Stuart Duncan

Is climate change just a problem for Portland urbanites, or does it affect the rest of us?

Author (someone in the justice community, perhaps. Or a rancher, fisherman, etc.)

1. Our opinions about climate change often reflect our social and political identities more than they reflect science. Ironically, many of the people most concerned about climate change (wealthy, educated Portlanders and other city-dwellers) are most insulated from its impacts, while many of those least concerned about it (farmers, ranchers, loggers, the poor, etc) are likely to be hit sooner and harder.
2. This is a justice issue as much as anything else. Less-affluent communities get hit this way and this way, etc.
3. Logging communities – increased fire season, spread of tree diseases/parasites
4. Ranchers/farmers – heat affects animals, what crops you can grow. Possible conflicts over water rights.
5. Coastal communities supported by fishing – Ocean acidification/hypoxia mean reduced catches. Degraded freshwater habitat means less salmon. Shellfish hatcheries already feeling the squeeze, some moving away from Oregon to Hawaii, where the problem is not as bad, taking their economic activity with them.
6. Tribal communities – already on marginal land, how to cope with changing conditions? Possible violation of treaty rights (if salmon extinct, how to hunt, fish, etc, in traditional & accustomed places?).
7. The poor – Deaths/health impacts from heat-related problems, increased cost of living, etc.
8. Despite all this, the people least vulnerable are frequently the ones most active about it. They have the time/leisure to consider long-term, large-scale problems like this, but they’re also insulated from the problems. The rest of us have more immediate pressures, but just because the loan shark isn’t demanding his due right now doesn’t mean that interest isn’t accruing while we focus on more immediate matters. If this were a rational consideration of risk and reward, the rest of us would be the ones demanding that wealthy city-dwellers take action, not the other way around.