Why a Climate Change Deal Is the Best Hope for Peace

A deal on climate change is a global priority after the terrorist attacks in Paris, argue climatologist Jason Box and author Naomi Klein. Their essay for the New Yorker points out that severe drought instigated a mass migration within Syria from rural areas to cities, contributing to discontent. Conflict in the Middle East should inspire “an urgent push to lower emissions as rapidly and deeply as possible, including strong support for developing countries to leapfrog to renewable energy, creating much-needed jobs and economic opportunities in the process,” the essay notes. “That kind of bold climate transition is our only hope of preventing a future in which, as a recent paper in the journal 'Nature Climate Change' put it, large areas of the Middle East will, by the end of the century, ‘experience temperature levels that are intolerable to humans.’” Prioritizing sustainability and tackling climate change, could increase job growth while reducing mass migrations, conflict and uncertainty. – YaleGlobal Online