On Hurricanes and Hypocrisy

We must embrace our moral obligations to our neighbors, both locally and globally.

Haiti — Hurricane Matthew

Floods have killed over 1,200 Nepal and Bangladesh in a disastrous South Asian monsoon. Meanwhile, Hurricane Irma, the most powerful storm ever recorded over the Atlantic Ocean, has destroyed 90% of structures on Barbuda making the nation ‘practically uninhabitable’. Millions of people have been displaced by the effects of climate change, and it’s only time before millions more will need to look towards finding a new home.

Floods in Bangladesh, 2017

This, combined with the news of Myanmar’s religious genocide against the Rohingya Muslims, and the ever increasing death tolls in Syria and Afghanistan… there has never been a more appropriate time to demand that we in the West start welcoming people into our country. I believe it is, in fact, our moral duty to offer a home to those who seek asylum.

By which universal code to we claim the right to be exclusively safe and protected from the effects of climate change?

Prime Minister of Barbuda demands recognition from countries who are complicit in contributing to carbon emissions.

“The irony about it is that islands in the Caribbean are very small … Many of us are not emitters of carbon and we are suffering from all of these profligate emissions from large industrial countries. And at the same time you have some leaders in the industrial world who are trying to say that climate change is not real. We do not accept that, we see that as a form of irresponsibility. These heavy polluters ought to take responsibility for climate change. They are the ones who have the large carbon footprint and in essence are contributing to global warming at the expense of other countries that clearly are not polluting the planet.” — Gaston Browne, Prime Minister of Barbuda

It turns my stomach when, on the same day as reading Browne’s appeal to our humanity, I also hear Trump’s thoughtless account of climate change as he celebrates his abstinence from the Paris Climate Accord.

Our president denies the existence of man made climate change, and refuses to take responsibility. But we must recognize that we have a moral obligation to give aid to those who need it.

We, who collectively are responsible for 14.34% of global carbon emissions.

We, who have lost 70 of our own citizens in Hurricane Harvey.

We, who are right now preparing for the Hurricane Irma’s impact on Florida and the East Coast.

We know what it means to be scared to lose our home. We need to extend empathy and aid to those who have suffered even greater loss. Anything less than this is hypocrisy.