Ground vs sky

Wealthy, western nations nationals create filth on a grand scale; poor nations would never be able to

Nation states have drawn lines in the ground, in the oceans and even have national airspace. I remember my first ever visit to the United States. Despite weeks of use, my shoes remained clean like I had just bought them. In Pakistan, shoes can only remain in that condition inside the shoebox. After walking in them for a few minutes, they collect all the dust and dirt. But I always wonder what those shoes would look like after a walk over the skies above wealthy nations.

Wealthy and western nations have kept their roads, streets and public pathways clean and neat. I am sure we have seen quite frequently how people in Pakistan throw trash in the streets and toss them out of their car window while on the freeway. And I am also sure we have on more than one occasion commented how people in the west never throw their trash like that and that there are strict penalties for those who litter the streets and roads. But I am also sure that it is not a common knowledge that the wealthy and western nations and their nationals create filth on such a grand scale, which the poor nations would never be able to in the foreseeable future.

It is a classic case of what can be seen with the naked eye. We have seen the images of the streets of Karachi or Mumbai filled with garbage and people walking and driving through it. It is a permanent existence of everyday life in many cities and villages around the third world. What we have almost never seen, except those high tech NASA images, is that the skies over wealthiest nations are constantly getting bombarded with an enormous amount of carbon emissions. Is there a police on duty pulling people over and giving them a citation for sending carbon dioxide into the atmosphere? The clean society of the west is nothing but a stubborn illusion. I do realise that it is a lot to consider because carbon emissions do not have a picture or a face. However, the images of garbage-filled streets of poor nations have been published many times and in many publications. We have seen war torn affectees but have we also known climate torn affectees?

An Oxfam report titled “Inequality Kills” has concluded that the rich countries emit far more greenhouse gas than the poor countries and yet, the poor countries bear the brunt of the resulting planetary warming far more than the wealthy countries. A sad estimate predicts that by 2030, global warming would kill about 231,000 each year in poor countries. According to one study by the Global Inequality Lab, the richest 10% of the global population emits about 48% of the global greenhouse emissions as of 2019. The top 1% emits 17% of the total. Researchers at Oxfam have estimated that the richest 1% could emit 30 times more than the poorest 50% and 175 times more than the poorest 10%.

This data crunching and statistical mumbo-jumbo don’t make it to the cover of Time or Forbes magazine, where the average joe might finally realise where the real filth is. The ground in poor nations might be unkind to our nice pair of Nike but the sky above the wealthy nations is much filthier and that is where the real action is.

I’d like to take this opportunity to comment in the end that the possible removal of Imran Khan from Pakistan’s politics will prove to be a bane for Pakistan’s national security. Climate change is a national security issue not just an environmental cause. Poor nations are going to suffer enormously from a warming planet. For Pakistan and India, the threat really is from climate change rather than from each other. Sadly, only the Imran Khan led government made noise about and took concrete steps against this threat. I’d be surprised if the rest of the political lot even understands it.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 10^th, 2022.

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