No, we’re not saying actual green grandpas – the elderly and climate change can go together much more than other age groups, that’s what we’re trying to say. At least, that’s what is being said by several news outlets in connection to the up-and-coming Conference on Aging, to be held at the White House.
It’s no secret that the world has been getting increasingly older. Since 1980, there are double the number of elderly people (i.e. people over 60). That number is said to continue to rise and by 2050, the planet will have 2 billion or more people older than 60. Now, they make up 11 percent of the population of the Earth and, by the first half of this century, that number will have doubled.
This is according to official numbers provided by the World Health Organization (WHO).
In the US, adults who have passed the 60 year border will make up just about a quarter of the whole population by 2050, while now, 18% of our citizens have already become a bit grey.
The CNN, as well as several other news agencies, are saying that the Conference on Aging, which will take place at the White House later today, the 13th of July, is the perfect opportunity for President Barack Obama to further the pressing problem of climate change unto the aged of the nation. Their opinion is that this is the perfect time to do so, as there is an overlapping between the rise in numbers of people over 60 and the rise of the threat that climate change poses over the environment.
There are even voices which try not such a safe message, saying that people over 60 have benefited from resources and products which damaged the environment, the effects of which will now be felt progressively by the younger generations.
One main argument that would win over southeastern opinion would be that in the near future, they may experience between 1 and a half and four more months with extremely hot temperatures. Estimates place this as being the cause for between 14 and 45 more deaths per 100 thousand people in that region. There is also a warning that people living in cities are more likely to have an increased risk.
Of course, this is a subject bound to stem public opinion against climate change among the elderly. Then again, this age group has had a much greater, even disproportional, tendency to vote. Sociological studies say that as time passes, and as we get over 50, we tend to think not of what has passed, but of how little is left, and how we can prioritize during that time.
Wanting a bigger impact, people over sixty logically are more attentive to current issues. That is precisely what the reports are trying to say. The general hope is now that the POTUS will present this issue as a connection to how the aging people could be taken better care of.
Image source: colourbox.com
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