Global Climate Change and Conflict

CO2 and other greenhouse gases keep heat from radiating back into space

http://www.esr.org/outreach/climate_change/basics/basics.html

It is increasingly likely that the next century will be characterized by shifts in global weather patterns and climate regimes.

precipitation changes

Global Change & Human Health (2001) V 2 # 1 pg 64

Change in risk of malaria by 2080

Human Population GrowthIf everyone on earth consumed at the rate of the average American, we would need 6 planet earths to supply the resources.http://sustainability.publicradio.org/consumerconsequences/

http://www.ushmm.org/conscience/analysis/details.php?content=2005-11-25&page=1&menupage=Sudan#top

The connection between resources and armed conflict: Darfur

Changes in precipitation 1900-2000

Drought in the northern part of Darfur forced nomadic groups to immigrate southwards in search of water and herding ground, which resulted in conflict with sedentary tribes.

Nomadic herders

http://www.usaid.gov/stories/sudan/ss_sudan_crop.html http://gbgm-umc.org/umcor-hotline/20050802.cfm

Farmers in Darfur

The extent of the drought forced many Darfurian tribes to change their Nomadic lifestyle and seek settlement in lands considered by other tribes as their Dar or homeland. The decades of drought led to migration of more nomads into Darfur in

search of water and grass.

The population of Darfur is generally divided into Arabs and non-Arabs. The separation along such lines is probably more based on cultural heritage than on true ethnic separation. Although what is called Arabic tribes may have some Arabic roots, generations of immigration and intermarriage have renderedsuch separation almost meaningless.

Adam Shogar, a commander of the Sudan Liberation Army, the non-Arab rebels at the center of the Darfur conflict, stretched a coal-black arm at Yassine Yousef Abdul Rahman, his copper-skinned, brown-eyed counterpart from an Arab insurgent group, studying him carefully with midnight eyes.

"Militia talks could reshape conflict in Darfur" by L. Polgreen The New York Times (April 15, 2007)

The struggle in Darfur has often been portrayed as one between Arabs and black Africans, nomads and farmers, with the former bent on slaughtering the latter. But the conflict has never been that simple.

There is an essential need to address the root cause of the problem – competition over dwindling natural resources.

The nomads and farmers have depended on each other for centuries to survive on some of the world's most forbidding terrain. Farmers allowed herders to traverse their lands, and the herders brought milk and meat. They also transported farm goods to markets, and traded durable goods not usually available in remote farming villages. The farmers bartered those items for vegetables and grain.

Solutions to the violence in Darfur must consider the environmental factors behind the conflict.

Conflicts over resources are predicted to intensify. Reduced resource exploitation can

help mitigate these conflicts.

I'm only one person, what can I do?

Fig 54.7

Energy is lost in each consumer: the 10% rule

Human impact:

As consumers

Use of agriculture in the U.S.About 1/2 of water and ~80% of agricultural land is used for raising animals.

Fossil Fuels:Producing beef consumes over 100 times more fossil fuel than producing potatoes.The typical American could save almost as much gas by going vegetarian as by not driving.

http://bicycleuniverse.info/transpo/beef.html

What you eat can contribute to or help alleviate global climate change.