In re: https://www.hayspost.com/2016/04/20/statewide-organization-to-speak-at-fhsu-about-climate-change/

Dear Editor,

With increasing populations at risk, it is now more important than ever that we help the poor adapt to climate change as it occurs—Africans suffering from drought, Inuit affected by permafrost melt, etc.

But aid agencies are unable to adequately support these vulnerable people. Overconfidence about our ability to forecast and even control future climate states has encouraged governments to dedicate most of the public money spent on climate finance to mitigation, trying to affect events that may, or may not, someday happen. The San Francisco-based Climate Policy Initiative demonstrated that, in 2014, 83% of all public climate finance went to mitigation, with only 17% going to adaptation.

When you count funds spent by private enterprise in the total, 94% of the over $1 billion spent worldwide EVERY DAY on climate finance is dedicated to mitigation, leaving a relatively trivial 6% to help people today.

One of the reasons for this imbalance is that mitigation projects are far more profitable for large corporations than are the smaller scale boots-on-the-ground strategies needed to help populations adapt.

By focusing their activism on mitigation, groups such as Citizens’ Climate Lobby unwittingly encourage a continuation of this travesty. Make Earth Week about people in need instead.

Sincerely,

Tom Harris, B. Eng., M. Eng. (Mech.)
Executive Director
International Climate Science Coalition (ICSC)
28 Tiverton Dr.
Ottawa, Ontario K2E 6L5
Canada
www.climatescienceinternational.org