By Janet Redman and John Cavanagh
Americans
are generous by nature. About half of U.S. families contributed to earthquake
relief in Haiti in 2010, and millions of us have already supported typhoon aid
for the Philippines.
But
there’s a golden opportunity for our country to do much more. We can help
generations of Filipinos withstand the typhoon seasons that rock the island
nation every year from summer to fall. The most meaningful thing the United
States could do is take decisive action on climate change.
While no
given storm can be pinned on man-made greenhouse gas emissions, scientists
believe the daily acts of giant corporations and millions of human beings using
fossil fuels are warming the planet. We’re making the oceans
rise.
And
warmer Pacific waters have increased the deadly punch of the typhoons that have
battered the Philippines and other nations for centuries. We saw this ourselves
in New Orleans and New Jersey with Hurricane Katrina and Superstorm Sandy.
So, what
should we do now? In addition to upping the paltry $20 million the U.S.
government has pledged in disaster relief (a drop in the bucket compared to
what’s needed for 4.4
million displaced Filipinos who
live on small and hard-to-reach islands), the U.S. can do far more to mitigate
global warming.
We need
a national climate response to match the scale of the destruction from this
typhoon and the extreme weather happening in other parts of the world.
For
starters, our government can agree to an international approach for
compensating the peoples of developing countries for the loss and damages they
suffer because of global warming. That’s an area in which our own climate
negotiators have been particularly intransigent.
Then, we
need preventative action by all major polluters — ourselves included — to lower
the threat of future climate disruption. That will stave off many of the
humanitarian disasters that will otherwise become increasingly frequent.
We can
start by agreeing now to ambitious and legally binding cuts to climate
pollution at home and regulating our economy to mitigate climate change. And we
can provide support for all countries, including our own, to build carbon-free
energy and climate resilience into their existing plans.
Unfortunately,
U.S. chief climate negotiator Todd Stern is downplaying this approach. No
significant “change in overall levels of public funding from developed
countries is likely to come anytime soon,” he said a few weeks ago.
This
reluctance is a mistake. Taking action isn’t just the right thing to do — it’s smart
economics. The prominent British economist Sir Nicholas Stern pegs the cost of
climate change to 2 percent of global GDP. And the Federal Emergency Management
Agency and the World Bank calculate that every dollar spent on disaster
prevention and preparedness now — like helping vulnerable communities adapt to
a warmer world — will save between $5 to $7 in relief later.
We have
the money. We simply need to shift priorities.
How
about collecting a “typhoon tax” from the fossil fuel giants that have profited
so bountifully from the polluting industries that contribute to the warming
that just killed thousands of Filipinos? Or moving billions from obsolete
weapons systems to a climate security fund? Or introducing a tax on speculative
stock and derivatives trades, as 11 European countries are doing, and using the
proceeds to transition away from fossil fuels?
Yes, the
United States can and must mobilize humanitarian aid for the Philippines, but
we also need to change course right now.
Climate
change is more than a moral outrage. It is killing people.
John
Cavanagh directs the Washington-based Institute for Policy
Studies, and has written and co-authored 12 books on global
development issues , including Plundering
Paradise: The Struggle for the Environment in the Philippines. Janet Redman
directs the Institute’s Climate Policy Program. IPS-dc.org. Distributed
via OtherWords (OtherWords.org)
