Welcome to the Anthropocene
In 2015, Senator James Inhofe famously walked into the United States Senate grasping a snowball and declaring that the flurry outside definitively disproved scientific assertions of a warming climate. While a somewhat isolated extreme, the Senators’ comments serve as a microcosm of greater attitudes in the United States towards addressing the climate crisis. It is difficult for one to conceptualize the full impact of the climate crisis on those who exist outside of our own circles of identity.
A new wave of refugees, not caused by war or politics, will be a prominent issue in the near future. Countries, such as Bangladesh, are at risk of becoming ocean seabeds as projections show rising waters covering entire cities and regions and climate disasters become more frequent and extreme in scale. Many millions of people are at risk of being displaced. Although this crisis may seem far away, its impact on world politics will be substantial.
A new wave of refugees, not caused by war or politics, will be a prominent issue in the near future. Countries, such as Bangladesh, are at risk of becoming ocean seabeds as projections show rising waters covering entire cities and regions and climate disasters become more frequent and extreme in scale. Many millions of people are at risk of being displaced. Although this crisis may seem far away, its impact on world politics will be substantial.
What is the anthropocene?
Earth's most recent geologic time period as being human-influenced, or anthropogenic, based on overwhelming global evidence that atmospheric, geologic, hydrologic, biospheric and other earth system processes are now altered by humans.
What are climate refugees?
A climate refugee is an individual who is displaced by climate related phenomena. As we move further into the Anthropocene and see extreme weather increase, a strain on resources and sea level rise, the number of climate refugees worldwide will grow exponentially.