailed portrait of the effects of climate change driven by human activities, the panel predicted widening droughts in southern Europe and the Middle East, sub-Saharan Africa, the American Southwest and Mexico, and flooding that could imperil low-lying islands and the crowded river deltas of southern Asia. It stressed that many of the regions facing the greatest risks were among the world’s poorest.
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“It’s the poorest of the poor in the world, and this includes poor people even in prosperous societies, who are going to be the worst hit,” said Rajendra K. Pachauri, the chairman of the panel. “People who are poor are least-equipped to be able to adapt to the impacts of climate change, and therefore in some sense this does become a global responsibility in my view.”
What's really inexcusable and pathetic is that we've known about this for years. Too few people are taking it seriously and I have my doubts whether the steps to reverse the trend, or even slow it down, will be implemented in a timely manner. We'll all pay dearly for our thoughtless excesses. The ones who will pay the most are the ones least responsible. Isn't that just typical?
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