UK Independent goes RED

Via Tree Hugger - Bono takes UK newspaper, The Indenpendent, RED. In line with his Project Red campaign to raise awareness of AIDS, the heading of each article (online anyway) informs the reader that, "half the revenue from the edition will be donated to the Global Fund to Fight Aids."

Of course the first article I click on is about climate change in Africa. The article paints a dreary picture of the anticipated effects of climate change on Africa and how the poor will be hardest hit. A small glimmer of hope seems to come from Sir Nick Stern, head of Government Economic Policy, who is conducting a report due out in October. He is quoted as saying, "'We can provide resources to help people adapt to the inevitable impacts of climate change in the coming years,' concludes Sir Nick. 'But if we act now, and strongly, to mitigate climate change, it is likely that we could reduce the risks of these scenarios while continuing economic growth.'"

Sir Nick's comments are great and all, but I don't think development and donor agencies will make the connection (or bother to integrate mitigation efforts into their current projects) - so later work will need to be focused on climate change remediation efforts, or rather, attempts to help after the fact.

The next article I click was published yesterday, "West's failure over climate change 'will kill 182m Africans,'" which cites a recent Christian Aid report, which spouts off a similar concern: "The potential ravages of climate change are so severe that they could nullify the efforts to end the legacy of poverty and disease across developing countries, the charity says."

At what point do we stop predicting and start acting?