Climate change doesn't care if we're distracted.
 | By Max Strasser International Editor, Opinion |
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When was the last time you read an international story about climate change? When was the last time you read a story about climate change in Pakistan? |
I won’t judge you if your answers are “not for a while” and “I really have no idea.” There’s a lot to pay attention to: a global economic crisis, a pandemic, a high-stakes American presidential election. A warming planet and how it affects people far from where you live are understandably hard to focus on right now. But that’s the thing about the climate crisis: It’s not going to stop because you’re not paying attention. |
In an Op-Ed over the weekend, Fatima Bhutto, a novelist from Karachi, writes about the recent flooding in her hometown and what it portends for the future. Every year, she writes, the monsoons are “angrier and wilder,” the local economy is battered by the flooding, people lose their lives. And it’s only getting worse. |
Meanwhile, Pakistan — the fifth most climate vulnerable country in the world — prefers to pay attention to other issues: “The country can easily be whipped into hysteria over supposed religious infractions committed by minorities and can debate women’s modesty and honor inexhaustibly, but it has little attention for the ferocious and imminent dangers of climate change.” |
It’s an urgent Op-Ed from a powerful writer. I hope that readers don’t look away. |
Here in Opinion we are often scrambling to respond to the biggest news of the moment, figuring out how to cover the nomination of a new Supreme Court justice or what to say about the latest spike in coronavirus cases in Europe. But we also want to make sure we never lose sight of this crucial story, too, and how it is changing lives on every corner of the globe. As Fatima writes of her country, “We have sat by and watched how cities die: slowly.” |
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Here’s what we’re focusing on today: |
On the Supreme Court Nominee |
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