Hi John,
A third of Pakistan is under water and and over 33 million people have been displaced. It's hard to imagine, but that's more than the entire population of Texas being homeless.
We're about to suggest a few ways to help (including donating to the relief effort) but first, we think you should hear from Anam Rathor, a youth climate activist with Climate Action Pakistan, one of our network partners:
"As I write this, my country is drowning. In the past two weeks, Pakistan experienced cataclysmic floods triggered by unprecedented monsoon and glacial melting, killing over a thousand people and many more injured, destroying hundreds of thousands of homes and millions of acres of crops, and causing billions of dollars in damage.
A third of my country is under water right now – bridges, roads, schools, and other critical infrastructure sinks, and people run to evacuate their homes. At least 33 million people are displaced – that’s 1 in every 7 Pakistani. These are 33 million dreams broken, 33 million hopes shattered, and 33 million futures destroyed as a result of the havoc wreaked upon their lands by no fault of their own.
Pakistan accounts for just 0.67% of global carbon emissions, yet it has long ranked among the most climate-vulnerable countries in the world for the past decade. The country faces warming rates considerably above the global average and more frequent and intense extreme climate events.
...
As Pakistan mourns the destruction and devastation caused by the recent extreme climatic events, the industrialized and post-industrialized countries of the global north responsible for these catastrophes need to be held accountable. For us to survive and for the Pakistani people to live a dignified life, the climate crisis needs more attention than it is getting right now, especially from rich countries responsible for 90% of the world’s GHG emissions. These high emitting countries need to take responsibility, but they also need to be held accountable for the death and destruction that directly result from their action. The blood of the dead is on their hands–the global north, the fossil fuel billionaires.
The same high emitter countries of the global north colonized our land for hundreds of years, killing our ancestors and stealing our resources. Now they have colonized our atmosphere in their pursuit of wealth and development at the expense of our people’s lives and environment."
This tragedy will slip away from the headlines soon, but we can all stand in solidarity with the people of Pakistan by holding fossil fuel companies accountable for contributing to climate disasters like this. And we can echo the calls for rich countries to give more financial aid to help countries like Pakistan cope with the climate impacts they didn’t create.
Here are three things you can do right now:
In solidarity,
Team 350
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