A term that has been surfacing in recent years is 'climate refugees.' This term describes people that have been forced to move due to the effects of climatic actions and it can be the result of naturally occurring events or manmade ones. Volcanic eruptions and earthquakes can cause climate refugees. So does global warming. In fact, climate causes between 3 and 10 times as many refugees as war. The number of climate refugees in 2013 was 22 million. There were about 10 million climate refugees in the early 1970s. As the world population increases, the number of people that are vulnerable to extreme climate events also increases, and this number is aggravated by the increasing number of extreme events. Disruptions of food and water supplies also causes climate refugees.
The Pentagon considers this issue, and other issues related to climate change, to be a national security issue. Governments are being encouraged to plan for an increasing levels of climate refugees as the climate continues to change. There was an Indy film in 2012 on the subject, Climate Refugees.
This makes me wonder. If the deniers are right and climate change is good for us, why do we see so many climate refugees and why is it a threat to national security? If climate change is so good for us, as they claim, it stands to reason the world would actually be getting more stable with climate change, not more unstable.
If someone can explain that to me I would be interested in hearing it.
Climate Refugees
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