Creator
Veronica Palmer
Object
Infographic on the future displacement due to climate change.
Description
This poster is meant to visualize and clearly explain the projected amount of people who will be forced to migrate and leave their homes due to climate change. The first section of the poster explains the types of disasters that may cause people to have to flee their homes. The second section of the poster lists the projected numbers of people who will be displaced because of climate disasters by 2050 and where many of them will be from. The third section of the poster goes into a little more detail on the gravity of the situation with climate change. There are statistics for the rise in both energy demand and temperature by 2040. The final section of the poster explains possible solutions or ways to help those affected by climate change.This includes updating refugee definitions and working to lessen our impact on the planet. Although the situation is pretty dire right now, hopefully in the near future laws will be implemented to aid both those displaced by climate change and the climate in general. Throughout the whole poster there are various shades of green used in the design as the poster talks about the environment. Most of the numbers from the statistics are also large and bold to draw attention to them. This object hopefully works to inform the viewer of the future of climate displacement and the severity of the situation. The significance of this poster is that it should help advocate for these people who have been displaced by natural disasters as it’s clear this isn’t the issue of one government or people, but rather a global one and we need to help each other in any way we can.
A lot of the information for this article was gathered from the article “Climate Migrants Can’t Wait For Global Frameworks” by Elizabeth Ferris for the Wilson Quarterly. The statistic that there will be 216 million people displaced due to climate change by 2050 is from that article as well as the examples of what a natural disaster can be. Lastly, the concept that we should alter the definition of refugees to include those displaced because of “events seriously disturbing public order” in order to accurately aid these people is also from the Wilson Quarterly Article. Another source I used that we discussed in class was the “Climate Refugees” film. I used this film to explain some of the factors that will be contributing to the severity of climate change by 2050. An ethical theory that concerns this issue is deontological ethics. Deontological ethics decides if an action is right or wrong on the basis of its morals. We are all going to face the repercussions of climate change at some point because this is a global issue. Climate doesn’t see borders and limiting the amount of help people who have had to flee their homes because they don’t fit specific criteria of who a refugee is immoral. Because the right thing is to fight climate change and help those displaced because of natural disasters, the issue concerns deontological ethics.
Citations
Ferris, Elizabeth. “Climate Migrants Can’t Wait for Global Frameworks.” Wilson Quarterly.
Nash, Michael (Director). (2010) “Climate Refugees.” [Film].
United Nations. “Climate change and disaster displacement.” UNHCR.
Podesta, John. “The climate crisis, migration, and refugees.” Brookings, 25 Nov. 2019.
Davis, Josh. “Global temperatures are now likely to rise by more than 1.5C.” Natural History Museum, 9 Aug. 2021.
Friedrich, Johannes, Ge, Mengpin, and Pickens, Andrew. “This Interactive Chart Shows Changes in the World’s Top 10 Emitters.” World Resources Institute, 10 Dec. 2020.