Hello out there in Sadhana Cyberspace !

Today, I wanted to discuss a bit about the idea of climate debt and its role in the international greenhouse gas reduction talks.

Climate debt is the notion that the economically wealthy nations of the ‘Global North’ have a historic responsibility- owe an enormous debt- to provide ecological and economical reparations to the  nations of the ‘Global South’ as compensation for dumping hundreds of billions of tons (note: not an exact figure!) of planet warming greenhouse gases into the atmosphere since the Industrial Revolution.

In essence, the overwhelming majority of the greenhouse gases that reside in Mother Earth’s atmosphere, despite the recent industrialization of nations such as Brazil, China, and India, come from nations such as America, Canada, Germany, the UK, and other European nations. The unsustainable, carbon- intensive lifestyles that have been led over the past century and a half by the Global North nations have created vast environmental problems (drought, rising sea levels,dwindling agricultural production,etc.) for the Global South countries that have done comparatively very little.

Within the framework of international negotiations on a new climate change agreement- hopefully to be finalized/near finalized in Copenhagen in December- nations in the Global South have called on the Global North to provide large-scale preventive and adaptive funding for climate change’s inevitable effects. As well a call to help ecologically restore devastated and resource -depleted lands, often caused by Global North industries, is crucial to these nations’ healing.

Photo: http://www.grist.org/article/reparations-for-climate-chaos/

Here is a statement from several NGO’s, non-profits, and other groups demanding justice on climate debt, produced in conjunction with the recent U.N. climate change talks in Bangkok, Thailand.

How lovely it would be if the world’s richest countries truly followed science’s advice and drastically reduced greenhouse gas emissions over the next 50 years, as well as provided just and appropriate levels of funding to those least responsible, yet most affected, by climate change !

-Josh

Tags: climate change, Climate Debt