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A Climate of Violence?

Rambo Tribble writes "U.S. researchers have come to the conclusion that a changing climate can drive increased violence in human society. Their findings are to reported in Science (abstract). 'They report a "substantial" correlation between climate and conflict. Their examples include an increase in domestic violence in India during recent droughts, and a spike in assaults, rapes and murders during heatwaves in the U.S. The report also suggests rising temperatures correlated with larger conflicts, including ethnic clashes in Europe and civil wars in Africa.' Marshall Burke, one of the authors, said, 'This is a relationship we observe across time and across all major continents around the world. The relationship we find between these climate variables and conflict outcomes are often very large.' Add this to the developing scarcity of water due to global warming and the prospects for a peaceful future do not bode well."

116 of 184 comments (clear)

  1. Isn't this well known? by mozumder · · Score: 1, Informative

    That temperature affects violence, according to many studies?

    http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/07/hot-weather-violence/

    Solution: move everyone to cold places!

    1. Re:Isn't this well known? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      That's bull shit, we should stomp that fucker before it gets too cold to go outside.

    2. Re:Isn't this well known? by thisisnotreal · · Score: 3, Insightful

      this is why canada is so nice!

    3. Re:Isn't this well known? by Spy+Handler · · Score: 1

      So, more violence in hot drought-prone areas.

      Less suicide in cold places.

      Sounds like a wash.

    4. Re:Isn't this well known? by Type44Q · · Score: 1

      Actually, I seem to recall that there are slightly higher suicide rates in Scandinavia, although quality of life measures higher as well (this leaving me to conclude that the more people off themselves, the happier everyone still left becomes...). Stayed tuned for how this ties in with temperatures; I'll think of something...

    5. Re:Isn't this well known? by arth1 · · Score: 1

      As far as I know, the suicide rates are only higher in the far north of Scandinavia, like north of the polar circle, where they don't see the sun at all for parts of the year.

  2. Stereotypes by i+kan+reed · · Score: 5, Funny

    Can't this explain the South and the Middle East all in one fell swoop?

    Yes it can! But only if you're willing to be intellectually lazy and refuse to acknowledge multi-input systems. Today, I'm feeling exactly that lazy.

    1. Re:Stereotypes by i+kan+reed · · Score: 4, Funny

      FYI: I'd be less lazy, but it's too damn hot and humid.

    2. Re: Stereotypes by bugnuts · · Score: 1

      Tldr

    3. Re:Stereotypes by rwa2 · · Score: 1

      I'm all in favor of finding technical solutions to political problems.

      Bring on the Frigidaire peacekeepers!

      http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2012/08/air_conditioning_haters_it_s_not_as_bad_for_the_environment_as_heating_.html

    4. Re:Stereotypes by davester666 · · Score: 1

      Why the hell do you think the police lock people up in the cooler!

      --
      Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
    5. Re:Stereotypes by icebike · · Score: 1

      Just to cool them down after sweating them under the lights.

      --
      Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
    6. Re:Stereotypes by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 2

      Apparently, your AC is working just fine.

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
    7. Re:Stereotypes by Elky+Elk · · Score: 1

      Yeah, but what about Scotland?

  3. Weird by Anon,+Not+Coward+D · · Score: 1

    So if a mega blizzard struck on the next winter, leaving thousands isolated and on short supplies... they will be chanting "peace and love"?

    Maybe the correlation can be explained just by time: there are social factors that are leading to increasingly more violent societies (e.g. increasing awareness of social rights).

    --
    Sometimes it's better not having signature
    1. Re:Weird by Lendrick · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Probably not.

      Most likely it's notjust heat so much as deviation from what people find the most comfortable.

    2. Re: Weird by O('_')O_Bush · · Score: 1, Informative

      I would agree with this. Something else that tends to happen (super unsubstantiated blanket anecdote) is that people tend to drink more hard liquor in the cold, because it warms the body (feeling). That also increases rates of domestic violence and rape.

      I am also growing weary of all the doom saying. I acknowledge that AGW is a serious problem that needs to be solved ASAP, but there are also many positive benefits to a warmer climate (such as extended growing seasons in the world's breadbasket zones, and expanded growing areas as warm moves to higher latitudes), but these things seem very un-PC for the scientific (and Slashdot) to talk about.

      --
      while(1) attack(People.Sandy);
    3. Re: Weird by RazzleFrog · · Score: 4, Informative

      It's not un-PC - it's just incorrect. It's not just about temperatures going up. It's about wild variations in the weather patterns (droughts in some areas and floods in others), melting of the ice-caps wiping out coastal cities (where most people live), and impaired food production in countries that already have borderline temperatures.

    4. Re:Weird by CrimsonAvenger · · Score: 2

      Wouldn't the megablizzard fall into Climate Change

      No, it would fall under "weather".

      Now, the weather we have may be a result of climate change (or not), but no single weather event is "proof positive of climate change!!!", no matter how many times people say it....

      --

      "I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
    5. Re: Weird by GameboyRMH · · Score: 4, Informative

      The problem is that the negatives heavily outweigh those positives:

      http://www.skepticalscience.com/global-warming-positives-negatives-intermediate.htm

      --
      "When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
    6. Re:Weird by MightyMartian · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Translation: I don't like what researchers say, so I'll call them idiots and poopie-heads, and then take my own head and shove it firmly up my own ass.

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    7. Re:Weird by riverat1 · · Score: 1

      Weather is to climate as a single roll of dice is to the statistics of thousands of rolls of the dice. Climate change/global warming is like subtly loading the dice so it skews the statistical average toward the higher end. That doesn't mean the lower end things can't happen, just that they will become less common on average.

    8. Re: Weird by icebike · · Score: 5, Interesting

      The study is weak at including other factors, such as population concentration density in its analysis. Population concentration has increased in lock step with Global Warming, and indeed density may be a key part in warming. Further, density has a much more readily measured correlation with violence. (That is you can measure the correlation it statistically in the modern era, without having to rely on sketchy records of the past).

      There is still the competing theory of Tetraethyl lead, which explains not only the rise in violence, but also the recent DECLINE in violence, which the warming theory doesn't even address.

      Leaded gasoline has a remarkable correspondence to violent behavior, lowered IQ, and more so in men than women. There is a 23 year lag, in the correlation. Some areas where leaded gasoline is still used correspond to the trouble spots of the world.

      And yes, it goes without saying, that correlation does not imply causation, something lost in translation in the mainstream press in their rush to pin yet another evil thing onto Climate Change.

      --
      Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
    9. Re:Weird by RazzleFrog · · Score: 1

      Megablizzard to me implies a "once in a century" type storm. When you get have several of these "once in a century" storms and you tie it together with the "once in a century droughts" and the overall higher global temperatures you start evaluating what is causation and what is coincidence.

    10. Re:Weird by TWiTfan · · Score: 1

      Wouldn't the megablizzard fall into Climate Change or are you making the common mistake to assume that climate change just means higher temperatures?

      Yeah, apparently he hasn't heard that ALL weather is proof of global warming now! Drought, flooding, too hot, too cold, blizzard, too many tornadoes, not enough tornadoes, mild weather, extreme weather--it's all PROOF of global warming!!!

      It's kind of like God. Cancer kid lives, it's a miracle from God! Cancer kid dies, well God works in mysterious ways.

      --
      The cow says "Moo." The dog says "Woof." The Timothy says "Thanks, valued customer. We appreciate your input."
    11. Re: Weird by fat_mike · · Score: 1

      You cited Mother Jones so your comment is officially retarded.

    12. Re: Weird by icebike · · Score: 1

      Mother Jones cites the actual studies, so you are shooting the messenger.

      --
      Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
    13. Re:Weird by jamesh · · Score: 1

      So if a mega blizzard struck on the next winter, leaving thousands isolated and on short supplies... they will be chanting "peace and love"?

      Maybe the correlation can be explained just by time: there are social factors that are leading to increasingly more violent societies (e.g. increasing awareness of social rights).

      They'll all be huddling together for warmth, instead of walking around thinking "next fucker that says 'hot enough for you' is going to find his brains on the floor".

    14. Re:Weird by kaatochacha · · Score: 1

      "megablizzard versus (fill in the blank)".
      Sounds like a Syfy movie of the week.

    15. Re: Weird by icebike · · Score: 1

      Not sure I believe density correlates with income in the third world.

      --
      Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
    16. Re:Weird by RazzleFrog · · Score: 1

      Yes. Extreme weather is evidence towards climate change.

      I'll leave the God discussion to you and the other flat-earthers.

  4. FUD by singingjim1 · · Score: 2

    facepalm....

    1. Re:FUD by i+kan+reed · · Score: 1

      Really, doesn't only the "F" part apply to this kind of lazy analysis? It doesn't cast uncertainty or doubt on things in order to reinforce the de-facto standard. Kind of a misapplication.

  5. Duh, it's called stress. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Just like anything else that causes stress, it causes people to get upset and lash out.

    1. Re:Duh, it's called stress. by Mashiki · · Score: 1, Funny

      Seems like there's a market there. "Anti-stress" now we shall export cats, and said cats will be highly trained. Anyone who doesn't anti-stress, will be removed by said highly trained attack cat.

      --
      Om, nomnomnom...
    2. Re:Duh, it's called stress. by Idbar · · Score: 1

      This.

      Wondered why nobody posted the classic "Correlation is not causation". There may be many interpretations.

      For example, economy is taking a downturn and affecting many people. The middle class gap is stretching out. There's more people, less jobs, wealth badly distributed and the bills don't go away but on the contrary just increase. So according to this quick analysis, I can claim the issue is not climate but distribution of wealth, which causes more stress on the different social classes due to the ever growing cost of life, which causes violence.

  6. No shit. by NeutronCowboy · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Besides the fact that the DoD already incorporates climate change in their threat assessments (see http://www.acq.osd.mil/ie/download/green_energy/dod_sustainability/2012/Appendix%20A%20-%20DoD%20Climate%20Change%20Adaption%20Roadmap_20120918.pdf and http://www.acq.osd.mil/ie/download/green_energy/dod_sustainability/2012/Appendix%20A%20-%20DoD%20Climate%20Change%20Adaption%20Roadmap_20120918.pdf), there's the bleedingly obvious conclusion that if an area goes through enough environmental changes that mass migration is better than staying put, conflict with the surrounding areas is guaranteed.

    I mean, when New Orleans was evacuated during Katrina, that already sparked enough conflict. Now imagine that the change is permanent and that it's not just a major city evacuating, but an entire geographical area. We'll find out just how far we have evolved from chimps (hint: not very much).

    --
    Those who can, do. Those who can't, sue.
    1. Re:No shit. by cyberchondriac · · Score: 1

      We'll find out just how far we have evolved from chimps (hint: not very much).

      When people start eating each other, how many proudly will abstain?

      Not me! Mmmm... human flesh, the other, other white meat!

      (..and no, that's not a reference to skin color, before some race baiter has a field day.)

      --

      Look back up at my post, now look back down, you're on the Internet. Now look back up. I'm a signature.
    2. Re:No shit. by arth1 · · Score: 1

      That's a wife's tale. A human body is better than other meats in that it has all the nutrients that a human body needs. But not all of them are digestible - some have to be metabolized, so if on a meat-only diet, take your vitamins too.

      The reason why we shouldn't eat human flesh is that human flesh is also what will have the highest amount of diseases that can attack humans. Eating cross-species is safer. But not as tasty.

  7. What? by tyroneking · · Score: 3, Informative

    I think either the BBC article or the /. summary is incorrect. It's well known /damn obvious that extreme climactic events cause violence in society. What's new is that they can correlate with numbers, "for each 1 standard deviation (1) change in climate toward warmer temperatures or more extreme rainfall, median estimates indicate that the frequency of interpersonal violence rises 4% and the frequency of intergroup conflict rises 14%." The /. summary is misleading and could cause the casual reader to pass by the article because it seems over obvious.

    1. Re:What? by phantomfive · · Score: 2

      Headlines, abstracts, and conclusions in scientific papers are often exaggerated or incorrect, for various reasons. Then news stories about those papers are even more incorrect, for other reasons.

      In this paper, the statistics are so tricky, that it's dangerous to draw any conclusions without reading the paper (and I haven't gotten my science magazine yet for this week). The results could change drastically depending on how you define 'extreme rainfall,' for example.

      A question I would really like to see (when I get a chance to read the paper) is how they dealt with the fact that armies don't fight as much during winter. Could the entire observed increase be explained by that? We don't know until we read the paper.

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    2. Re:What? by tyroneking · · Score: 1

      That's a good question about armies not fighting in the winter - I thought it was because of military strategy training that should surely point to the failures of the French and German armies when facing foes during the winter.

    3. Re:What? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Its a meta-analysis.The validity of results depend upon there being no bias towards publishing papers that find a certain relationship between climate and violence. I tend to doubt this is the case, especially in a field as politically charged as climate science. The work is still interesting but the confidence of the authors is unwarranted due to the well know publication bias "explanation" for the effect. They have a section addressing this but it includes some ad hoc claims (exactly how to address publication bias is a huge problem in many fields, most people are aware of it but do not appreciate the true extent of the issue).

      Finally just from a philosophy of science perspective they have no underlying theory to predict a certain relationship between climate change and human activity. So this work could at best be said to be in the data gathering, adductive stage. It is very unwise to continue publicizing information of this quality to the layperson. The physicists handled it correctly with the ftl neutrino thing. Who will get fired if this effect turns out to be an artifact?

      Their final paragraph:
      "Numerous competing theories have been proposed to explain the linkages between the climate and human conflict, but none have been convincingly rejected and all appear to be consistent with at least some existing results. It seems likely that climatic changes influence conflict through multiple pathways that may differ between contexts and innova-tive research to identify these mechanisms is a top research priority. Achieving this research objective holds great promise, as the policies and institutions necessary for conflict resolution can only be built if we understand why conflicts arise. The success of such institutions will be increasingly important in the coming decades as changes in climatic conditions amplify the risk of human conflicts."

    4. Re:What? by phantomfive · · Score: 1

      Yeah, and even if they are willing to fight and win, most armies are going to have their mobility limited at least a little from snow, and their supply chain complicated.

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    5. Re:What? by tyroneking · · Score: 1

      Yes, certainly if they are the invading force and they have lengthened supply lines anyway. Interesting actually, what will happen when global warming flips the switch and parts of the world are dropped into permanent winter; will the US be as dominant in the new ice age?

    6. Re:What? by s.petry · · Score: 1, Interesting

      Finally just from a philosophy of science perspective they have no underlying theory to predict a certain relationship between climate change and human activity.

      This is not a new phenomenon with this paper, but perhaps it's more obvious. 99% of the Climate papers that make it to the public fail to deal with the underlying cause (Pollution). The argument in the 70s was exactly pollution (see CFC bans, CO2 scrubbing, etc..), and in the 90s the argument was renamed to ensure maximum profits for polluters. In addition, regulations put in place in the 70s were dismantled and government oversight started slipping away.

      --

      -The wise argue that there are few absolutes, the fool argues that there are no probabilities.

    7. Re:What? by riverat1 · · Score: 2

      Yeah, Napoleon found that out.

  8. Obligatory by Sponge+Bath · · Score: 5, Funny

    It's not the heat, it's the humanity.

  9. Now I know why... by static0verdrive · · Score: 1

    Now I know why I punch my air conditioner when it's not working!

    --
    ========
    77 77 77 2e 6d 65 6c 76 69 6e 73 2e 63 6f 6d
  10. Meanwhile, in chilly northern Ireland by Alioth · · Score: 1

    I guess this is why hot, sunny and sweltery northern Ireland has had such a violent past...oh wait, it's freezing cold and pisses with rain most of the time.

    How strong is the correlation?

    1. Re: Meanwhile, in chilly northern Ireland by bugnuts · · Score: 2

      A counter example doesn't remove the correlation. Outliers always exist. There can be all sorts of violent cold places, but if warm places are more often violent (with an appropriately small p) the stats hold up.

    2. Re:Meanwhile, in chilly northern Ireland by Baloroth · · Score: 2

      The findings were related to changes in weather patterns: an unusually hot summer, drought, things like that. The study didn't seem to draw any conclusions about average climate vs. violence, but about deviation from average climate vs. violence. So, if Ireland gets a particularly warm summer, violence and crime are likely to go up.

      --
      "None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license." --John Milton
    3. Re:Meanwhile, in chilly northern Ireland by timeOday · · Score: 2

      Does Ireland actually have a violent past / present? I think not. It has a persistent a low level of violence that is politically motivated. The murder rate is 1/4 of the US, i.e. 1/37 of Venezuela or 1/76 of Honduras . Between 1000 and 3000 people died in the civil war, a century ago. During the 40 year period of The Troubles, 3500 people died, including combatants, on both sides - under 100 per year on average. Maybe Ireland seems violent because it's in such a quiet neighborhood.

    4. Re:Meanwhile, in chilly northern Ireland by timeOday · · Score: 1

      I probably shouldn't comment further without learning more about it, since all I do know is from Braveheart :)

  11. FIFY by avandesande · · Score: 1

    Change increases violence....

    --
    love is just extroverted narcissism
  12. Climate change. . . by Salgak1 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    . . . . is there ANYTHING it can't do ???

    1. Re:Climate change. . . by Brett+Buck · · Score: 1

      Hey! Its customary to compensate one's writers....

      http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=3981619&cid=44305585

    2. Re:Climate change. . . by ABEND · · Score: 1

      Climate change: Is there anything it can't do?

      Medical Marijuana: Is there anything it can't treat?

      Both memes seemed to arrive with the Millennials.

      --
      In all seriousness:
    3. Re:Climate change. . . by kaatochacha · · Score: 1

      It would seem , from above, that the proper solution is to use Medical Marijuana to stop Climate Change. Somehow.

  13. RTFA by schneidafunk · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The last paragraphs are a pretty strong refutation:

    Instead, Dr Halvard Buhaug, from the Peace Research Institute Oslo, Norway, concluded that the conflict was linked to other factors such as high infant mortality, proximity to international borders and high local population density.

    Commenting on the latest research, he said: "I disagree with the sweeping conclusion (the authors) draw and believe that their strong statement about a general causal link between climate and conflict is unwarranted by the empirical analysis that they provide.

    "I was surprised to see not a single reference to a real-world conflict that plausibly would not have occurred in the absence of observed climatic extremes. If the authors wish to claim a strong causal link, providing some form of case validation is critical."

    --
    Some people die at 25 and aren't buried until 75. -Benjamin Franklin
  14. This is not news ... by MondoGordo · · Score: 1

    I heard about a similar study a decade ago ... and because someone has to say it ... correlation != causation.

  15. What's all the fuss? by cold+fjord · · Score: 3, Funny

    Now what is all the fuss about climate change causing violets? I happen to think that violets are a lovely flower, and there should be more of them. In fact I think the world would be a more beautiful and peaceful place if there were more violets. More violets would mean more good jobs and satisfying work .... Eh?..... Just a minute ......

    I have just been informed that climate change may cause more violence. Well then... never mind.

    It was an homage.

    --
    much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
    1. Re:What's all the fuss? by fustakrakich · · Score: 1

      Not violets.. violins...

      --
      “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
  16. Opposite trend in US by Tony+Isaac · · Score: 5, Insightful

    In the US, violent crime rates have been decreasing for decades, while temperatures have been breaking records.

    http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/2011/crime-in-the-u.s.-2011/tables/table-1

    1. Re:Opposite trend in US by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Yeah, I live in Oklahoma and that trend jives with the statistics that the OSBI published. In the previous 4 years, we've had record high temperatures and drought across the state and yet the statistics on violent crime follows the federal trend of decreasing rates.

      http://www.ok.gov/osbi/Publications/Crime_Statistics.html

    2. Re:Opposite trend in US by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I'm not sure who I'd trust to provide statistics on crime, but it sure as hell wouldn't be government.

    3. Re:Opposite trend in US by frank_adrian314159 · · Score: 1, Informative

      The authors didn't say that increasing temperature was the only factor involved.

      Unless one is completely brain-dead, one can see that things like population age distribution, better/worse social safety net, more/less income disparity, economic opportunity, political oppression, etc., also have an impact on interpersonal and cross-group violence. The surprising thing about the study is that it shows that the correlation is so great.

      Therefore, climate change deniers must discount and mock the article because if climate change has negative impacts of any kind, we might have to do something to stop it - and that would be awful.

      --
      That is all.
  17. Re:This is not news ... Nostradamus predicted it by rwa2 · · Score: 1

    When I was a kid, I heard that Nostradamus sorta predicted the world wars ("Hissler" did the second one). For the unknown future, he wrote something about a 3rd world war, then a drought, followed by an eerily worded "everlasting peace".

    But I have no citations.

  18. Why do you think the NSA wants to watch Americans? by WOOFYGOOFY · · Score: 1

    This is the only real reason I can think of for the NSA program spying on Americans. They think things are going to get very ugly. Very ugly.

    If you *really* care about freedom and civil liberties and don't just enjoy getting apoplectic over those *ideas* , you might want to consider doing everything you can to make sure the environmental preques for those things continues to viable. No food, no liberty. Trust me.

  19. Correlation is not causation by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Does it apply here?

    1. Re:Correlation is not causation by Holi · · Score: 1

      Correlation does not always imply causation, but it sometimes can.

      --
      Sorry, teleporters just kill you and then make a copy. A perfect, soul-less copy.
    2. Re:Correlation is not causation by riverat1 · · Score: 1

      Correlation is not automatically causation but often it's a big hint about where you need to look for causation.

  20. How does more arable land and food mean violence? by SuperKendall · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Rising temperatures means you can grow more crops in northern lands. Over all it means more total arable land, not less. It also means a more hospitable climate to live in up north so it's not like you lose livable habitat either, that also expands.

    Thus the whole basis of the claim the article makes is nonsense.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
  21. wait a minute by slashmydots · · Score: 1

    "a spike in assaults, rapes and murders during heatwaves"
    Ummm it's way too hot outside to assault, rape, or murder anyone actually. This cannot be a correct correlation.

  22. Re:Cloudy with 50% chance of homicide by CanHasDIY · · Score: 2

    LOL, "Cloudy with a 50% chance of homicide" sounds like it would be a great album title for the non-existent death metal group, The Whethermen

    --
    An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
  23. Climate of Stupidity by Silvrmane · · Score: 4, Funny

    This has to be one of the more ridiculous claims to come out of the alarmosphere about climate change I've ever heard. There's a cool list of things that are supposed to be attributable to climate change (according to the alarmists): http://blog.heritage.org/2009/11/17/global-warming-ate-my-homework-100-things-blamed-on-global-warming/ . I guess we can add this to the list.

    1. Re:Climate of Stupidity by QuantumPion · · Score: 1

      Don't forget increasing the chance of asteroid impacts, that wasn't on the list.

    2. Re:Climate of Stupidity by tgd · · Score: 3, Interesting

      This has to be one of the more ridiculous claims to come out of the alarmosphere about climate change I've ever heard. There's a cool list of things that are supposed to be attributable to climate change (according to the alarmists): http://blog.heritage.org/2009/11/17/global-warming-ate-my-homework-100-things-blamed-on-global-warming/ . I guess we can add this to the list.

      Urban climatology and the sociological (health/violence/etc) are a significant area of research these days. Its not a ridiculous claim, its an important area of research because there are significant changes happening, particularly around public health. I haven't gone through this in any detail -- the study could be junk, but dismissing this area of research out of hand is actually dismissing one of the most near-term impacts of shifting climates. It'll be a long time until NYC is underwater, but the southwest is already showing public health changes because of increased heat and humidity. And those changes impact everyone, because the people least able to handle the changes are the people who tend to have their healthcare paid for by public sources.

      And, for what its worth, I'm so hot today I could punch someone.

    3. Re:Climate of Stupidity by SoftwareArtist · · Score: 1

      It's funny. You think this is "ridiculous", while half the other people commenting on this story are saying, "Duh! Isn't that obvious?" I'm with them. If a drought causes the food supply in your area to collapse, how would that not lead to conflict?

      Whether you think something is ridiculous is completely irrelevant. What matters is whether it's true. And that needs to be decided based on evidence, not your gut reaction about whether it's ridiculous.

      --
      "I'm too busy to research this and form an educated opinion, but I do have time to tell everyone my uninformed opinion."
  24. Climate does not change that fast by SuperKendall · · Score: 5, Insightful

    New Orleans had to be evacuated in days.

    With climate change, you are talking about sea levels rising an inch or two per DECADE. Or heat / cold profiles of an area changing also over decades. Plenty of time for people to move on if they decide they don't like whatever changes are occurring.

    But most people will stay, no matter what particular climate you find "unlivable" you'll find plenty of people already living in those conditions...

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
  25. Shakespear by NaiveBayes · · Score: 3, Interesting

    "I pray thee, good Mercutio, let's retire. The day is hot; the Capulets, abroad; And if we meet we shall not 'scape a brawl, For now, these hot days, is the mad blood stirring." - Romeo and Juliet, Act 3, Scene 1, right before a massive and fatal fight.

  26. This Is What You Chose? by rebmemeR · · Score: 2

    The science is clear: Climate crisis is coming; We're making it happen; Onset may take only decades from now. Desertification, devastation to agriculture, habitat loss, ocean damage, increasing competition for resources, violence (and quite possibly wars), and billions of human fatalities. We choose to put CO2 and methane into the atmosphere. We superstitiously reject the technology which has the most power to save us: nuclear energy. Nuclear energy emits no greenhouse gas. Nuclear "waste" is a fallacy; current reactors burn their fuel only 4%; the rest can be burned by fast reactors. And if you think nuclear is expensive, think about about a carbon tax, and stop NIMBY litigation. A vote against nuclear is a vote for climate crisis.

    --
    Birth is the leading cause of death.
  27. BS by Murdoch5 · · Score: 1

    Again another great reason why we can blame everyone and everything else and never ourselves. The increase in violence is because people don't want to "display" self control. It could be 100 degree's C and that doesn't mean you can go rape someone. You're just are responsible at 20 degree's C as you are at 100, science just wants to give you away out of being responsible for your actions. I will love the day when a new survey finds that people who want a scapegoat use surveys like this to justify why they act the way they do.

  28. Last paragraph is the best! by exabrial · · Score: 1

    "I was surprised to see not a single reference to a real-world conflict that plausibly would not have occurred in the absence of observed climatic extremes. If the authors wish to claim a strong causal link, providing some form of case validation is critical."

    Global Climate change is a serious issue, but 'science' like this only strengthens the opposition to any real change. Once again, climate 'science' is now just fear mongering. Way to go!

  29. Re:How does more arable land and food mean violenc by Holi · · Score: 1

    Unless you are growing crops that thrive in the northern latitudes. Then the rising temps damage your crops and you have to figure out what crops you can now grow. It also can mean that the quantity of arable land declines due to lack of water. As the breadbelt heats up and since we have already used a lot of the available water we could lose a large section of our agriculture. Drought and depleted aquifers are our biggest threat when it comes to food production and rising temperatures do nothing to help that situation out.

    --
    Sorry, teleporters just kill you and then make a copy. A perfect, soul-less copy.
  30. Coincidence !! by dchinu · · Score: 1

    What ever it takes to sell more guns and justify more surveillance

  31. Re:How does more arable land and food mean violenc by GameboyRMH · · Score: 1

    I suppose you've seen this already and simply chose to ignore it:

    http://www.skepticalscience.com/global-warming-positives-negatives-intermediate.htm

    --
    "When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
  32. Re:How does more arable land and food mean violenc by SuperKendall · · Score: 1

    Drought and depleted aquifers are our biggest threat when it comes to food production and rising temperatures do nothing to help that situation out.

    It just means adjustment of where you grow, and the lands potentially opening up for growing food are a lot wider than the lands lost.

    Drought is less common if the seas really rise and the earth warms, because it means more water vapor entering the atmosphere. Cooling is what removes water from the ecosystem, not warming.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
  33. Ah the voodoo I mean science of it all. by Stumbles · · Score: 1

    Its just neat how science can make up all sorts of reasons why people do the voodoo they do and completely ignore the most basic one; choice.

    --
    My karma is not a Chameleon.
  34. A story ripped from the files... by guevera · · Score: 1

    ...of "Duh" magazine.

  35. Re:Actually Santa comes every year by Stumbles · · Score: 1

    East winds? You mean when someone farts in your general direction from a specific Cartesian location and the ionized air burns your nostrils.

    --
    My karma is not a Chameleon.
  36. The perfect legal defense by Synerg1y · · Score: 1

    "Sorry it was hot out and I don't have AC, please refer to the following studies stating it was not my fault"

  37. Re:None of those items are "science" by GameboyRMH · · Score: 1

    Wow what kind of brush do you use to apply gloss that thick?

    You want to make the only rice that will still grow a patented product from Monsanto and friends? I suppose you could try to grow rice in Russia or something once you have enough water. Funny thing, that's a point that keeps coming up on that list, not enough fresh water. Bah I'm sure it's no big deal, just more alarmism. We can mine water from asteroids or something right? Maybe open some of those eco-friendly and energy-efficient desalination plants.

    Funny how you only point out localized problems on one side when they're on both sides of the chart.

    Increase in wildfire has little to do with agriculture? Maybe it's just another localized problem but the crops by me aren't made of asbestos, they burn pretty well in my experience.

    But it's OK, we can grow more crops in Canada and Russia and Northern Europe and China and sell that stuff to the starving poor people near the equator. Bam, free market solved the problem.

    --
    "When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
  38. of course by argStyopa · · Score: 1

    So by this logic then, it makes sense because WW2 started in the tropics and desert! (Oh wait, no it didn't.)

    Well, WW1 then certainly? ...ah, no.

    --
    -Styopa
    1. Re:of course by jodido · · Score: 1

      Kind of what I was going to say. WWII was probably the most violent event in human history. WWI was probably second. What did climate change have to do with it? The authors simply define violence to be something that is increasing today.

  39. Predator 2 by wishiwascool · · Score: 1

    This was already discovered in the movie Predator 2, we didn't need science to back up a well known fact already.

  40. So by koan · · Score: 1

    You can expect things to get worse faster and faster, and you can expect the government to state one day "We can no longer afford to send FEMA out to you" and relief will be up to you.

    Fewer people, the only answer.

    --
    "If any question why we died, Tell them because our fathers lied."
  41. Winter keeps the riff-raff indoors by lee+n.+field · · Score: 1

    Winter keeps the riff-raff indoors. Summer drives them outside, to prey upon each other and other, relatively more innocent, folks.

    We need Globular Cooling. For the Children.

  42. Maybe by no-body · · Score: 1, Interesting

    The violence is not directly caused by global warming but by the conditions to lead to global warming and social injustice across the planet making people angry.

    I mean, global warming and the causes - insensitiveness to that issue, isn't the same callousness cause for increasing accumulation of wealth and power to less and less individuals on the top of the pyramid, depriving the increasingly larger lower parts of basic necessities? Just look at US "minimum wage" not covering basic living expenses at full hour work week? There may be many examples, not only on wages, but also on social (female, racial, political and minority suppression) issues.

    1. Re:Maybe by phantomfive · · Score: 1

      Just look at US "minimum wage" not covering basic living expenses at full hour work week?

      The average household income of someone making minimum wage is $57k.

      Think of that whenever you find someone trying to support their point with statistics.

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    2. Re:Maybe by no-body · · Score: 1

      Just look at US "minimum wage" not covering basic living expenses at full hour work week?

      The average household income of someone making minimum wage is $57k. Think of that whenever you find someone trying to support their point with statistics.

      Source please and area where this happens, maybe NY - anyone can claim that sky is green

    3. Re:Maybe by phantomfive · · Score: 1

      In the US.....think about what kind of people make minimum wage (mainly teenagers) and it makes sense.

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    4. Re:Maybe by no-body · · Score: 1

      In the US.....think about what kind of people make minimum wage (mainly teenagers) and it makes sense.

      FYI: here is the 2012 breakdown "at or below" minimum wage: http://www.bls.gov/cps/minwage2012.pdf

      You may think what you want, you still don't show your source nor area where this happens and how you get $57k/yr out of a minimum wage earner.

    5. Re:Maybe by phantomfive · · Score: 1

      Here's the source, and I was wrong, it's $53k, not $57k.

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
  43. Re:This is not news ... LMGTFY by MondoGordo · · Score: 1

    there you go... one of many references to the same sort of study... http://www.psychology.iastate.edu/faculty/caa/abstracts/2000-2004/01A.pdf

  44. Re:This is a great quote ! by MondoGordo · · Score: 1

    Good on ya, mate !

  45. So ... by cascadingstylesheet · · Score: 1

    So, crime should be falling in the U.S. Midwest, right, since it's August and only in the 70s?

  46. Re:You are such a tool by GameboyRMH · · Score: 1

    So you just admitted that you easily ignore large amounts of information off-hand, and you've used an ad-hominem for the second time now.

    I will not compete at that level.

    --
    "When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
  47. Soylent Green by Plumpaquatsch · · Score: 1

    Watch it - everybody is sweating all the time, everybody is aggressive. A movie about Global Warming.

    --
    Of course news about a fake are Fake News.
  48. bullshit.. it more due to by jerryjnormandin · · Score: 1

    Religion, Politics, Natural Resources.

  49. Indirect relationship by Livius · · Score: 1

    Just a guess, but it might not be

    climate change -> violence

    so much as:

    climate change -> ecological disaster -> famine -> poverty -> desperation -> violence

  50. Re:How does more arable land and food mean violenc by Eugriped3z · · Score: 1

    Most of us don't live in a hunter/gatherer society, and even when we did, we didn't just go out and pick whatever happened to grow. Agriculture started in the jungles and on the plains thousands of years ago when people figured out that it was nice that the seeds they'd tossed were plants when they returned after a few seasons or years. Now, Big Ag raises most of the global food supply, and if the climate shifts faster than it can acquire suitable replacement lands and develop the supporting infrastructure (think irrigation and transportation), the financial consequences won't be limited to the equities markets. It will ripple throughout the supply chain with food prices showing the biggest leap just like then did when gasoline hit $4/gal a few years ago. (Notice those prices didn't come down much even after fuel prices abated).

    There's a huge web of inter-related business interests that will be destabilized. Everything from feed, seed and weed manufacturers & distributors to the grain elevators, transportation and local banks and insurance brokers that service the industry. The likes of Monsanto, Archer Daniels Midland and United Fruit are worldwide and have considerable pull. They don't just stand by and watch, and they don't fight fair, either.

    It's not the climate per se that leads to the predictable intergroup conflicts, it's the economic instability that drives one geopolitical entity to risk war when diplomacy fails or necessity of the starving masses threatens to upend their apple carts. That's why China has invested in countries on every continent and they've been developing a massive military along with an inquisitive cyber-spying ring. They have well developed culture of power and historical appreciation for the long term implications of the interesting opportunities that come with rapidly shifting geopolitical advantage.

    I find it interesting that a few posts up the /. board, there's one that deals with the evolutionary advantage or cooperation over competition. Especially as it comes during a period when anthropogenic climate change may require a mindset reset in terms of the failing nationalistic economic financial competition which nearly unraveled completely due to the irrational exuberance in the derivatives markets which has yet to be addressed in any real of meaningful fashion. Alan Greenspan may have unknowingly led us to an evolutionary tipping point for which history my be incapable of acknowledging the depth or breadth of his contribution.

    And so it goes... *

  51. it's the economy, stupid by tom+arnall · · Score: 1

    the word economy has also been tanking during the period of the "study." but the advantage of these kinds of "studies" is that they distract people from the real problem, i.e., the sociopaths who pay for such "studies."

    tom arnall

    1. Re:it's the economy, stupid by lpq · · Score: 1

      I agree with the above **AND**, it's the increase in crowding (a result of "over population/unit area")....

      Drawing from verbiage of a another article on team work being better than individual work.. -- having geniuses or loners being forced to learn to work in a team (crowd), and is a recipe for disaster.

      There are *different* types of people that thrive in diverse environments. The closer you crowd them, the less they will thrive and the more conflict that will happen.

      If they are unhappy due to economic problems it is all the worse.

  52. Climate of Humans by cavebison · · Score: 1

    > "Add this to the developing scarcity of water due to global warming and the prospects for a peaceful future do not bode well."

    "The short period of relative peace in a small section of human society won't last much longer into the future."

    FTFY.