The worst drought in East Africa for 60 years is causing famine in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia. Heart-rending images cross our TV screens as they have in previous years – do we react with action or by switching channels?
The easier, but important, way to react is to send money to cope with the current emergency and various charities and agencies would probably spend your money well (Oxfam, UNICEF, ActionAid, Save the Children).
But the evidence is clear that extreme weather events are becoming more common and are linked to climate change. So your, or my, drive to the supermarket yesterday isn’t the cause of drought in East Africa today but our carbon emissions today will make the situation worse in years, and for years, to come. So as well as giving money, why not emit less climate-changing, weather-changing emissions?
Here are some links to get you started: individuals at home (click here, or here) or travel (click here, or here) and businesses (click here or here)
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How much of this is due to mis-management of the land by an ever increasing population? All down the Eastern Desert of Egypt, trees are being removed for charcoal to sell to tourist hotels especially in Gebel Elba . These trees caught the dew blown in from the Red Sea. They act as umbrella with the water coming from inside the umbrella and trickling down to the roots. Take away the tree and you loose the water. Trees once grew on the mountains all the way to Sinai but now it is very hard to find a tree growing on the mountain!
John – very interesting comment