When Americans think of "climate change," they think of it in terms of the physical effects caused by rising temperatures--the higher incidents of wildfires, the impact of droughts and beach erosion, the discomfort of higher heat and humidity, and cost spikes of certain goods and services. We are blessed with living in one of the richest countries in the world and the direct effects of a warming climate don't, as a rule, pose an immediate threat to our lives. One somewhat perverse reason for this is that our highly-developed, if rampant continued use of fossil fuels enables us to escape or ignore the more immediate physical effects of global warming.
But there's a lot more to climate change than raw data about temperature increases, carbon dioxide levels and altered weather patterns. In the low-lying areas of India and Bangladesh, the destruction caused to crops and fields by rising sea levels has had a ripple effect, leading to far-reaching consequences in child marriage, malnutrition, infant mortality, child depression and child trafficking. These are the seldom acknowledged, real-world results of human society continuing to gorge itself on fossil fuels, and while far-removed American politicians continue out of political expediency to deny that the problem exists, the reality on the ground in these countries is undeniable.
The World Health Organization estimates that more than 88 percent of the existing global burden of disease due to climate change falls on children under the age of five. Climate disruption affects children in different ways than adults:
Documented health effects include changing ranges of vector-borne diseases such as malaria and dengue; increased diarrheal and respiratory disease; increased morbidity and mortality from extreme weather; changed exposures to toxic chemicals; worsened poverty; food and physical insecurity; and threats to human habitation. Heat-related health effects for which research is emerging include diminished school performance, increased rates of pregnancy complications, and renal effects
Bangladesh and India are
rated at the top in terms of percentages of children vulnerable to an altered climate. While the physical impact of high waters in those countries now forcing people off their fields and land has been well documented, the social effects of this displacement on children have received less attention. These are simply the first accounts that we will begin to see more and more of in many different areas around the world as the climate warms. So while they now impact poor people in Southern Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa who most Americans don't think twice about, the long term social and health consequences of these forced migrations as they become more and more widespread will have an exponential impact, both in geopolitical and human terms.
The increase in forced, early marriages for young girls whose families are impacted by rising sea levels is just one of those "unforeseen" developments:
‘Marry before your house is swept away’ is what young girls are being advised in Bangladesh, according to a report by Human Rights Watch published in June this year.
“Whatever land my father had… the house he had, went under water in the river erosion and that’s why my parents decided to get me married,” says Sultana M, who was married at age 14, in her testimony to Human Rights Watch.
The report suggests that the high occurrence of natural disasters caused by climate change is one of the key reasons for the child marriage ‘epidemic’ in the country.
What happens is due to cultural barriers in places like Bangladesh young girls in general are viewed as more of an economic burden than young boys, who are expected to be wage earners and assist the family's survival. So when climate-related disaster hits, they are the hardest hit:
Bangladesh’s extreme vulnerability to natural disasters, exacerbated by climate change and combined with its large population, means that for many poor families their livelihoods, homes, and land are under threat from flooding, river erosion, cyclones, and other disasters.
Some families interviewed by Human Rights Watch said they had made decisions about marriage for reasons directly related to natural disasters—some, for example, rushed to marry off a daughter in anticipation of losing their home to river erosion. Other families described natural disasters as a recurring stress factor, taking food from the family’s mouth and making child marriage seem like the best option for a girl and the family.
Early marriage brings with it a host of related problems including, predominantly, early childbirth and infant mortality, but also sexual abuse and violence. Young brides married off in Bangladesh are expected to produce children, preferably boys, immediately. If they don't, they become even more vulnerable to abuse. And they lose their hope to any further education in the process:
Azima said that people in the community had been “shaming her” for still being unmarried because she is tall and looks old for her age. “I protested a lot to my parents but they said, ‘It is a shame for us to keep you in the house.’ I wanted to continue my education, but my mother said, ‘Your father has fixed your marriage and if you don’t listen to your father, people will say what kind of girl is that who doesn’t listen to her father?’”
Azima said, “I am the oldest and only after I get married can [my sisters] think about getting married. If the river takes the house it will be hard for them to get married.” Azima’s sisters are ages 12, 10, and 8 years old; her parents are now considering a marriage for the 12-year-old.
Azima married a 17-year-old boy three days after his parents decided she was an acceptable bride.
“They’ve already asked me to have children,” Azima, now age 14, said of her in-laws. “I live in their house—I have to keep them happy. My husband has also asked me to have children. I said I wanted to wait for two years, but they said, ‘No, you should have children now.’ So I guess I will have to have children now.”
This is just one example how climate change can create an economic feedback loop, exacerbating poverty and social disruption through multiple, unanticipated effects.
India now has a population of 1.25 Billion. Two thirds of all those people rely directly on climate sensitive sectors such as agriculture, fisheries and forests for income. Here is how the pattern is unfolding in India as climatic changes alter the sea levels and weather patterns:
Due to climate change, there are frequent floods and cyclones. The salinity level of freshwater goes up and the crop production reduces. As the agricultural output is limited, food security suffers; malnutrition increases and people are forced to migrate. Early marriage is also a cog in the wheel as parents want to marry their girls because they cannot provide for them. This in turn escalates the chances of early childbirth and child mortality.” says Chittapriyo Sadhu, State Programme Manager, Save the Children India.
Rising food prices is another problem caused by climate disruption. We experience it here as an increase in the price of orange juice because there's not enough water to irrigate California's orange crop. We pay more for beef because an agricultural conglomerate in the Midwest has to pay a higher bill to water its cows. In India, however, it means
five million more malnourished children. By 2050 another 25 million children will be malnourished due to climate change, according to a
2013 UN report.
The U.S. is the second largest greenhouse gas producer by country:
The United States has the largest population in the developed world, and is the only developed nation experiencing significant population growth: Its population may double before the end of the century. Its 300 million inhabitants produce greenhouse gases at a per-capita rate that is more than double that of Europe, five times the global average, and more than 10 times the average of developing nations. The U.S. greenhouse gas contribution is driven by a disastrous combination of high population, significant growth, and massive (and rising) consumption levels, and thus far, lack of political will to end our fossil-fuel addiction.
We can't imagine these types of social disruptions in the USA, but they are going to become an everyday reality in many parts of the world. At some point in the not-too distant future, those countries whose populations will be reeling from the life-and culture-altering impacts of climate change are going to demand an accounting from the countries whose mass consumption led to these epochal changes to their lives. That will happen whether we continue to ignore the early warnings or not.