When Mother Nature is the cause of war
When it comes to global crises related to war, hunger or abuse–visible human rights issues that have an attributed cause, and a person, organization or entity that can be held accountable–it’s easy to point the finger of blame. But what about the ongoing crises that are caused by natural disasters; environmental events that cause war, hunger and/or abuse?
If we have nowhere to point the finger, and place blame, then there’s no real way to demand results and change. Mother Nature can’t be held accountable for the havoc she’s causing in Darfur, India or Australia. According to the International Federation of the Red Cross:
…climate change disasters are currently a bigger cause of population displacement than war and persecution. The global impact of the environment on human livelihoods is creating a new kind of casualty-the environmental refugee. Rising sea levels, increasing desertification, weather-induced flooding, and more frequent natural disasters have, and will increasingly become a major cause of population displacement in several parts of the world.
Maybe it seems outrageous to believe that the genocide occurring in Darfur could be related to a drought caused by global warming; genocide caused by extreme heat is an extreme idea. And the cyclone that hit Myanmar, or the tsunami that hit South East Asia a few years ago, those two events and the subsequent health issues that resulted may also be related to climate change.
These new theories and ideas are the next generation of international disputes and the world doesn’t even have a consensus on basic human rights yet. We need to move forward quickly and efficiently and really re-think international law to decide how we will react to the millions of citizens left homeless from disasters caused by nature. If we continue down our current path and react to these events by throwing aid and money at them, instead of changing our behavior and policies, we’re truly creating an unsustainable and violent future for ourselves.
