Affects of Climate Change on People and Their Lifestyle

Would You believe another Power Point by Neumo?

Ahead of the global climate talks in December 2009, nine photographers from the photo agency NOOR photographed climate

stories from around the world.

Their goal: to document some of the causes and consequences, from deforestation to

changing sea levels, as well as the people whose lives and jobs are part of the carbon

culture.

Russia's Reindeer Herders

Yes, almost like the Eskimos in Alaska

The 435-mile-long Yamal Peninsula in Russia's Siberia is one of the world's last great

wildernesses and home to the nomadic Nenet tribes.

For centuries, the Nenet have herded their domesticated reindeer to summer pastures

above the Arctic Circle. But now, the Nenet’s traditional way of life is threatened by warming

temperatures.

Nanets

• Nomadic people of Siberia

• Follows the Reindeer herds

• Stay mainly on the peninsula

• Lives like the Eskimo do

Nenet families live on the tundra in reindeer-skin tents.

Until recently, the Nenets crossed the frozen Ob River in November to set up camps farther

south. But the pilgrimage is now usually delayed until late December when the river ice

is thick enough to cross.

Firewood is gathered for a Nenet campsite. The peninsula is 1,250 miles northeast of Moscow,

and the Nenets migrate north to south more than 100 miles every year, spending only a few days in

one place, living off reindeer and fish.

A Nenet herder prepares to lasso a reindeer. The Nenet culture relies on reindeer for food and

clothing. Herds have been impacted, however, by the changing climate. The delay of the annual

migration south means less fresh pasture for the herds to feed on before spring.

The Nenets travel with herds of domesticated reindeer, using lassos when it's time to

slaughter one.

A Nenet family shares raw reindeer with pasta. A typical family slaughters a reindeer every

couple of weeks.

7. This Nenet, Vasilyi Ivanovich, is the elder of his tribe. Some 42,000 Nenets live along the

peninsula. Once a majority, they are now outnumbered by natural gas industry workers

The Yamal Peninsula stretches deep into the Arctic Ocean. In the language of the Nenet,

Yamal means “world’s end.” Like much of the Arctic, Yamal has been locked

in permafrost, land that was thought to be in deep freeze. But the permafrost is thawing in

places, and if the thaw goes deep and last long enough, the land will release methane, a

greenhouse gas much more potent than carbon dioxide.

Mobile phones, albeit sometimes hard to use, have become part of the Nenet network. The

peninsula contains huge natural gas reserves. It's already home to Russia's largest natural gas field, and more drilling is planned. Most gas is

exported to Europe.

Environmentalists fear that the drilling could ruin the peninsula's delicate Arctic ecology.

Similar to the North Slope of Alaska where Oil and Gas Drilling Rights are legislated and protected.

Gazprom, Russia's state energy giant, is building a new pipeline, a railway line and several bridges

More Climate Changes of Culture

•AMAZON RIVER

Brazil's Rain Forest

• When forests are cleared in Brazil's Amazon, the trees end up as lumber or charcoal, the latter produced in ovens like these outside the city of Rondon do Para.

The clearing of forests by fire and logging releases carbon dioxide earlier than would occur naturally, adding to greenhouse gas emissions.

The charcoal operation in Rondon do Para had 47 ovens when photographed and plans were to increase that to 200 in the near future. The charcoal is used at a steel smelter in Maraba, Brazil.

These ovens, and the once-forested land they are on, are owned by a cattle rancher. That's a typical scenario here, and often one whose legality is clouded.

Workers move charcoal into trucks for delivery to the steel smelter in Maraba. Each basket weighs 110 pounds.

Brazil's Amazon still accounts for more than half of the world's standing forest.

This man works at the Rondon do Para charcoal ovens. Many of the workers in Rondon have come from other areas of Brazil in search of jobs and, someday, their own land.

This is a typical worldwide dream. People get there by working the low-skilled, low safety controlled jobs, and hopefully sending money back home.

A truck moves logs near Rondon do Para. Brazil says a larger environmental police force reduced illegal logging in 2009 to its lowest level in two decades. The slumping economy, and reduced demand for beef and timber, could also be a factor.

Deforestation peaked in 2004 at 10,000 square miles, but it still happens. The 2,700 square miles cleared in 12 months through August 2009 is nine times the size of New York City.

The Amazon's trees are a major natural defense against global warming, acting as "sinks" by absorbing carbon dioxide. But burning those trees to make room for ranches and farms releases that CO2. About 75 percent of Brazil's CO2 emissions come from rain forest clearing.

Globally, deforestation accounts for up to 20 percent of carbon emissions -- more than all the world's cars, ships and planes combined.

East Africa's ‘Climate Refugees'

A woman waits to be processed into Dadaab, the world's largest refugee camp.

Located in Kenya 55 miles from the Somali border, the overcrowded camp houses many people fleeing violence in Somalia. Others have fled their homes due to famine and severe drought, a category now being described as "climate refugees."

A girl takes drinking water back to her family at the Dadaab refugee camp.

Some 700 children are born here each month. Built to house 90,000 people, the camp received 62,000 arrivals from Somalia in 2008 alone – nearly half children.

Ethiopians fleeing famine and drought in their country arrive in Galkayo, northern Somalia. Many of these refugees are trying to get to Yemen. The drought is so severe in Ethiopia that even camels have been dying of thirst.

Across Africa, warming temperatures are expected to worsen droughts and access to water. "By 2020, between 75 million and 250 million people are projected to be exposed to increased water stress due to climate change," the U.N. panel on climate change wrote in its most recent assessment. "The area suitable for agriculture, the length of growing seasons and yield potential, particularly along the margins of semi-arid and arid areas, are expected to decrease."

An elderly man rests at the hospital at Dadaab, sick after the long trek to the relative safety of the camp.

The camp, which is actually three separate areas, has operated since 1991. Nearly all its refugees are Somali, and many have lived there for more than a decade.

The worst drought in a decade is destroying crops and livestock across the horn of Africa. In Kenya, there are fears of a new humanitarian crisis.

Another reason why Somalia is such a mess.

Newly arrived refugees from Somalia and Ethiopia wait to be registered at the U.N. offices at Dadaab. Refugees without registration are not given any help.

Kenya closed its border with Somalia in 2007, but that has not stopped the refugee influx.

Women wait for food to be distributed at Dadaab. While most refugees here come from other countries, Kenya itself is feeling the pressure of severe drought.

"It is nearly certain that 2010 and possibly beyond will be periods of prolonged drought and water scarcity," the U.N. said of Kenya in October 2009

Somalis regularly cross this area into Kenya, bribing border guards in order to make it to Dadaab. In 2009, some 4,000 refugees made their way each month to the camp.

While parts of the Horn of Africa are experiencing severe drought, this area saw severe flooding that only aggravated poor farming conditions.

Ethiopian refugees arrive in Galkayo, Somalia, after several weeks travel. The immediate area is thought to house some 220,000 refugees, many trying to make it to Yemen.

Somali and Ethiopian refugees arrive in Aden, Yemen, after crossing the Gulf of Aden on smugglers' boats.

Some die on the way, beaten to death or thrown overboard. Tens of thousands cross each year, hoping for a better life but often being deported back to Somalia or Ethiopia.

Ethiopian refugees in Galkayo build ramshackle huts while waiting to move on toward Yemen. The town in northern Somalia includes several U.N. refugee camps.

The Maldives is situated in the South West of Sri Lanka, on the equator. The numerous coral reef islands, 1,190 in total, form an archipelago of 26 natural atolls ( groups of neighbouring coral islands). These 26 atolls are organised into 19 administrative atolls with the capital island of Male' established as an entity of its own forming the twentieth division. Seen from air, the atolls and the islands form breathtakingly beautiful patterns against the blue depths of the Indian Ocean.

Maldives' Rising Oceans

• While the sources of greenhouse gases are often in the industrial world, consequences often are visible in non-industrial areas. The Indian Ocean nation of Maldives, which is struggling to hold back rising seas, is one such example. The capital Malé, seen here, is one of the world's most densely populated cities. Nearly 104,000 people are crammed onto an island about a square mile in size.

The Maldives capitalizes heavily on its main natural resource, its bewildering collection of pristine tropical isles.

Malé sits on an island just three feet above sea level. The natural shape was added to by filling shallow waters with sand and rocks. That took the land closer to an outside coral reef, reducing the reef's ability to buffer the island from storms and rising seas.

To counter the tides and storms, a $60 million concrete barrier system, part of it seen here, now rings Malé.

"I chose Maldives because it's the country which is the closest to sea level," says photographer Francesco Zizola.

"If it's true what the majority of scientists claim regarding global warming, then Maldives would be the first country to disappear underwater."

Residents often take advantage of low tide to collect rocks and other material to reinforce exposed areas near their homes or businesses.

Over the last century, sea levels globally have risen about eight inches, much of that from melting ice sheets in Greenland and the Antarctic Peninsula, as well as thermal expansion of warmer waters. Eight inches might not sound like much, but for Maldives every inch counts.

The $60 million seawall was financed by Japan and runs nearly four miles around Malé. It's about 11 feet tall.

Rising sea levels are not the only worry here. Warming seas, and more acidic seas due to CO2 emissions, have the potential to impact fisheries and the coral reefs on which many fish rely. Fishing makes up 20 percent of Maldives' gross domestic product and provides an estimated 22,000 jobs.

Sand is mined at Villingili Island and some of the other 1,200 that comprise Maldives. The practice is often done illegally, most of it to supply the cement industry, making the islands even more vulnerable to rising seas, high tides and storms.

Besides climate concerns, Maldives struggles with trash from locals and tourists. Most of its garbage is sent to Thilafushi Island, also known as "Rubbish Island." Originally a vast lagoon, it became an island in 1992 when garbage was used to fill it in.

Workers incinerate or bury most of the waste. Crushed cans, metals and cardboard are shipped to India, but any hazardous waste is not removed from regular garbage.

Maldives has an international airport on Hulhulé Island.

The runway is just 6 feet above sea level. At high tide, that can narrow to just 20 inches.

Residents of Malé and the rest of Maldives are part of an island culture that dates back at least 2,000 years.

"We do not want to leave the Maldives," President Mohamed Nasheed has said, "but we also do not want to be climate refugees living in tents for decades."

• Most of this was stolen from an msnbc thingy

• Neumoized of course