The unfolding of the climate collapse is not an inevitable impact of geophysical and meteorological processes-although it certainly brings unprecedented geophysical impacts.
On the contrary, climate collapse is precisely harmful because it magnifies existing health, economics, gender, age, and other marginalized relationships.
As an example, we can consider the plight of the Caribbean. Although the region has one of the lowest emissions in the world, it is particularly prone to extreme weather events due to climate change — and it has not received support to build climate-resilient infrastructure for its people.
This Series of articles Published in collaboration with Dalia Gebrial and Harpreet Kaur Paul and Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung in London.It first appeared in a Global Green New Deal Outlook.
disaster
In 2017, the unprecedented Hurricane Irma hit the British Virgin Islands (BVI) with devastating force.
However, compare the ability of the average Virgin Islands residents to cope with a hurricane and the ability of the island’s most famous resident, Sir Richard Branson.
When thousands of people were forced to seek safety on neighboring islands, Branson was not sure whether their house would survive the storm and return. Branson squatted in his concrete bunker and drank. liquor.
At the same time, thousands of buildings were destroyed, costing billions of dollars, and at least four people were killed in the direct impact—more people died in the next few months.
Inequality in people’s ability to protect against climate-related disasters is not inevitable: it is a symptom that the housing system cannot meet the actual needs of most people.
weather
There are no so-called “natural” disasters. On the contrary, disasters are generated in society due to uneven access to resources, and are exacerbated by not paying attention to the harm of specific social-ecological relationships.
Instead, imagine if Branson’s hoarded wealth was better used to better protect all the residents of the British Virgin Islands in the form of a redistribution and compensation process?
If distributed reasonably, humanely and fairly, Branson’s wealth will easily cover the cost of renovating the entire building stock of the British Virgin Islands, and possibly much of the wider Caribbean.
These buildings can be used to withstand the various weather events that we see almost every year.
Interrupt
In addition, if we turn our attention to other billionaires, such as Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, we can ensure that the world’s population has access to basic material and social needs, despite the disruption of the supply chain due to climate collapse.
