At the climate conference – COP26, international leaders warned that failing to address climate change might result in not only more hurricanes than we can count, but also the collapse of countries.
The host of the talks, Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister of United Kingdom, stated in a speech that if leaders do not address the issue, people’s fury will be “uncontainable.” Johnson recently linked the threat of climate change to “the decline and fall of the Roman empire.”
Hotter temperatures equals hotter tempers.
According to the New York Times, governments, particularly in Europe, are fearful that the problems of moving to a greener economy would provoke a populist rebellion.
Take a look at what’s going on in the European energy markets, for example:
Countries like the United Kingdom have become reliant on natural gas as they transition away from coal in favour of renewables, but natural gas prices have risen this fall.
In September, Spanish citizens marched to the streets to protest rising electricity costs, prompting the government to curb energy corporations’ profits and assist homeowners.
It’s not only about the wealthy nations.
According to analyses released last month by the White House, US Intelligence and the Pentagon, lower-income countries facing the more immediate concerns of climate change—such as rising sea levels and excessive heat—could become major drivers of global unrest.
This is a significant shift in thinking, since the US military has previously considered climate change as a matter of “making sure we’re ready for bad weather.” “Climate change might ignite mass migration, wars, and competition for limited resources that endanger global security,” says the new approach.