Consumption-driven climate change leaves the poor worse off

Image: Jamie Kidston, ANU - Climate change is disproportionately impacting the poor, elderly and people with a disability , according to an expert from The Australian National University (ANU). Professor Sharon Friel also argues we need a better long term approach to mitigate this problem. She is calling for Australia and the world to move away from what she calls the 'consumptagenic' system - the institutions, policies, values and behaviours that drive excess production and consumption, which then act as drivers for climate change and health inequalities. "The world has warmed to dangerous levels and the disruption to the Earth system is profound," Professor Friel said. "No one will be untouched by climate change, but it is not experienced equally. "Affluent people can afford to live in insulated buildings with air-conditioning and air purifiers. The poor, older people, or those with pre-existing conditions are the least able to adapt to changing conditions, and live in dwellings and environments that amplify its effects." Professor Friel says this will add to existing disease burdens and premature mortality, which are already unequally distributed.