Posted by alexandra_k on February 4, 2006, at 17:20:20
In reply to Re: please rephrase that » alexandra_k, posted by Dr. Bob on February 4, 2006, at 15:10:07
yep. sorry about that...
er...
the us has been a major contributor to pollution / global warming etc. the effects of that are not limited to the present (and future) citizens of the us either; they are felt worse on other points on the globe:
the us is a major contributer (see for eg)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pollutionand on the global nature of the effects:
Sinking islands and deltas
A 1-metre rise in sea level could make 200 million people homeless.
At particular risk are islands. Many of the people of Polynesia face a real threat of rising oceans because they are island nations with many low-lying coasts already ravaged by tropical cyclones. Global warming is likely to both raise the oceans and increase the severity of storms. "Almost all the 1,196 islands of the Maldives are less than 3 meters high, and most people there live less than 2 meters above the waves. Six other coral atoll countries - the Cocos Islands, Tuvalu, Tokelau, Kiribati, the Marshall Islands and the Line Islands - face a similar crisis. In all, 300 Pacific atolls are expected to disappear, but will become uninhabitable long before as storms wash over them more frequently and freshwater supplies become salt: (Lean 93).
[and these islands are in the southern hemisphere]
Many more people are at risk from the flooding of deltas and other low-lying coastal areas. Some areas are already subsiding, making them doubly vulnerable to the rising sea. "Four fifths of Bangladesh is made up of the delta of the Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna rivers: half is less than 4.5 meters above sea level. The land is already sinking, partly because some 120,000 wells have been drilled to extract drinking water. Studies suggest that up to 18 per cent of Bangladesh could be under water by the year 2050: by 2100 this could rise to 34 per cent and affect 35 per cent of the population.
more people outside the us suffer...
poster:alexandra_k
thread:605246
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/poli/20060204/msgs/606360.html