In
the Sunday Chat column of the Catholic Times, the writer gives the
readers some of his thoughts on the World Day of the Poor.
This
year we had a 'summer-like' spring and the 'hot and rainy' autumn is
passing quickly. The 54-day rainy season in 2020 was the longest since
meteorological observations have been made. In August of this year,
there was a record 'heavy rain', not a 'heat wave'. Before that in March
wildfires in the country burned an area that was half of Seoul. This
was a climate disaster in which the worst 'winter drought' and 'strong
wind' that we hadn't seen in 50 years overlapped. It all happened in
Korea.
The change in the weather is the result of climate change, that is, the earth’s temperature has risen. However, the consequences are even more frightening. In Pakistan, heat waves in 2015 and torrential rains in 2022 killed more than 2,000 people each. Wildfires in North America, Turkey, India, Pakistan, Australia, and Siberia in 2021 emitted 6.45 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide. Indonesia has announced plans to relocate its capital Jakarta to a safer area. The low-lying seaside deltas, the breadbaskets of Bangladesh and Vietnam, have abandoned rice cultivation due to high salinity levels. The disappearance of honeybees in Korea earlier this year foresees the collapse of the ecosystem. It was also attributed to the insecticide used, but there is an opinion that pollinating insects have not adapted to the flowering period due to the high (winter) temperature. Climate change is itself a result and a cause, heralding other unprecedented catastrophes.
At this point, the world has come together to make
a promise. Korea has declared that it will reduce greenhouse gas
emissions by 40% by 2030 and be carbon neutral by 2050. Reducing carbon
dioxide emissions from oil and coal is the only way to achieve this
goal. The next non-energy sector is methane and nitrous oxide which need
to be reduced. This mostly occurs in the agricultural and livestock
industry. However, due to droughts, wildfires, and floods, agricultural
land around the world is shrinking and being replaced with renewable
energy projects. Is this a good thing that farmland is shrinking?
It
is said that Korea, which has only a 20% grain self-sufficiency rate
and 46% food self-sufficiency rate, spends 40 trillion won every year on
importing agri-food. If Europe, Russia, the United States, Australia,
Vietnam, and Thailand, the major grain producers—wheat, corn, soybean,
and rice—control production and adjust prices, it means that the food
supply can cause a national crisis. In fact, international food prices
hit all-time highs due to the Ukraine-Russian War in 2022, record
droughts in the US and Midwest Canada, rising energy prices, and the
coronavirus economic crisis. New greed at the national level is also
beginning to make an appearance.
That is why Pope Francis made
the 33rd Sunday of the year the World Day of the Poor. In fact, it is
estimated that 193 million people in 53 countries suffer from "acute
food insecurity". it is necessary to warn and prepare for a food crisis
from the perspective of one's own country. But before that, Catholics
must start small actions for the world's poor, the 'family' living in
the common home.
