Nicholas Kristof, one of the few genuine moral authorities in the pundit class today, points out a brutal truth:

If we need any more proof that life is unfair, it is that subsistence villagers here in Africa will pay with their lives for our refusal to curb greenhouse gas emissions.

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Stories like this don’t tell themselves.

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When we think of climate change, we tend to focus on Alaskan villages or New Orleans hurricanes. But the people who will suffer the worst will be those living in countries like this, even though they don’t contribute at all to global warming.

Climate change is going to kill hundreds of thousands of people within our lifetimes. Something to keep in mind the next time your hear some suit bitching about gas mileage standards.

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