Over 30 million displaced by weather-related events in 2012
Climate refugees aren’t a phenomenon of the future. It’s a catastrophe happening right now. Floods, storms and earthquakes forced 32.4 million people globally to flee their homes, with millions more around the world at risk of losing their homes. In the U.S, the 350 residents of Newtok, Alaska maybe the country’s first climate refugees as the town is projected to be underwater by 2017. A Kiribati man is appealing to the New Zealand government to be granted refugee status on the grounds of climate change. Its projected that the country of Kiribati will be uninhabitable, because of flooding and the contamination of freshwater resources, within 30 to 60 years.
Your home may still be standing, but many across the continent of Asia have lost their homes and their way of life. They have been forced to seek somewhere else to work since the previous means of sustainable living and livelihood have been ruined. Some have even been forced to move when rebuilding, or staying, were no longer feasible. The video below examines the cost of carbon pollution and global warming in terms of human displacement in Asia.
13% of China’s rice comes from drought stricken Hunan province.
100,000 stranded people were rescued, 5,750 people died in the flooding in Uttarakhand, India.
Without curbing carbon pollution, sea level rise may inundate 1/5 of Bangladesh by 2100. (Tweet this Stat!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZYHA5_FTmI
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