Even If Climate Change Doesn’t Affect You, It Will Still Affect You

Moody’s Analytics recently released a climate change report that’s a useful corrective to some of the skeptics who say that global warming isn’t really all that dangerous. Taken in isolation, the point they make is roughly correct: in economic terms, the effect of climate change on the United States isn’t likely to be too horrible. Most assessments put it at less than 1 percent of GDP by 2100.

But that misses an important point: the global north will suffer the least from climate change and has the most economic resources to deal with it best. Moody’s estimates go only through 2048, but here are their country-by-country estimates in map form:

And here are the effects on the largest populations of the world:

The countries in blue are in the global north. The countries in red are in the global south. And this is only through 2048. By 2100 these effects will double or triple if we don’t seriously address rising temperatures.

If you’re anything close to a decent human being, you want to do something about this. The global north is responsible for the bulk of global warming but it’s the global south that will pay the biggest price. This is, obviously, not right.

But even if you’re a hyper-nationalist who just doesn’t care about India or the Philippines, these numbers should still scare you. The effect of climate change on the global south will be severe enough to cause droughts, wars, and massive migrations that will inevitably affect us too. There’s just no way to seal ourselves off from this. Even the (relatively) minor mass migration from Syria a few years ago was enough to send Europe into a panic and move its politics in a noticeably authoritarian direction. And that was nothing compared to what’s coming.

In other words, even if you’re not a decent human being, you really ought to take climate change seriously. You may not be interested in climate change, but it’s very definitely interested in you.

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Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

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And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

payment methods

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