Climate Change and Conflict
This week was a slow week for me so I thought to make a break I would post some pictures that relate to what I have been doing. If a picture is worth a thousand words, then the below would be an epic novel to rival War and Peace lol. Everything looks good. These are Chaing Mai in Thailand and Taal Volcano crater in the Philippines. Very idyllic. Taal is a tourist destination with a nice breeze and warm light. Very nice. But below is what is also happening in the Philippines. Conflict in Mindanao, crop failure and increased flooding and it is only getting worst. I had a taxi drive my last week in the Philippines that asked me what I was doing there, so I told him I was researching climate change and was interviewing people about what was happening in the Philippines. He was very interested because he said he helped his 9 year old son study in the evening and in order to help his son he was also reading the books which it turned out were science books. They were covering topics of climate change, geography and earth science I believe. He was very proud of what he had learned.
So, being the diligent researcher I am, I asked him his opinion regarding the top environmental issues facing the Philippines and what could be done. He just looked at me for a minute and said... "oh, well that is not my problem. I will be dead, so it will not affect me. Let someone else worry about it." A parent so proud of his 9 year old and his studies yet unable to see that though he may be dead, his child will inherit this problem. It is real but how to make people see... or more importantly... make them care. I felt defeated in that moment. This father, whether he knows it or not, probably just condemned his child to a hard life or a short one.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorI'm Dan. Climate Change and Conflict. Archives
April 2015
Categories |
Proudly powered by Weebly