Research shows human activity is gradually increasing Earth鈥檚 temperature and causing more frequent natural disasters. These disasters have enormous impacts on human life 鈥� from more frequent droughts and 欧美口爆视频 to polluted air and deforestation that threatens traditional and Indigenous ways of life. These seven stories examine the ways 欧美口爆视频 students, faculty and alumni are exploring the impacts of climate change on human life and human rights.
Illustrations by Sally Deng; Photos Phaedra Pezzullo; iStock/dutourdumonde; iStock/TriciaDaniel; iStock/brittak
More than 326,000 people call Dadaab home, but the vast sea of tents in the Kenyan desert is really the opposite. It鈥檚 the world鈥檚 largest refugee camp, and its occupants, mostly Somalians, must eventually return whence they fled or find a more hospitable place to take them in.
Gayle Smith (Engl鈥�78), head of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), has been visiting places like it for decades.
鈥淧eople come away from a refugee camp with two thoughts oftentimes,鈥� she said in an interview in her Washington office, a few blocks from the White House. 鈥淥ne is a level of shock. They imagine what it would mean if we suddenly had to live in a field with a blue tarp and just wait. You鈥檒l talk to a lot of people who are despairing, but you鈥檒l talk to as many people who, if we can help get them back home or help them where they are now, are pretty resilient. I think that鈥檚 sometimes missed. On one level you think 鈥榯his is horrible,鈥� on another level you walk away saying, 鈥楾hose are some of the most courageous, strongest, amazing people I鈥檝e ever met.鈥欌€�
USAID is the federal agency charged with international development 鈥� helping people outside the U.S. improve basic local living conditions and recover from catastrophe, including mass violence, natural disasters, extreme poverty, famine and disease.
Smith 鈥� nominated by President Obama to run the agency and confirmed by the Senate 鈥� took charge last year amid unprecedented demand for its expertise and resources.
In June, the United Nations reported that, for the first time in history, the number of people displaced from their homes due to conflict and persecution alone exceeded 60 million.
鈥淲e respond to pretty much every humanitarian crisis on the planet,鈥� said Smith, 60. 鈥淭here are the really big ones that get the world鈥檚 attention. Those range from Syria to the Ebola epidemic to the earthquake in Nepal. Then there are the smaller ones, like a local food emergency in one small part of a small country. What鈥檚 happening today is that there are more crises at the same time. Many of them are more complex than some in the past, and they鈥檙e chronic 鈥� they鈥檙e lasting longer.鈥�
She speaks from experience.
鈥淲e respond to pretty much every humanitarian crisis on the planet,鈥� said USAID鈥檚 Gayle Smith (center left) seen here early in her career.
After 欧美口爆视频, Smith spent 20 years as a journalist reporting from Africa, then joined the National Security Council (NSC) during the Clinton Administration, focusing on African affairs. She consulted for the World Bank and UNICEF and held high-level USAID positions. She鈥檇 rejoined the NSC when Obama nominated her for USAID鈥檚 top job.
鈥淕ayle鈥檚 energy and passion have been instrumental in guiding America鈥檚 international development policy, responding to a record number of humanitarian crises worldwide, and ensuring that development remains at the forefront of the national security agenda at a time when USAID is more indispensable than ever,鈥� the president said then.
Sworn in on Dec. 2, Smith assumed leadership of nearly 10,000 employees in 100 countries, many of them volatile and dangerous.
She grew up in Columbus, Ohio. Math had always been a strength, but she majored in English at 欧美口爆视频 and eventually became a journalist. While traveling in Greece and Egypt after graduation she grew interested in international issues.
鈥淭he more I saw, the more questions I had,鈥� she said, 鈥渁nd the more I wanted to go chase down the answers.鈥�
For the next two decades she hopscotched across Africa, reporting on wars, famines, refugees and other issues as a freelancer. In the early 1990s she was approached by Clinton鈥檚 transition team and served as senior director for African affairs at the NSC and as senior advisor to the administrator and chief of staff of USAID.
It鈥檚 a sunny but not particularly muggy June day in Washington six months into Smith鈥檚 tenure as USAID chief. She鈥檚 sitting in her office on the sixth floor of the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center, a gleaming modern edifice set among neoclassical buildings along Pennsylvania Avenue. A cherished photo of her late parents taken in Nova Scotia rests on an end table. Instead of a nameplate on her desk, two signs face visitors. One says 鈥淕irl Boss,鈥� the other 鈥淟uGyiMaMa,鈥� which means the same in Burmese.
The more I saw, the more questions I had.
Smith had recently returned from Turkey, where she dropped in on a USAID Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) charged, in part, with helping manage the epic refugee exodus from Syria. DARTs are the agency鈥檚 first unit of response when catastrophe strikes and typically include experts in logistics, nutrition, water, sanitation, hygiene, emergency shelter, plus military advisors.
Historically, USAID has dispatched a few DART teams every year, but the number has been rising. Working on the ground with the United Nations and other aid organizations, they can move money and import supplies quickly.
鈥淲e are the world鈥檚 leading donor to humanitarian crises, and we are almost every time the first and the fastest to respond, whether it鈥檚 a war, an earthquake, or some other epidemic,鈥� she says.
There鈥檚 plenty of work ahead for USAID. Kenya has announced it intends to close Dadaab. Civil war rages in Syria. Typhoons, drought and, alas, armed conflicts, are inevitable.
When they happen, Smith believes people remember those who are there to lend a helping hand: 鈥淚 have found that everywhere I travel, regular people, regardless of the politics of the day, remember that it鈥檚 America that stands up.鈥�
Top photo: 漏 Thomas Trutsche/Getty Images; Above: Courtesy Gayle Smith
Gayle Smith leads the U.S. Government response to foreign humanitarian crisis.