GREATER THINGS
The environment is not an issue that belongs only in songs sung by hippies hanging from trees (as much as that is a great thing). It has finally been recognized for what it is, a deadly serious issue that requires attention from all of us.
One example of how environmental problems can lead to a cycle of disasters is the example of Darfur.
Up to half a million people dead from the conflict, millions displaced in a deadly exodus across ravaged land.. And the beginning of it was not an eternal conflict between sects, as fashionable and easy as that explanation is for everything these days. It was the years of drought and desertification that led to famine, poverty and an escalating struggle over resources.
UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki Moon says:
One example of how environmental problems can lead to a cycle of disasters is the example of Darfur.
Up to half a million people dead from the conflict, millions displaced in a deadly exodus across ravaged land.. And the beginning of it was not an eternal conflict between sects, as fashionable and easy as that explanation is for everything these days. It was the years of drought and desertification that led to famine, poverty and an escalating struggle over resources.
UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki Moon says:
"Almost invariably, we discuss Darfur in a convenient military and political shorthand - an ethnic conflict pitting Arab militias against black rebels and farmers. Look to its roots, though, and you discover a more complex dynamic. Amid the diverse social and political causes, the Darfur conflict began as an ecological crisis, arising at least in part from climate change."
Years ago Alex DeWaal the expert on the Darfur crisis wrote the book called
"One of the few agreed upon explanations of Darfur’s conflict is environmental degradation: consecutive periods of severe drought in northern and eastern Africa during the 1980s and 1990s. Drought is a crippling, life-threatening force, which creates a devastating cycle of environmental collapse, conflict and displacement" Darfur: Drought and Civil War
In 2004 a Pentagon study laid out a scenario of conflict, war, mass starvation and violence as a result of climate change and suggested that it was a greater threat than anything seen so far. It includes events like:
"major European cities will be sunk beneath rising seas as Britain is plunged into a 'Siberian' climate by 2020. Nuclear conflict, mega-droughts, famine and widespread rioting will erupt across the world."
Today's Guardian reports:
"Climate wars threaten billions: More than 100 countries face political chaos and mass migration in global warming catastrophe"
There is time to take responsibility for the devastating effects of our lifestyles...To reverse predictions like these.
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1 comment:
I didn't know that about Darfur. We didn't study it as part of the major genocides that have occurred in the 21st century. I didn't even consider the environment and scarce resources as a possible reason for mass killings on this scale. Although, now that I'm thinking of it, I can't think of how someone could disagree with that point. It's scary to think about but it makes perfect logical sense. It's a matter of survival I suppose. The problem is we're so far removed from it in this part of the world that we don't think about it as a possibility that may occur in our own country. But we need to applaud those (Eqcco being one) who are working to prevent us from having ever getting there.
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