Hermes's Den

This essay was originally written for a class on international relations on 5/5/19

Over the course of 4.543 billion years, planet Earth has refined and perfected itself to the a state of harmony and balance. This balance, however, is delicate and can be thrown off easily. Beginning in the 18th century, industrialization saw an increase in manufacturing as well as pollution. As coal and CO₂ were thrown up into the atmosphere and absorbed by the ocean and forests were removed and not replaced, the scales were thrown off and the planet began to react, causing the oceans and air to grow more acidic and warmer. As the United Nations (UN) does not currently accept fleeing climate change and rising sea levels as a viable reason for people to seek refugee status in other countries, those that are fleeing have a hard time finding refuge. In addition to this, the guilt of climate change is not evenly distributed across the world. Countries in the Global North contribute to the vast majority of CO₂ emissions and other forms of pollutants by way of industrialism and multinational corporations. The Global South, on the other hand, suffers the majority of the blowback, as many of these multinational corporations have factories in the Global South and pollute unchecked. 

Running In The Shadows

For potential refugees of climate change, what is at stake is quite literally everything. The environment at its best is life for all and at its worst is death for all. Entire cultures and people stand to be washed away or starved out as a result of the planet changing. Island nations are in particular danger for a number of reasons due in part to threats from the sea, the air, and the land. 

To humans, a few degree change in temperature is tolerable and if it is too uncomfortable, there are ways to circumvent these discomforts. For coral reefs, however, these changes in temperature and acidity level are apocalyptic events. In response to these changes, the coral begin to bleach themselves, a process by which they release the life supporting algae they maintain within their bodies. Doing this essentially causes the food chain of coral reef ecosystems to breakdown. Referred to as the “rainforests of the sea,” coral reefs support a vast array of life both at sea and on land, with fish and other marine life using them as areas for shelter and breeding and humans and other non-marine animals hunting for food in and around them. As reefs lose the ability to support life, life stops returning to the reefs. This break in the food chain at such a crucial level causes the entire system to collapse and those who are members of it to starve unless they can find another source of food. 

From the air, the increased amount of CO₂ has resulted in a number of issues in a number of different areas. The temperature has been steadily increasing across the planet, with every passing year becoming the hottest year on record due to CO₂ and other pollutants interfering with the planet’s ability to regulate temperature. This results in the greenhouse effect and causes the temperature to rise. In addition to this, weather patterns are growing more extreme more consistently as is the case with hurricanes that are falling within the Categories 4 and 5 range doubling over previous decades, from a study conducted in 2005 by the National Science Foundation. On top of that, acid rain, a result of CO₂ mixing with rain clouds, changes the soil’s acidity and changes what will grow successfully in that region. 

As to concerns of the effects on the land beyond changing soil acidity, the primary effect is that the land will be swallowed up by the rising sea and disappear. This is already happening in countries such as Bangladesh and the Marshall Islands, however low lying coastal areas are already seeing the coast shrink. If this continues, the result will be that the land will eventually become the ocean floor and everyone who lived there will either have to move to areas of higher elevation or be washed away with the land. 

Never Break The Chain

As these are affecting the Global South worse than they are affecting the Global North, but countries in the Global North tend to hold voting power as well as the power to change the industries that are doing the polluting, the stakes are drastically different. What is at stake for the Global North is profit for a few people. Capitalism has a long history (its entire existence) of favoring profits over people. Since its inception with slavery through to the modern day with multinational corporations exploiting foreign workers, capitalists have decided it is better to accumulate so much money that it can’t all be spent in several lifetimes than to share the money with people who can barely manage to survive today. The flow of money causes the modern world to turn, enabling business, governments, and other ventures to rise and fall like the tides they’re polluting. That, however, is a digression and another topic.

Regardless and in addition to this, there would be the effort needed to insert climate change to the UN’s definition of refugee. While it would be simple theoretically to insert the words “climate change” into the UN’s definition of refugee (“someone who is unable or unwilling to return to their country of origin owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion”), this does not take into account the actual act of doing so. More accurately, this does not take into account the negotiations that would need to take place. Looking at the players of the game will spell disaster for efforts to change the definition because changing the definition would incriminate many of the best players. According to a study done by the Union of Concerned Scientists, a nonprofit science advocacy group, the top five producers of carbon emissions (China, the United States, India, Russia, and Japan) makeup roughly 61% of total global emissions. On top of this, of these countries, three, China, the United States, and Russia, are permanent members of the Security Council as well as the top industrialized nations. 

Many highly industrialized countries (particularly the United States) have multinational corporations that operate in countries in the Global South. By doing this, these companies avoid a number of regulations that would stand in opposition to them generating profits that are as high as they are. Laws requiring expensive pollution treatment, good working conditions, and the minimum wage are just a few of the obstacles that these multinational corporations skip over by manufacturing in another country. This sleight of hand allows for profits to be maximized and is the reason why it will be hard to change the definition of refugee. If climate change is added in, the above countries can all be tried and sued for human rights violations. It is, of course, easier said than done.

Keep Us Together

For the last roughly four hundred years, the clear payoff of profit has been the driving factor behind things great and terrible. The desire to make the most money drives innovation, but the sound of coins dropping into coffers also justified slavery. Seeing the platform is the encouragement needed by many to finally take the last step, but the core issue here is not whether or not the world is ready or willing to take a leap of faith. Last year a report came out saying that the world has about twenty-five years left to fight climate change. Twenty five years. One generation. Even with that, it is believed that even if climate change is stopped, the planet will still take some time to react and will continue to warm before eventually cooling. 

Renewable energy has been available for years and while it is slowly being implemented, there is not a full scale shift towards it. Things like solar, wind, hydroelectricity, and geothermal are solutions that can cut away a large amount of carbon emissions being released. While there the public is beginning to embrace the green revolution in a number of ways by recycling and attempting to use less plastic, the public does not pollute as much or on the scale that these multinational companies do. To truly stop climate change, these companies must change their practices and if they can still use the loophole of polluting in another country, they never will. By changing the definition of refugee to include those fleeing climate change, countries in the Global South finally have a chance to throw off the remnants of colonialism and sue those that are exploiting their people. While that may seem like a small thing, a lawsuit shows that polluting the environment will not be tolerated and that these countries must stop. In the short term, those running from rising sea levels will be able to run rather than swim and in the long run, there will be a clearer path towards ending climate change.

Is it too much to ask to take the chance?

Work Cited

Fung, Inez. 1997. “NASA GISS: Science Briefs: Oh Where Oh Where Does The CO2 Go?”. Giss.Nasa.Gov. https://www.giss.nasa.gov/research/briefs/fung_01/.

“What Is Coral Bleaching?”. 2018. Oceanservice.Noaa.Gov. https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/coral_bleach.html.

Refugees, United. 2019. “What Is A Refugee?”. UNHCR. https://www.unhcr.org/en-us/what-is-a-refugee.html.

“Each Country’s Share Of CO2 Emissions”. 2018. Union Of Concerned Scientists. https://www.ucsusa.org/global-warming/science-and-impacts/science/each-countrys-share-of-co2.html.

Number of category 4 and 5 hurricanes has doubled over the past 35 years (2005) NSF. Available at: https://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=104428.