Blog Post 1
Markie Nelson
3/3/2022
Professor Jenkins
American Government and Politics
Blog Post #1
Climate change is a major problem all around the world that affects everyone, but specifically the homeless community. Climate change and global warming go hand in hand. According to NASA, “Climate change is a long-term change in the average weather patterns that have come to define Earth’s local, regional and global climates” (climate.nasa.org). Climate change is caused by human actions and is usually irreversible. Fossil fuel burning is a major contender to the climate change crisis. People do not realize how big a small action can have on the environment around us, whether good or bad. Many large cities must find alternative ways to limit their contribution to climate change. Some cities like Houston use a heat-mapping project to gain volunteers to create heat maps. It has only been recently people have realized how serious the climate change crisis is today. Scientists have explained that climate change will only get worse, with temperatures fluctuating, over the next few decades. Climate change effects include, “glaciers have shrunk, ice on rivers and lakes is breaking up earlier, plant and animal ranges have shifted and trees are flowering sooner” (climate.nasa.org). A solution is still questionable, but scientists are still striving to find methods to steer this problem in the right direction. Climate change will always be a problem because it will take forever to get people on the same page moving forward, because everyone has their own opinions about the matter, but hopefully for the common good everyone can come together.
Homeless people do not get the luxury of going to their homes to warm up or cool off. With climate change the weather is going through Jurassic changes more often than usual. The Climate Reality Project stated, “Extreme heat can be deadly for anyone, but people living on the streets without access to air conditioning or cool drinking water are particularly susceptible to heat stress and even heat stroke” (climaterealityproject.org). With climate change increasing this also decreases the air quality making it harder for homeless people. These people are, “the most exposed to weather conditions and the social and economic problems caused by extreme weather and climate change…” (link.springer). With harsher temperatures homeless people develop health problems and tend to die more frequently than others in the economy. Homeless people cannot provide for themselves when they face these temperature changes, so they usually go to jurassic measures to aide for themselves, which gives them the bad reputation that was attained from higher economic status people.
Many people of a higher social economic status tend to see homeless people as worthless and think they put themselves, and sometimes families, in that particular situation. Others from a lower social economic status connect from a similar level with homeless people, even if they are not as poor as homeless people. Usually, these lower-class people are more willingly to help homeless people. A child named Rene said, “The shelters were so cold, and their blankets were very thin, but it was way better than the nights outside” (Stopchildhomelessness.org). It is very easy to stereotype homeless people as dead beats, who got themselves in trouble by doing the wrong things with their lives. Alternatively, that is not true, and many are victims of domestic violence or children who cannot provide for themselves yet. People of general higher status than homeless people also are inclined to label homeless people as mentally disturbed or a liability. While some cases could be true, but a generality is homeless people endure a lot more hardships than other people. So, with the climate changing people do not realize the amount of pain and suffering they go through just to survive. Sadly too, climate change is a situation that they did not bring upon themselves. So, they are having to go through other peoples’ consequences for a lifestyle they, of course, do not want.
Finding a solution for homelessness and climate change is not easy and will not take a day to fix. Solutions today are in the works, NASA explained, “…we use proactive measures to reduce MASA’s environmental, institutional, programmatic, and operational risks” (climate.nasa.org). Changes must be made now to allow for changes to happen in the future. Many companies are going eco-friendly in order to reduce a carbon footprint. Climate change impacts everyone, but people do not realize the significant impact it has on the people without homes. These people do not have the necessary means to provide for themselves, or families, in a healthy way. Many shelters have recently become available for homeless people. Even though this is not a permanent fix, this at least gives them a break from the harsh conditions they endure every day.
Sources:
2. https://www.climaterealityproject.org/blog/homelessness-and-climate-crisis
3. https://climate.nasa.gov/solutions/resources/
4. https://climate.nasa.gov/resources/global-warming-vs-climate-change/
5. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11524-020-00483-1