Comments on: Climate Migration – fact or fiction? http://www.earthfeed.com/climate-migration-fact-or-fiction/ ecological dispatches from a small planet Thu, 05 Aug 2010 19:27:44 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Chris L http://www.earthfeed.com/climate-migration-fact-or-fiction/#comment-70 Chris L Thu, 01 Oct 2009 21:08:39 +0000 http://www.theearthfeed.com/?p=273#comment-70 Also: I just found this article from the Guardian which is relevant: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/sep/29/sea-levels-ghost-states Also: I just found this article from the Guardian which is relevant:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/sep/29/sea-levels-ghost-states

]]> By: Chris L http://www.earthfeed.com/climate-migration-fact-or-fiction/#comment-69 Chris L Thu, 01 Oct 2009 20:47:27 +0000 http://www.theearthfeed.com/?p=273#comment-69 Thanks for that link. I agree with you, though -- it seems to me that once arable land has turned into desert, the only place that people can go is "away". What seems most likely (and as she has basically illustrated in the article) is that migrants will move only as far as they need to go to make a decent living - inasmuch as they can afford it. At the very least that will probably mean a varying amounts of of cross-border travel between adjacent countries, which will certainly create strain. One need only look at the racial tension in South Africa over the immigrants from neighbouring countries. It is a little silly that people are freaking out over semantics, though. The term "climate refugee" obviously doesn't have the same meaning as a refugee from an oppressive regime - it's merely an expression of best-fit. All this question really shows is we need to develop a legal framework for dealing with people who have been forced away from their homes by changing weather patterns. After all, climate is not a willfully oppressive force - though its effects can be far more intense than any authoritarian government could ever dream. Bleah, I dunno. Whatever winds up happening, the West had better pay for most of it, given that climate change is our fault. Fat chance of that, though. Thanks for that link. I agree with you, though — it seems to me that once arable land has turned into desert, the only place that people can go is “away”. What seems most likely (and as she has basically illustrated in the article) is that migrants will move only as far as they need to go to make a decent living – inasmuch as they can afford it. At the very least that will probably mean a varying amounts of of cross-border travel between adjacent countries, which will certainly create strain. One need only look at the racial tension in South Africa over the immigrants from neighbouring countries.

It is a little silly that people are freaking out over semantics, though. The term “climate refugee” obviously doesn’t have the same meaning as a refugee from an oppressive regime – it’s merely an expression of best-fit. All this question really shows is we need to develop a legal framework for dealing with people who have been forced away from their homes by changing weather patterns. After all, climate is not a willfully oppressive force – though its effects can be far more intense than any authoritarian government could ever dream.

Bleah, I dunno. Whatever winds up happening, the West had better pay for most of it, given that climate change is our fault. Fat chance of that, though.

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