August 12, 2015
The NYT ran an article on the goal for greenhouse gas emission reduction set by the Australian government. The article noted criticism of the goal as being inadequate. In particular, it refers to criticism from the Marshall Islands’ government that this sort of action will not be sufficient to keep the islands from being destroyed by rising sea levels.
While it would be a tragedy if the Marshall Islands were destroyed and its 53,000 people had to be relocated, this would be a relatively minor consequence of the failure to address global warming. By comparison, Bangladesh has a population of almost 160 million, most of whom live in relatively low-lying areas that are subject to frequent flooding. With rising oceans, these floods would be much more severe.
No one has a plausible plan to locate the hundreds of millions of people in Bangladesh and other low-income countries whose lives will be put at risk from rising oceans. Similarly, hundreds of millions of people live in areas of Sub-Saharan Africa that will be faced with severe drought if world temperatures continue to rise.
If the point was to call attention to the consequences of the failure to address global warming, these situations probably deserve more attention than the fate of the Marshall Islands.
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