22.01.2020
As Australia Burns, Its Leaders are Clinging to Coal.
Australia is the world’s largest coal exporter, but its government is downplaying its contributions to climate change. The devastating bushfires across Australia have cemented the fact that the country is on the front lines of a major climate-linked disaster, one that scientists saw coming and one that will only get worse from here. Prime Minister Scott Morrison also said that the country doesn’t need to do more to limit its greenhouse gas emissions. Morrison’s tepid language, however, shows an unwillingness to grapple with Australia’s dependence on fossil fuels and its status as a dominant player in global coal and natural gas markets. But as heat continues to mount, as fires spread, and as more destruction ensues, the need for Australia to limit its emissions will only grow more urgent. For Australian public officials, this portends a conflict between protecting the country’s powerful mining sector and protecting the environment. Credit: THE YEARS PROJECT
Poverty deprives people of adequate education, health care and of life's most basic necessities- safe living conditions (including clean air and clean drinking water) and an adequate food supply. The developed (industrialized) countries today account for roughly 20 percent of the world's population but control about 80 percent of the world's wealth.
Poverty and pollution seem to operate in a vicious cycle that, so far, has been hard to break. Even in the developed nations, the gap between the rich and the poor is evident in their respective social and environmental conditions.
Poverty and pollution seem to operate in a vicious cycle that, so far, has been hard to break. Even in the developed nations, the gap between the rich and the poor is evident in their respective social and environmental conditions.
