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bemildred

(90,061 posts)
Mon Dec 7, 2015, 01:18 PM Dec 2015

Syria a preview of the climate wars to come

It is sheer coincidence that Paris was struck by terrorists on the eve of the annual international climate conference, COP 21. To some, the attacks may appear like an unfortunate distraction in the face of efforts to meet a civilisational challenge like no other. Yet there are important cross-connections between security and climate concerns.

Runaway climate change will impose growing stress on natural systems and human societies, and it could well usher in a whole new age of conflict. We live, after all, in a world marked by profound disparities in wealth, social and demographic pressures, unresolved grievances, and a seemingly endless supply of arms of all calibres. Far from being a separate concern, climate change is certain to intensify many existing challenges. More frequent and intense droughts, floods, and storms will likely play havoc with harvests and compromise food security. Extreme weather events, sea-level rise, and spreading disease vectors could undermine the economic viability and long-term habitability of some areas. The result could be escalating social discontent, mass displacement, and worse.

In fact, such scenarios are no longer mere conjecture. Consider Syria. Several consecutive years of severe drought in the country's agricultural heartland had fateful consequences as underground water sources ran dry, livestock herds died, and farmland turned to desert. Close to three-quarters of farming households in Syria's northeast experienced total crop failure. Some 2-3 million people fell into extreme poverty. A number of factors are behind this calamity, including climate change, overexploitation of groundwater due to subsidies for water-thirsty crops like cotton and wheat, inefficient irrigation systems and overgrazing.

The drought led to an exodus of perhaps as many as 1.5 million people from rural to urban areas. But Syria's cities were already under economic stress, in part because of the influx of refugees from neighbouring Iraq following the US invasion of 2003. Growing numbers of destitute people found themselves in intense competition for scarce jobs and social services. Francesco Femia and Caitlin Werrell of the Centre for Climate and Security point out that "the role of disaffected rural communities in the Syrian opposition movement has been prominent compared to their equivalents in other 'Arab Spring' countries".

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/opinion/Syria-a-preview-of-the-climate-wars-to-come-30274481.html

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randys1

(16,286 posts)
3. Th very idea of climate change connected to terrorism makes the cons laugh their asses
Mon Dec 7, 2015, 01:22 PM
Dec 2015

off.

They control much of our govt and have no clue, at all, none, about this or anything.

maddening

KoKo

(84,711 posts)
7. I'm surprised that no one seems to add the Bombings in the ME and Elsewhere into Climate Change...
Tue Dec 8, 2015, 11:23 AM
Dec 2015

What are the effects of Bombings that cause Devastation to the Land and the after effects of the Toxic Clouds formed from the Explosions pumped into into the atmosphere and wind currents? What about the effects on the Animals, Birds, Insects and Vegetation? What are the effects of the explosions themselves doing to change our weather patterns? What goes on in the ME and Africa effects what floats across the Atlantic and gets carried by our Gulf Stream Current all the way to Great Britain.

We Weather Watchers here in the Mid-Atlantic, South East Coast know that "Hurricane Season" begins when the weather patterns in Africa begin to change. What toxins are in air of those storms that form when the wind patterns from the Sahara blow across to the Cape Verde Islands forming the hurricanes and tropical storms that bring flooding rains and devastating winds to our East Coast? What is in that rain and those winds that could affect our own environment here in the USA?

Why are Effects of War not put into equation of Global Climate Change?




bemildred

(90,061 posts)
8. I just saw some crazed liberal making that point yesterday.
Tue Dec 8, 2015, 11:42 AM
Dec 2015

I'll see if I can find it.

What America won’t admit about climate change: Our bombing campaigns are destroying the environment too

With the Paris final talks entering their final week, it is worth noting the surreal disconnect between all the international handwringing over the abstract global warming accord and the reality that the U.S., Britain, France and Russia are bombing Syria’s oil fields into the stone age.

Even while the leaders of these nations pose as green stewards of the planet, making carbon reduction promises not even legally binding a generation from now, their bombers are pounding a country that with every additional air sortie becomes more of an oil soaked dead zone.

“These kinds of military activities are exempt from environmental review and the National Environmental Policy Act,” says Michael Edelstein, professor of environmental psychology at Ramapo College and author of “Contaminated Communities” and “Disaster by Design.”

“This becomes a form of acceptable collateral damage but it generates a long term ecological degradation that can lead to the death of a place,” Edelstein explains.

http://www.salon.com/2015/12/07/what_america_wont_admit_about_climate_change_our_bombing_campaigns_are_destroying_the_environment_too/

KoKo

(84,711 posts)
9. Thank You!....I was going to ask if anyone had seen anything from COP 21..
Tue Dec 8, 2015, 12:07 PM
Dec 2015

Its good to know there is another "Crazy Liberal" around. Maybe we can get a "Channeling Meme" going! "Great Minds" thinking alike and all that.



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