Transcript 3/13 - Utexas

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
Change in risk of malaria by 2080
Global Change & Human Health (2001) V 2 # 1 pg 64
Human Population Growth
If 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/
The connection between resources and armed
conflict: Darfur
http://www.ushmm.org/conscience/analysis/details.php?content=2005-11-25&page=1&menupage=Sudan#top
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
Farmers in Darfur
http://www.usaid.gov/stories/sudan/ss_sudan_crop.html
http://gbgm-umc.org/umcor-hotline/20050802.cfm
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 rendered
such separation almost meaningless.
"Militia talks could reshape conflict in Darfur"
by L. Polgreen
The New York Times (April 15, 2007)
Adam Shogar, a commander of the Sudan
Liberation Army, the non-Arab rebels at the
center of the Darfur conflict, stretched a coalblack arm at Yassine Yousef Abdul Rahman,
his copper-skinned, brown-eyed counterpart
from an Arab insurgent group, studying him
carefully with midnight eyes.
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.