{"id":214210,"date":"2022-06-06T12:00:58","date_gmt":"2022-06-06T11:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=214210"},"modified":"2025-01-10T15:06:41","modified_gmt":"2025-01-10T15:06:41","slug":"upset-with-the-opulence-of-the-rich-but-the-worlds-children-are-paying-the-bill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2022\/06\/upset-with-the-opulence-of-the-rich-but-the-worlds-children-are-paying-the-bill\/","title":{"rendered":"Upset with the Opulence of the Rich? But the World\u2019s Children Are Paying the Bill"},"content":{"rendered":"

30 May 2022 – <\/em>The excesses committed by rich people can be deadly\u2013and in fact they are. Be it about food, energy or overall waste, such excesses have been depleting the world\u2019s natural resources and pushing both current and future generations towards the edge of a predictable abyss.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe world\u2019s richest countries are providing healthier environments for children within their borders, yet are disproportionately contributing to the destruction of the global environment\u201d. Credit: Ashfaq Yusufzai\/IPS<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Over-consumption in the world\u2019s richest countries is destroying children\u2019s environments globally, explains UNICEF<\/a> (the UN Children Fund) in its report Innocenti Report Card 17: Places and Spaces<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe world\u2019s richest countries are providing healthier environments for children within their borders, yet are disproportionately contributing to the destruction of the global environment.\u201d<\/p>\n

In fact, if everybody in the world consumed resources at the rate people do in Economic Cooperation and Development OECD<\/a> (38 countries), and the European Union (EU<\/a>) States (27), the equivalent of 3.3 Earths would be needed to keep up with consumption levels.<\/p>\n

But if everyone were to consume resources at the rate at which people in Canada, Luxembourg and the United States do, at least five Earths would be needed<\/p>\n

UNICEF compares how both OECD and the EU countries fare in providing healthy environments for children.<\/p>\n

For this purpose, it features indicators such as exposure to harmful pollutants including toxic air, pesticides, damp and lead; access to light, green spaces and safe roads; and countries\u2019 contributions to the climate crisis, consumption of resources, and the dumping of e-waste.<\/p>\n

Destroying children\u2019s environment.. And lives<\/strong><\/em><\/h3>\n

\u201cNot only are the majority of rich countries failing to provide healthy environments for children within their borders, they are also contributing to the destruction of children\u2019s environments in other parts of the world,\u201dsaid<\/a> Gunilla Olsson, Director of UNICEF Office of Research \u2013 Innocenti.<\/p>\n

\u201cMounting waste, harmful pollutants and exhausted natural resources are taking a toll on our children\u2019s physical and mental health and threatening our planet\u2019s sustainability.\u201d<\/p>\n

Learn more, please<\/strong><\/em><\/h3>\n

The Innocenti Report <\/a>includes other key findings. See some of them:<\/p>\n