Climate change - the child killer!

In the last few articles, we discussed about climate change and how it would affect us. But then, our selfish mind always reasons out and the most common response I get to my attempts at convincing people about climate change is – “I won’t live to see that day!” Sometimes I wonder if this is a ready-made answer aimed at consoling ourselves or are we so stubborn that we just don’t care?

Most of us are family persons. We live with our families, love them unconditionally and protect them from any harm whatsoever. Our families are a source of support and encouragement to us. Our families are the basis of our lives – hence we call ourselves ‘civilized’.

But have you ever wondered - what is family love? How do we express it? Is it the respect and priority we assign to our families? Is it the amount of sacrifice we make for them? Or does it also have a monetary angle behind it – saving up, building assets and securing a good future. Yes, all of this is family love and there is nothing wrong about it. But this present definition of this so called family love lacks a basic ingredient - securing a safe livable environment for our families.

Children are the bundles of joy and blessings in a family. And every new-born simply adds to this bounty of joy. But wait; let us think about their future! Is it secure? Or are we secretively conspiring to destroy it through our actions (climate change)?

Climate change due to global warming is going to have a profound impact on the health of the mother and the new-born.  We all know that the mother is extremely vulnerable during pregnancy. We also know that the experiences / illnesses of the mother during this period have a lifelong impact on the health of the new-born. 

Climate change as we know is going to cause food and water shortages. The quality of the available food and water would also be compromised. Such a scenario would lead to poorly fed mothers and malnutrtioned new-born. Poorly fed mothers produce lower quality of milk, which in turn would compromise the healthy growth of the child. A poorly fed child would have a compromised immune system, and would fall easy prey to the hundreds of new deadly diseases of the day.

Acute weather conditions would aid the spread of diseases and pregnant women and the new-born would be most vulnerable. Adverse weather conditions would also increase the number of climate change refugees in developing and under developed countries, forcing mothers and new-born to succumb to various harsh factors and die.

In one of my previous articles, I discussed how climate change will affect human behavior  A healthy environment is essential for the mother and the new born. However climate change would change the behavioral aspects of the mother, who would in adverse cases develop enmity towards the child. An increase in domestic and social violence influenced by climate change would also hamper the growth of a healthy baby. Increasing occurrences of terrorism, riots and civil wars – a direct result of climate change would simply spell the end of your child’s future.

The above mentioned effects would occur within the next fifty years.

If you think you are well off and have enough money to face any eventuality, please think again. The food shortage would be so acute that only the elite 2% (millionaires) of the rich would be able to afford it. What is happening in the Middle East is just the beginning.

Close your eyes and imagine such a future. Are you ready to gift your child this?

Wake up! Arise and act!