Climate 411

Part 4 of 5: Drought and Violence

The second installment of the IPCC’s 4th Assessment on Climate Change, titled “Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability”, was released on April 6, 2007. In recognition of this report, I’m doing a weekly series called “Climate Dangers You May Not Know About“.

1. More Acidic Oceans
2. Drinking Water and Disease
3. Shifts in Lifecycle Timing
4. Drought and Violence
5. Melting of the North Pole


What happens when there isn’t enough food and water for the people who need it? Fighting can ensue. And when drought and famine extend over a wide area, the fighting can escalate to civil war. This is what’s happening today in Darfur, a country in the sub-Saharan (or "Sahel") region of Africa.

We can’t say for sure that the Darfur droughts were caused by global warming, but there’s evidence it was a significant factor (for example, see this recent study of the Sahel drought [PDF] by NOAA’s Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory). But whether those past droughts were caused by global warming is not the main issue. We know that global warming will cause more and more severe droughts in the future, especially in the Sahel region of Africa.

The story of Darfur cautions that events triggered by global warming can lead to a human tragedy of global proportions.

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The Old Global Cooling Scare

I was in Ohio last week visiting with folks in Cincinnati and Columbus. Most of the discussion focused on business opportunities for Ohio in the new low-carbon economy, but I also got interesting questions about global warming science.

I was especially impressed to learn what the city of Columbus is doing to go "green" (details are on the Columbus city site). We heard from Andy Darrell last week on Mayor Bloomberg’s vision for New York City, and it’s great to see that New York isn’t the only city thinking of a greener future.

But I most wanted to share with you a science question from the visit.

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New York City's sustainability plan: A bold 'greenprint' for the city's future

Andy Darrell, today’s guest, is director of Environmental Defense’s Living Cities program, and a member of the advisory board that helped the mayor develop the plan.

For the past eight months I’ve been honored to be a part of New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s advisory council to develop a city plan for sustainability. The team has been meeting to hammer out ideas for making New York a world model of a “green” megacity.

Frankly, when I joined the Advisory Board, I didn’t know where it would end up. With my colleagues at Environmental Defense, I put forward big ideas for healthy air, less traffic, green buildings and energy efficiency, more trees and parks and cleaned-up waterways. In December 2006, the mayor announced 10 bold goals, including achieving the cleanest air of any big city in the country, cutting greenhouse gases 30 percent from today’s levels by 2030 and making sure that every New Yorker can walk to a park within ten minutes.

Great goals — but could they be made real?

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This evening: Guest appearance on 20/20

Hi, folks. I’m back in town and glad to be back on the blog.

This weekend, Americans will observe Earth Day. ABC is getting started early, airing a daylong look at the state of our planet today (see preview).

I am especially anxious to tune into 20/20 tonight. I am told I will be featured on two segments: an interview on solar energy and a panel discussion on global warming.

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U.S. emissions up, EPA calls that 'results'

Lisa Moore is a scientist in the Climate and Air Program.

The EPA just released its most recent estimate of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, which shows that our global warming pollution continues to climb. Since 1990, emissions are up more than 16 percent. But the EPA is casting this as a victory. How?

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Military experts: climate change a threat

Lisa Moore is a scientist in the Climate and Air Program.

Bill Chameides is out of the office, but science, policy and news about global warming keep coming in. Yesterday, a group of military experts declared that climate change threatens national security (registration required). Their report [PDF] says:

Climate change can act as a threat multiplier for instability in some of the most volatile regions of the world, and it presents significant national security challenges for the United States…. The increasing risks from climate change should be addressed now because they will almost certainly get worse if we delay.

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