Fashion Fights Poverty is causing waves in the fashion community by making this year’s Annual Ben
efit CarbonFree®. Every year Fashion Fights Poverty brings the top eco and ethical high-end fashion designers to the nation’s capital. In what the Washington Post describes as “one of the largest fashion fundraisers in Washington, DC,” the Annual Benefit raises money to combat poverty in some of the poorest parts of the world.
By focusing on sustainability, eco friendly, and ethical designs, Fashion Fights Poverty sets the bar for responsibility in the fashion industry. This year’s Annual Benefit exemplifies that commitment, as Fashion Fights Poverty has offset the event’s carbon footprint with Carbonfund.org. Take their message to heart – know where your clothes come from, who makes them, and what they’re made out of. We can all make an impact and help better the world through fashion.
A Purdue University-led team determined that urban dwellers in developing countries could be the most adversely affected population by global warming. These include working people in countries like Bangladesh and Zambia. Even more developed countries like Mexico and others would be among those most at risk from more heat waves, droughts and extreme weather, which affect agricultural production and can raise food prices.
Thomas Hertel, professor at Purdue and executive director of the university’s Center for Global Trade Analysis, said in Science Daily,
“Food is a major expenditure for the poor and, while those who work in agriculture would have some benefit from higher grains prices, the urban poor would only get the negative effects… This is an important finding given that the United Nations projects a continuing shift in population concentrations from rural to urban areas in virtually all of these developing countries.”
With nearly 1 billion of the world’s poor living on less than $1 a day, extreme events can have a devastating impact, he said.
Other reports on global warming impacts relate the harm on coastal areas in developed as well as developing countries, and the impact of droughts and extreme weather on agriculture and public health globally.
The complete article on the urban poor, co-authored by The World Bank’s Syud A. Ahmed, is at Environmental Research Letters.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the midst of a five-day visit to India has not been received warmly by her hosts as she broaches the subject of carbon emissions reductions. Clinton is urging India to reduce its emissions in accord with proposed action of the rest of the world to stabilize atmospheric concentrations of global warming-causing carbon dioxide emissions.
Ms. Clinton asserts “no inherent contradiction between poverty eradication and moving towards a low-carbon economy,” a claim that some officials disagree on.
“There is simply no case for the pressure that we, who have been among the lowest emissions per capita, face to actually reduce emissions,” Jairam Ramesh, India’s environment minister told Ms. Clinton.
Here you have the paradox – how can we fight global warming without India’s participation? How can we get India to participate when they have more pressing issues at hand? Is there an inherent contradiction between economic and social development and clean energy?
There is no clear answer to these questions, hence the paradox. But there are real steps that we can take today the fight global warming and support local communities.
Live Climate is an organization that fights poverty through the use of carbon financing. Their projects not only reduce emissions, but also bring electricity to remote communities or provide work to otherwise under-employed people. Also, there are clear areas of convergence where fighting global warming will certainly help improve the quality of life of the poor. Many type of renewable energy, for example, are highly probable and can be implemented in remote locations that wouldn’t otherwise have power. And a fundamental principle of fighting global warming – improved energy efficiency – should help allow everyone to do more with less.
