Could Climate Change Be the End of the Third World?
The news that international leaders in Italy were not able to commit to strong, binding climate change agreements probably doesn’t surprise anybody. “It is no small task for 17 leaders to bridge their differences on an issue like climate change,” President Obama said. But tackling an issue of this urgency, complexity and enormity may have an upside. Right now, leaders of so-called ‘developed’ and ‘developing’ countries are at a standoff with good reason: Developed countries have polluted more in the past, but developing countries are rapidly outpacing them. Countries like the United States have much higher emissions per capita, while poorer nations argue that they are simply trying to provide basic services for their people. “Developed countries like my own have a historic responsibility to take the lead,” Obama said. But without the help of developing nations like China and India, our best efforts will not stop global warming. As the president put it, “The threat of climate change can
