Some people say climate change does not discriminate. But it does discriminate against the poor in big ways. Poverty and climate change are related in two ways. Among all income levels, low income people or countries contribute the least to warming, yet they have suffered and will continue to suffer disproportionately from the brunt of climate disasters.
The 2020 UN Emissions Gap Report presents a picture of carbon inequality—a stark contrast between the rich and poor in their contributions to carbon emissions. In 2015, the richest 1% of the world population emits about 83 metric ton per capita, about 15% of the total carbon emission. While the poorest 50% emits about 1 metric ton per capita, about 7% of the total emissions. In other words, on average someone among the top 1% of the world’s richest emits 83 times as much as someone in the lower half of the economic ladder.
This stark contrast points to lifestyles as having a significant impacts on warming. Food, housing, and personal transport have the largest impact on climate change—representing about four-fifths of total lifestyle carbon footprints, compared to other areas like goods, leisure, and services.
While the impacts of climate change affect every region on every continent, they don’t do it equally. The world’s poorest communities often live on fragile land that is vulnerable to climate disasters such as coastal storms, floods, and droughts. These communities are also often politically, socially, and economically marginalized and are voiceless in effecting change in society. Their daily lives are already a struggle even without climate crisis. When natural disasters like intense storms, flooding, and drought strike, they often have the least capacity to cope, keeping them in a downward spiral of poverty.
For example, of all the places in New Orleans hit hard by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, none suffered more than the Lower 9th Ward—one of the poorest neighborhood in New Orleans. Many households there were headed by single mothers or senior citizens who did not have the means to evacuate from the storm. Not only was this community the hardest hit by the storm, its recovery had also been hampered by neglect from all levels of government. As Professor Roberto Barrios of the Southern Illinois University reported, the Lower 9th Ward’s iconic status as the public face of Katrina did not translate into support for its most devastated residents. Four years after the hurricane, approximately 15% of the area’s pre-Katrina households were actively receiving mail, a proxy measure used by demographers to estimate the rate of population return after the hurricane. By 2015—a full 10 years later—this number had increased to only 37%, while the citywide figure had risen to 90%.
This scenario reappeared in Puerto Rico. In 2017, Hurricane Maria slammed into Puerto Rico, becoming the deadliest hurricane in recent US history. More than two years later, the island was still recovering from the disaster. Many homes were still in need of repair and rebuild, water supplies had not been fully restored, schools and hospitals remained shuttered, and the island’s economy had been heavily disrupted. Throughout Puerto Rico, the poorest communities were hit the hardest and were the furthest away from recovery. While many wealthy people left the island or used their resources to rebuild after the disaster, poor families had to wait months or years for assistance from an unfunded relief effort.
Thus far, some people most at risk are persisting despite climate change, fighting to grow food, protecting dwindling resources, and coping with recurring disasters. For example, Bangladesh’s low elevation, high population density, and exposure to extreme weather conditions such as tropical cyclones, put the country at high risk—ranking seven out of 181 countries for extreme weather events. Bangladesh, which has been adapting to climate change, offers a sliver of hope among the climate doom and gloom. Scientific American magazine recently reported that rice researchers in Bangladesh have developed a series of salt-tolerant varieties that are being used by farmers in the low-lying coastal areas where saltwater is intruding. However, the salinity levels in the coastal zone are rising faster than the country’s scientists can develop these new varieties, so there is a need for greater support from world scientists to accelerate the adaptations.