With earthquakes devastating Indonesia and forest fires raging in the United States, there has been plenty of discussion of so-called "natural disasters" in recent weeks. Disasters aren't actually all that natural. The reality is that social structures harm and disadvantaged individuals, putting them at risk of harm when exposed to hazard. Poverty and inequality are much more entrenched causes of disaster than any hazard. We obscure the reality of everyday risk experienced by the most marginalised people in our world.
An earthquake in Antarctica. Is this a disaster? Of course not. Now picture the same earthquake in a poor urban district of a developing country. The human toll taken by such an earthquake might would indeed be a disaster. Disasters are therefore socially and politically constructed. Vulnerability – poverty, homelessness, lack of infrastructure – is a much larger factor in an individual's risk than any natural hazard. They are the people that will suffer most from the impacts of climate change. But most of them are already suffering and will continue to, leaving the root causes of injustice to fester – inequality, discrimination, marginalisation and an economic system built on exploitation.
We desperately need to pursue a climate change narrative that deals with these root causes and advocates for more than a technocratic fix. The narrative of climate change must be widened to encompass intractable issues of social, environmental and economic justice. Otherwise, we may argue for (and get) clean energy and yet still leave the world much worse for many members of future generations.
Big polluters are "going green" so as to continue making profits. This is not just about fossil fuels, or even just about climate change. More broadly, we must address the ideology of limitless growth and consumption. Otherwise, predatory corporations may indeed agree to the climate change actions that we demand – but most likely they will have simply found a new way to exploit us.
https://phys.org/news/2018-08-natural-disasters-people-margins-hidden.html
An earthquake in Antarctica. Is this a disaster? Of course not. Now picture the same earthquake in a poor urban district of a developing country. The human toll taken by such an earthquake might would indeed be a disaster. Disasters are therefore socially and politically constructed. Vulnerability – poverty, homelessness, lack of infrastructure – is a much larger factor in an individual's risk than any natural hazard. They are the people that will suffer most from the impacts of climate change. But most of them are already suffering and will continue to, leaving the root causes of injustice to fester – inequality, discrimination, marginalisation and an economic system built on exploitation.
We desperately need to pursue a climate change narrative that deals with these root causes and advocates for more than a technocratic fix. The narrative of climate change must be widened to encompass intractable issues of social, environmental and economic justice. Otherwise, we may argue for (and get) clean energy and yet still leave the world much worse for many members of future generations.
Big polluters are "going green" so as to continue making profits. This is not just about fossil fuels, or even just about climate change. More broadly, we must address the ideology of limitless growth and consumption. Otherwise, predatory corporations may indeed agree to the climate change actions that we demand – but most likely they will have simply found a new way to exploit us.
https://phys.org/news/2018-08-natural-disasters-people-margins-hidden.html
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