Climate Change and Human Conflict

In the article Climate Change may increase violence, study shows by Elizabeth Landau for CNN climate change is discussed as a catalyst for increased violence. According to the article, a look at approximately 60 studies show that by 2050, risk of intergroup conflict will rise 50%. "When temperatures rise, so does aggression..." the studies focus on the fact that hotter temperatures will create violence, especially in areas of low income. The theory behind this hypothesis revolves around the relationship between weather and economy. The more rainfall or lack of rainfall can severely affect the agricultural outcome. Thus if the main source of income (agriculture) for a society is impacted, the local populace may have a sour disposition, creating an increase domestic violence cases or overall conflict.  The study also notes when people are exposed to new situations such as unusual weather, their reasoning may be impaired, creating conflicts from misunderstanding.

This article was interesting, for me it had a biased tone, and lacked scientific evidence to back up claims. It feels as though the author was attempting to play off stereotypical knowledge of climate change. For instance, they only mentioned temperature increase, and rainfall as specific climate forces; while it would be good to note that climate change can take on other forms such as cooling as well. The overall hypothesis is sound and makes sense. It would be interesting to look into this matter further.

Climate change is not going anywhere and it would be in humanities best interest to adapt and prevent further issues. The human impact that this article suggests is that crime and violence will increase greatly as climate changes occur. More knowledge about climate change is needed to prevent issues of ignorance. Also as stated in our textbook, collaboration between more developed countries and less developed countries is required to mitigate the effect of these hazards on less developed countries.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/01/us/climate-change-violence/index.html?hpt=us_bn1