Fossil Fuel Industry
Pollution from the fossil fuel industry accounts for three-quarters of global greenhouse gas emissions, and the resulting air pollution is one of the leading causes of disease and premature death, killing 6.4 million people annually. People lose life.
More seriously, nearly 95 percent of these deaths occur in poor Antarctic countries, where poor and vulnerable populations are already vulnerable to persistent air pollution. Being comprised of developing countries, the citizens of this region live under the most severe pollution. This air pollution is causing heart and lung diseases, stroke, pneumonia and asthma diseases worldwide.
These statistics reflect a grim reality: the saddest part is that communities are most vulnerable to the devastating effects of fuel industries that have little or no role in the industry's expansion or emissions.
This is "environmental injustice" and hence the importance of examining the adverse health effects of climate change arising from it.
Crop damage from floods has also created malnutrition, increasing the number of severely malnourished children in Pakistan.
The catastrophic floods of 2022 in Pakistan have emerged as a case study for the entire world in the possibilities of dealing with the dangerous effects of environmental disasters. Due to this terrible climatic deterioration, a serious crisis has arisen in the health sector in the flood-affected areas. More than 1400 health centers were completely or partially destroyed by the floods. Refugees living in makeshift camps surrounded by floodwaters were deprived of clean drinking water, causing epidemics like smallpox and cholera to engulf the area. The flood passed but left behind a story of devastation and its stagnant water became a breeding ground for mosquitoes that still cause malaria and dengue. The devastating floods also caused severe damage to crops in the affected areas, which increased the number of severely malnourished children across Pakistan.
However, the impact of this health crisis is not equal because women and girls are relatively more affected by environmental degradation. Women and girls are more affected by climate disasters than men. For this reason, in the flood of 2022, more than six and a half lakh pregnant women were deprived of medical facilities and medicines and millions of girls were deprived of basic items. Doctors, midwives and even medicines were not available to the working women. All these facts prove that climate change is not just an environmental problem but an expression of social injustice that causes hunger, poverty, diseases and social problems. These conditions require that any commitment and effort regarding climate change be evaluated from a gender perspective and ensure equal participation and representation of women in order to make it effective.
Research by the American space agency "NASA" indicates that if the transition to clean and renewable fuels is ensured in the next 50 years, many challenges arising from fossil fuels will be overcome and catastrophic risks will be reduced. can. Likewise, losses due to premature deaths, hospital patient burden, job loss and crop destruction can be reduced.
The main obstacle to building the dream of achieving clean energy and, consequently, achieving environmental justice is the huge investment in the advertising industry, but it cannot be ignored that every year since Copenhagen in 2009 The main objective of the climate finance commitments made at the Environmental Conferences (COPs) is to ensure the transition to clean fuels. The non-fulfillment of this promise to the needy countries under the influence of climate change is a clear expression of the lack of interest of the governments of the North Pole in giving the world a safe and sustainable future. are starting more fossil fuel projects instead. This situation is a proof of how these rich countries are planning their future by protecting the fossil fuel industries that have no concern about the environmental destruction and the cries of the poor countries. The same climate criminals responsible for environmental degradation are also pouring billions of dollars into propaganda to hide climate change and its devastating effects from the world. On the one hand, these countries are sponsoring the organization of climate conferences, on the other hand, the monster of climate change is causing the destruction of nations and economies around the world. Global North governments' lack of interest in transparent climate financing and a soft spot for fossil fuel industries are the biggest obstacles to achieving "environmental justice".
The most important need of the hour is to move towards practical measures by ending the contradiction between words and actions to combat climate change. Bringing doctors and other medical professionals together to pay special attention to the health of refugees displaced by climate change can be fruitful in dialogue with policy makers.
At a time when the world has reached a point of no return regarding climate change. Time has come for us to take immediate collective action and for each individual to play their part in dealing with this serious problem. The hour of decision has arrived for the world.
The question is, what can we do individually and collectively to save the world from the destruction of climate change?
We will have to do it ourselves and no messiah will come down from another planet to save us.
Today, everyone has to ask themselves that if we do not take practical steps now, when will we? Won't a little delay be too late?
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