“Sir Richard Branson, the billionaire founder of the Virgin Group who said he would ride out Hurricane Irma on his private Caribbean island, has emerged from his fortified wine cellar unscathed.
“’All of the team who stayed on Necker and Moskito during the hurricane are safe and well,’” Branson said in a blog post Thursday, which he explained was transcribed with a satellite phone after the storm brought down all lines of communication.
Here’s what you need to know about climate change: Most of the rich will survive just fine.
Sir Richard Branson, the billionaire founder of the Virgin Group, rode out Hurricane Irma on his private Caribbean island, within his concrete wine cellar below “the Great House.” Later, he and his team emerged unscathed. Branson posted pictures of people smiling and bedded down in a room filled with furniture, backpacks and makeshift beds.
I’m glad Branson and his team survived so well. But the inhabitants of other islands in Irma's path haven’t been as lucky.
The world’s poor live in houses and in places particularly vulnerable to hurricanes, floods, tornados, fires, famine, and the release of toxic chemicals, all related to intense climate change.
Which is why environmental justice – reducing such burdens on the poor – should become a major issue for the U.S. and the world.
By Amy B Wang and Alex Horton
