Tuesday, May 30, 2006
CEASE ACTIVITY, EARTHLINGS
Poor people are urged to stay put lest their scurrying to and fro offends Gaia:
The growing number of people who migrated from developing countries to over-populated Western states in search of a better life was damaging the planet and could be avoided, a think-tank said today.
Governments and aid agencies should encourage families to stay put by tackling environmental degradation, such as the spread of deserts, that forces many to leave …
I’d be surprised if “deserts got too big” was a common motivation to leave these places.
In addition, migrants typically increased their ecological footprint – the damage each person inflicts on the environment – by moving from low to high-consuming countries.
The ecological footprint of someone from Bangladesh increases sixteen-fold if he or she emigrated to the US, while that of a Somali citizen rises more than thirteen-times when he or she migrated to Britain.
So it would be massively beneficial, earth-wise, for Americans and British to find new homes in Bangladesh and Somalia. The report’s British authors should set an example by moving to, say, Jambaluul.
UPDATE. Cuckoo comments: “On matters environmental, I note that Tim Flannery (palaeontologist) is described by the Age today as an ‘environmental scientist’. He must’ve been taking night classes.”