It was one picture that was worth more than a thousand words.
A poignant photo of a refugee from Syria selling pens in Lebanon with his sleeping daughter draped over one shoulder has flashed around the world and brought home to many the tragedy that is unfolding in the Middle East.
Who took the photo is not clear. Icelandic web developer Gissur Simonarson somehow obtained it and sent it out on social media last week.
The reaction from people wanting to help was immediate. As of press-time earlier this week, nearly $200,000 had been raised.
Simonarson was able to track the man down and found that his name is Abdul Halim Attar. He is a Palestinian-Syrian refugee living in Lebanon with his nine-year-old son Abdelillah and his four-year-old daughter Reem.
Attar has been overwhelmed by the support and wants to use the money to educate his children and to help other Syrian refugees.
Stalin reportedly said, “If only one man dies of hunger, that is a tragedy. If millions die, that’s only statistics.”
The story of Abdul Halim Attar illustrates the truth of what Stalin said (and if there's anybody who knew about the deaths of millions, it was he).
According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the world had 19.5 million refugees as of the end of 2014.
Turkey hosts the largest number of refugees, with 1.59 million. Syria is the top source of refugees, having overtaken Afghanistan.
The International Red Cross says there are more environmental refugees than political refugees in the world.
With human-caused climate change, some scientists predict the number of environmental refugees could grow to 50 million by 2050. Others predict 200 million.
A major scientific study released last March linked climate change to a multi-year drought in the Middle East, the Syrian civil war and the rise of ISIS.
The 2007 – 2010 drought was the worst since modern measurements began a century ago.
Widespread crop failure led to widespread migration of farm families to urban centres, food shortages, and general unrest.
Climate modelling suggests that human-caused climate change has made the probability of a three-year drought in the Middle East as severe as that of 2007−2010 two to three times more likely than by natural variability alone.
Unless we are prepared to take meaningful action to control climate change, we are going to see millions more Abdul Halim Attars and their hungry children.
Meaningful action to control climate change means carbon fee-and-dividend – putting a price on using fossil fuels and then distributing the proceeds in equal dividends to everyone.
A global carbon fee-and-dividend set at the same level as B.C.'s carbon tax of $30 per tonne carbon dioxide would generate about $180 per adult per year around the world.
Although it might not sound like much, that money would mean people like Abdul Halim Attars would have to sell that many fewer pens to feed themselves and their children.