Share this
Mister Wong
Digg
Del.icio.us
Slashdot
Furl
Yahoo
Technorati
Newsvine
Googlize this
Blinklist
Facebook
Wikio
Hear this text
Export PDF
Print
E-mail
The terrible events in Haiti his week serve as a terrible reminder of the reality of life for many people on this planet.
There are some reports that the earthquake may end up causing many more than 100,000 deaths. That’s two-thirds the number of deaths that the World Health Organisation (WHO) attributes to climate change killed in one natural event. Millions have been made homeless.
But what has an Earthquake in Haiti got to do with climate change?
The two main factors that determine the human effect of any disaster is the magnitude of the phenomenon, and the preparedness of the people living in the region. We cannot do anything about the first. But what about the second?
Haiti is one of the poorest countries in the world – it is the poorest in the Western hemisphere. More than half its population of 9 million live in severe poverty.
In richer countries such as Japan and the USA, buildings have to be constructed to withstand earthquakes. Emergency services exist, and are on standby to deal with the unforeseen problems.
That is why far, far fewer people die in industrialised countries than die from earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, and so on in the poorer part of the world.
As I discussed last month, the world’s leaders gathered in Copenhagen to fail to address what they believe is the “biggest threat facing mankind”.
Let us imagine that they had succeeded, instead of having merely produced an embarrassing failure. What would that agreement do to make the world better for the future inhabitants of cities such as Port-au-Prince?
Nothing.
The biggest problem facing mankind is that too many people do not have enough money to deal with normal life, let alone to prepare for disasters.
The deal sought at Cophenhagen – which many world leaders, activists and NGOs still want– will cost us dear, yet it will do nothing to help the poorest people in the world. It will restrict our economy, and reduce – maybe even reverse – economic growth throughout the world. The pledges of $billions in aid made by wealthier countries at Copenhagen are but a drop in the desert. For every billion that is pledged, the poorest billion people get just a dollar each. And they weren’t even pledges for aid anyway, but mere bribes intended to get officials from poorer countries behind EU policy.
By failing to understand that it is wealth that massively reduces the effect of natural disasters, those who are putting climate change at the top of the global political agenda are in fact becoming the “biggest threat to mankind”. They would rather have us spend money on changing the weather than build economies.
This will make the events such as those in Haiti this week happen more frequently, throughout the world.
After recently hearing about yourself, Mr. Farage and your party on the Alex Jones show, I finally have some faith in UK politics.
The main parties promise the same old nothing. Labour, Conservative.... the diffrence in reality is negligable.
UKIP seems to actually be based on truth.
Please keep speeking out AGAINST this proven lie of Man made global warming.
Many people I know will vote for your party. I shall certianly spread the message about yourself and UKIP.
The British people need to stand up against the tyrants in both the UK and EU parliments. We want REAL change. We want our country back.
Thanks,
Kurt.