Climate change is not just a scientific issue – it is also a moral one. While scientists may record the changes that are happening to the earth’s climate and eco-systems, it is vital to also be aware of the impacts these changes are having on the people of the world, and how we are related to both the causes of and the solutions to climate change.

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Impacts on people

The melting of polar ice means that low-lying islands are gradually being inundated by rising sea levels, causing coastal erosion and salination of fresh water supplies and increased soli salinity leading to failure of crops.

In other parts of the world, the increased droughts and changing rainfall makes it very hard for farmers to know when to plant and when to harvest their crops, as both wet and dry weather is required at different times in the planting cycle to ensure a good crop. Further, the changing temperatures also affect the ability of crops to survive and thrive, particularly those that are only suited to either warm or cold climates. This not only affects poorer farmers ability to earn a living, but for subsistence farmers affects their very ability to feed themselves.

The changing rainfall patterns, and the effects these have on river systems, also affects the abilities of communities to maintain a supply of fresh drinking water. This is a particular issue in Australia as well as around the world. However in poorer countries the effects of lack of fresh water sources are often much greater as other sources of water such as bottled water are not freely available or affordable. This leads to large increases in health problems, whether caused by dehydration and heat stroke, or by water-borne diseases and illnesses such as diarrhoea, which is the greatest killer of children under 5 in the world.

Other health problems also arise from the general increasing temperatures which see a spread of the tropical zones further out from the equator, along with an increase in the spread of associated tropical diseases into communities that have previously had no exposure to the disease and therefore no immunity. Malaria particularly is an example of this.

Other social problems arise from the decrease in arable land and particularly the supply of fresh water, both of which see large numbers of people moving away from their homelands in search of better livelihoods elsewhere. This may result in a large rural-urban migration as people descend on already highly populated cities, great internal displacement as people are forced to move between different regions within a country, or even international migration as people cross borders into other countries. In addition to the tensions and unrest this can cause, fighting can also break out over the control of precious resources.

People as the cause and the solution

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