CNN
With the ongoing climate crisis many are focused on how the Western countries, typically the United States, will fair with increasing changes in the weather, economy, culture, and daily life in these places. However, many neglect the third world countries and what challenges they will face in these coming years due to the rising impact of climate change. In Christian Parenti’s book Tropic of Chaos he focuses on the history of these nations and what climate change will do to these fragile states. What I am particularly fond of is how the countries in Africa will fare due to the climate crisis.
Parenti explores how African nations, such as Kenya, will react to increasing changes in the local climate. In his chapter about Kenya, he talks about how important cattle is to Kenyans, “Here, nothing happens without cattle. To marry, a young man must provide a bride price in the form of cattle… To store wealth, one builds up a herd. Animals are currency: if a child needs medicine or an education, you sell or trade cattle.” (Parenti 44). He further goes on to say how much raiding has increased due to the El Ninos and how the droughts in the area cause many people to resort to violence and cattle raiding. Furthermore, he lists a report in the summer of 2008 about how many people have died due to cattle raiding.
A thing to note is that Parenti wrote this book about a decade ago, surely the situation in Kenya would have changed by now? According to Minority Rights, a group dedicated to making sure the poorest and most disadvantaged minorities and indigenous people around the globe can have their problems heard by the world, states that due to increasing numbers of droughts, more and more families are going hungry every day, and the cattle are dying at increasing rates. This leads many families to give away their daughters as wives in exchange of cattle so they can survive. This is the reality of living in modern day Kenya.
Time Magazine "Kenya Is Trying to End Child Marriage. But Climate Change Is Putting More Young Girls at Risk"So, it
is plain to see that Parenti saw only the beginning of this trend when he was
first writing the book. It is scary to see the dangerous and unforeseen impacts
climate change have in other parts of the world. Surely, this must be a sign that
we must correct carbon emissions and invest in green technologies to stop children
being sold into marriages and other unaccounted for consequences.
Sources-
https://minorityrights.org/trends2019/kenya/
Tropic of Chaos Christian Parenti
https://time.com/5878719/climate-change-kenya-child-marriage/
http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/africa/06/16/kenya.school.maasai/index.html
It is truly shocking how wishing all these years nothing changed which only proves that climate change situation is only getting worse. It was a great post though!
ReplyDeleteThe cattle raid crisis is one of the biggest issues facing Kenya. These raids have been going on for hundreds of years. It is insane the things these people will do. Like you said, this situation leads to families to exchange their daughters as wives for cattle. The situation is so dire. Great post and way to bring some additional information to this topic, Harrison.
ReplyDeleteYou noted in your piece that there was already a decreasing amount of cattle available to Kenyans, and it is truly disappointing to see that the situation has been exacerbated by inaction.
ReplyDeleteIt's the " giving away their daughters as wives in exchange of cattle" for me. I cant fathom a desperate position enough to send a daughter I raised away for cattle.
ReplyDeleteLoz said it. A single occurrence of this is truly heartbreaking. The concentration of economic importance in cattle really illustrates the importance of diversity in agriculture. It seems to me that specific aid to decrease the economic reliance on cattle would mitigate tensions in the long run. Maybe even inspire collaboration.
ReplyDeleteI also cannot imagine being in a situation where you must give away your daughters to get cattle. It makes me wonder, is there any other option for them? Are cattle the only way they can survive when all of the cattle are dying?
ReplyDeleteYou make a very compelling point Harrison. The United States will most likely fair pretty well in the ever changing climate and overall condition of the globe as climate change begins to really ramp up. But these third world countries will look towards the U.S. to help fix what we have started which is global climate change and mass migration of different populations.
ReplyDeleteIts a shame that the problem has worsened since Pareneti wrote about it. More people are starving, more cattle are dying, and countries like Kenya are experiencing more droughts. Pretty soon these people will come to the US and other western countries for help and we'll need to be prepared to give assistance to those who need it.
ReplyDelete