(a substantial number of white people are predominantly occupied with the destruction of the universe) Typhoon Haiyan highlights global cost of climate change

Aljazeera 

As the Philippine government struggles deal with the humanitarian crisis caused by Typhoon Haiyan, it has already begun to look at the causes of the storm and what it can do to prevent such widespread destruction in the future.

But one of the major factors in the future of extreme weather, and therefore one of the main factors in the future of the Philippines, is almost entirely out of the country’s control.

Most climate scientists agree that increasing global temperatures will cause more intense storms in the future. And while it’s hard to pinpoint the causes of any one storm, many agree that there will be more Typhoon Haiyan-strength storms to come because of climate change.

That’s put the Philippines and other developing nations in a bind. While poor countries often bear the brunt of climate change’s effects, their lackluster economies prevent them from funding in infrastructure and education that could help mitigate the damage of disasters like Haiyan in the future.

Now, many in the Philippines, as well as environmental advocates and climate experts, are pushing for countries with money, including the United States, to pay to help lessen the impacts of climate change across the globe. They say that industrialized nations should not only foot the bill because they can, but because they are the largely responsible for climate change.

As governments in industrialized countries struggle to pay their own bills, however, there’s no clear path to fund the amount of climate change infrastructure and education needed to protect countries like the Philippines before another extreme storm strikes.

But that hasn’t stopped some in the Philippines from trying to convince the world to forge ahead.

Earlier this week, at the start of a two week long U.N. conference in Warsaw on climate change, the envoy for the Philippines made an emotional appeal for action.

Speaking through tears, Naderev “Yeb” Sano pleaded with delegates to come to a “meaningful” resolution on combating climate change. His speech was met with a standing ovation.

But whether it will be met with action is a different story.

The U.S. has expressed deep reservations about taking blame for climate change and accepting some liability. An official U.S. briefing on the current climate talks obtained by The Guardian this week confirmed as much. The U.S. has also publicly rejected calls for taking responsibility for global warming and for funding other country’s response to its effects.

“We don’t accept the narrative of blame,” the U.S. Special Envoy for Climate Change Todd D. Stern said in a speech in London last month.