Climate Crocks: How Climate Change Primed Syria for War

[Junkdrawer]

Every presentation I give nowadays, I have several slides relating to the extreme events in summer 2010 – the “1000 year heat wave” in Russia and the simultaneous catastrophic flooding in Pakistan. These events have since been shown to be connected by a “blocking event” – a wave in the jet stream that got stuck in place for an extended period in July 2010, diverting moisture from Russia, and sending it plunging toward Pakistan.

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One of my greatest concerns for the short to medium term impacts of climate change is the effects that extreme events will have on fragile governments in unstable areas of the world. Climate change did not create the fundamental instability in countries like Syria, and Pakistan – colonialism, religion, and tribal animosities have a long legacy in those countries, and arguably, the paranoid dictatorial regimes in those areas are a rational response to the forces that would otherwise split these countries apart.

Climate change, however, is adding a new dynamic to the game. This is why the US military has identified climate change as a “threat multiplier”. Then Senator John Kerry advised colleagues of this assessment in the Pentagon’s Quadrennial Defense Review, (QDR) in 2010.

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http://climatecrocks.com/2013/09/05/how-climate-change-primed-syria-for-war/

Climate change has been fueling African wars for a decade. The effects are marching North.

Yes, we face two roads: Address the problems or let the problems drive us to endless wars.