Climate Change Effects: How Westerners Kill Africans (MAP)

WashPost's Ezra Klein spotted one of the most interesting maps we've seen in a while:

The first shows the world in terms of carbon emissions. America, for instance, is huge. So is China. And Europe. Africa is hardly visible. The second map shows the world in terms of increased mortality -- that is to say, deaths -- from climate change.

It shouldn't really surprise us that the United States seems bloated in the "cause" map and nearly non-existent in the "effects" map, should it?

Take a look at the EPA's page on climate change effects. Doesn't look too urgent. But if masses of United States citizens were suffering from what the Lancet calls "climate-sensitive health consequences" (malaria, malnutrition, diarrhea, and inland flood-related fatalities), stopping climate change would be a pretty high priority.

Check out the maps:

The map and detailed report from the Lancet are available in a PDF.

Another way to look at this is through the lens of a building international water crisis: lack of clean water is killing children, and innovative (if silly-sounding) solutions like the Peepoo bag can't keep up unless rich countries and poor countries start doing their parts.

And if you want to see climate change's effects only in America, well, that's not a pretty picture, either.