It's easy to say that we're the ones hit hardest by climate change while contributing the least to it, but only those truly suffering its effects understand what that really means. Driving around in our own cars, spending our work and personal lives in air-conditioned spaces during the hot summer, eating food perfectly suited to the weather, and then shedding crocodile tears over the miseries of climate change is just a joke.

Even though the famous "Let them eat cake" line is likely a myth attributed to her, if the Queen of France were alive today, she'd probably suggest installing AC if the poor are suffering from scorching heat. Looking around, many people who constantly complain about the suffering of the poor due to climate change have likely only seen poverty in movies and read about it in books.

If they've ever actually met someone poor, they probably first worried about the person's germs and smell towards them before pretending to be kind. Is this what real climate leadership looks like in Pakistan?

Another, less intense form of climate demagoguery sometimes appears in Pakistan. These individuals, often educated in grammar schools but maintaining a lifestyle reminiscent of government school graduates, are gradually becoming more popular. They strategically use their English fluency in upper-class circles, especially when dealing with donors or those who benefit from their projects.

However, when they need to connect with the general public,........

© The Express Tribune