Thursday, September 13, 2007

Nicholas Kristof: Don't Blame Darfur on Climate Change


New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof spoke about the genocide in Darfur today. Like most people with a pulse and a conscience, I know about what's going on there -- but the stories he told and pictures he showed were soul-wrenching. It's hard to believe that people are capable of such evil -- and in many cases, it appears the actions weren't even prompted by ancient hatreds or racial hostility, but pure sadism and the promise of a paycheck.

Afterwards, I asked Kristof whether there was a role for scientific and technological knowledge in the context of Darfur. Most such thinking, he said, has involved making a connection between global warming and Darfur, which we've covered before on WiSci: one effect of climate change is droughts that triggered conflict between nomadic and settled tribes now competing for the same resources.

What does Kristof think of this? Read more about the subject >>>>>>>>>>>>>>

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