Earth Day

Residents in the Langue de Barbarie section of Saint Louis in Senegal create rock or sand bag barriers to hold back the advancing sea

Photo IRIN/Phuong Tran

You may or may not think that the changing climate has anything to do with human activity on this planet.  You may or may not think that there is anything we can do about it.  The fact remains that the climate is changing,   and that the people who suffer the worst are those who can least afford to do anything about it.

The photo above shows the efforts of local people in Saint Louis, on the coast of Senegal, to combat steadily rising sea levels.  They think about it all the time.  Further north, the Sahara Desert is growing by 1000 sq km a year and people are having to travel further and further in desperate search of water.  In Mozambique, the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers flood with increasing frequency.  In Chokwe, people are learning to build grain silos in trees to keep the crops safe from floodwater.  Some communities are being moved to resettlement sites but then no longer have access to their farms or livelihoods.

Earth Day is not only about the environment, it's about people too.  People need to be able to live.

To those who have hunger, give bread.
To those who have bread, give a hunger for justice.