What is climate change displacement? A hard look at forced migration
The phrase “go where the money is” will take on a whole new meaning. For some, it already has. Climate change displacement is no joke, and it’s coming for us all.
Climate change is real
Our planet has been steadily dying since the birth of the combustion engine. Irregularities in weather patterns are brought on by a decreasing ozone layer.
This spells doom for the crops.
The drastic change to Earth’s surface temperature in the past century is entirely from human activity. A rapidly industrialized world means a stark increase in population. The more people there are, the more mouths there are to feed.
Poor countries suffer climate change displacement first
This means dangerous living conditions. Poorer countries are disproportionately affected. Unbearable heat and lack of rain make agriculture impossible in these regions.
Depleting resources is the first sign of a species in decline. Because the crops (read food) can’t grow, they must find some more. This creates competition for resources in the neighboring areas, who may themselves be struggling.
Countries near the Equator are hit the hardest at the moment. Being closest to the sun doesn’t help with rising global temperatures.
This temperature change means Guatemala is expected to lose rainfall by 60 percent. Hotter areas are likely to turn to desert.
Countries like Guatemala, El Salvador, and Panama have been losing livable land in recent times. Hurricane El Niño devastated Central America, flooding farmland and killing crops.
Because of this, people in countries affected need somewhere else to go. With vast land in the United States, it only makes sense people would look to better their lives here.
The U.S. will not be spared
The United States may be one of the last to feel the worst of global warming’s effects, but it will be biblical. Let’s not forget, a large reason for the state of the planet is to feed American interests.
Outsourced labor in China and India are the reasons for their pollution contribution. In 2017, Science Advances predicted by 2100 that temperatures could rise there so high that going outside for a few hours would kill “the fittest of humans.”
That is- if we continue on our current trajectory. Americans are by far the biggest consumers. Because of how much we pollute, many millennials are second-guessing having children.
Past generations stressed the values of having children, owning a car, a big house, and buy, buy, buy. They, also, were not incredibly in tune with what these habits meant. And thus the state of our world.
Because of the lifestyles stressed by Western civilization, we look the other way at the harm they do. We all love a pair of Jordans but ignore the sweatshops that make them.
The American compartmentalization of cruelty for comfort may come to an end if it endangers our world.
Make the change now
Sustainable energy is needed sooner rather than later. Many countries have taken to it, but it’s necessary from such big consumers and producers. When the world goes to shit, America’s gonna look like that friend who ignored your advice.
That’s why this must be nipped in the bud. Part of it will need to be a shift in culture. Not often are Americans made aware of how much they consume. It would kill the machine of industry. No one wants to be made to feel bad for buying something legally available.
If more awareness was given to how it begins, people may be more thoughtful about their purchases. I say all the time, your dollar goes further than you may think.
Simply by existing, we’re all part of the problem anyway, so who cares, right?— That’s the attitude that got us in this mess.
Since we are here, let’s try to do our part.