Stripped to the essentials, global warming could potentially be called humanity’s crime against humanity. This is because it threatens to kill more people than any other known event. We all stand guilty to some extent in the emissions scandal. However just 100 companies apparently commit 71% of this potential global warming crime. This is according to research by Science Alert.
Who Are the Leaders in this Alleged Global Warming Crime?
Coal and oil industries lead the pack because of their sheer size. We have heard the rich are getting richer as this so-called global warming crime continues. Therefore, we decided to find out how this works.
Stanford University researchers in California have examined the divide between the world’s poorest and richest countries. They say this is 25% wider than it would have been without global warming. Conversely, the National Academy of Sciences journal says the world’s richest – and worst emitting – countries have benefited greatly from their greenhouse gases. However their people are not directly to blame for this.
These May However Just Be Short-Term Benefits
Science Alert claims “a mere 25 corporate and state-owned entities have produced over half of all industrial emissions in the time period between 1988 and 2015”. Therefore, a few stockholders are becoming extremely rich at the cost of the many suffering from the global warming crime, if they are guilty.
Happy Khambule, senior political advisor at Greenpeace Africa believes what goes around, comes around. “In the long term, climate change benefits no-one,” he says.
“If it continues unabated, we will face runaway climate change. It is critical that the world’s largest emitters act to reduce their emissions urgently.”
We are reminded of a story how a decadent Roman emperor played his fiddle while Rome burned until a rebellion took him out. The people overthrew Nero when they had had enough of his extravagances and lack of care for their welfare. He took his own life to escape prosecution.
Related
Warming’s Unfair Consequences Hit Poor Hard
Congo’s Cobalt Mining Causing Health Problems in Residents
Preview Image: Major Emitters Image The Carbon Majors Database
