11.13.2013

No Low Too Low

Two videos here.

1. Fox host Stuart Varney smirks at the retraction of Australia's [newly wingnut] government of a previous pledge of climate change aid to developing nations. Video of Typhoon Haiyan devastation in Phillippines rolls in background.

2. A plea through tears, by Naderev "Yeb" Sano, a Phillippines' representative to U.N. climate summit. Who is on a hunger strike for "concrete pledges" to the Green Climate Fund; knowing the death toll, that the fate of relatives is unknown, and that his own brother has survived but is is trapped without food.

Shauna Theel notes—
The U.N. fund is intended to address a critical moral hazard of climate change: those who have contributed the least to climate change will suffer the most. The Philippines, for instance, is the third most vulnerable country in the world to climate change -- "particularly exposed" to "cyclones, flooding and sea level rise" -- yet it has much fewer carbon emissions than either Australia or the U.S. ...

The climate fund would help the Philippines lessen its vulnerability to the changes that are already locked in -- changes that are projected to include stronger tropical cyclones such as Haiyan -- by implementing measures such as smart construction and a more effective government response that could lessen the deadly impact of future storms. (Varney selectively quoted The New York Times saying "it is difficult to link any single weather event to climate change" to claim that the recent typhoon is not at all connected to climate change. However, he left out the second half of the sentence: the editorial board continued, "there is little doubt that rising sea levels caused by global warming will worsen the dangers.")

Varney is not alone in his callous response to calls for such aid. Many prominent conservative media outlets, including the Wall Street Journal's editorial board, scoffed at the climate fund when it was first proposed, saying developing nations simply wanted to "cash in" on "climate gold."

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