the effects of climate change due to pollution seems to be at the forefront of most peoples minds, from those who believe it is the biggest challenge facing humanity to those who believe that it doesn't exist.
Thomas C. Schelling takes a look at the problem from different angle in his article, "the economics of global warming ; melting glaciers, rising incomes, and food." in Newsweek magazine ( January 31st Issue ).
Schelling claims that the biggest issue would be trying to help those countries and people that are most affected by global warming, and according to him that would be the poorest people in the poorest countries. he claims that climate change will affect food production in poor countries, where more than half of the population grows its own food.
even though estimates to world food production loss is low, this is not the full picture. it is estimated that between 1 and 2 billion people live on "the equivalent of 2$ per day". if half of them were to lose half their income, statically speaking, that would be less than 1 percent of the worlds income, but to those losing half of the income, which barely amounts to anything in the first place, it would be disastrous.
it seems that the poor will suffer the most as they would not have the resources to adapt to a changing climate, while the west will barely suffer at all in comparison. the developed world has to look for ways to help the poor countries that will suffer the effects of climate change due to the developed worlds energy consumption and production levels, including china's production levels, which led to the problem in the first place.
K.K
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