Global Warming Could Lead To More Violence And Wars

Scientists stated before that global warming could lead to environmental disaster and catastrophe, but could it also affect human behavior?

In a new study that was published in this month's edition of the journal "Science", a team of experts said that they have found evidence linking climatic events to the rise in the number of human conflicts in the major regions of the world.

According to the study led by Solomon Hsiang of the University Of California Berkeley, 60 previous studies on the subject gave them evidences that global warming could affect behavior of people, which could mean more wars and violence in the future.

"A rapidly growing body of research examines whether human conflict can be affected by climatic changes. Drawing from archaeology, criminology, economics, geography, history, political science, and psychology, we assemble and analyze the 60 most rigorous quantitative studies and document, for the first time, a remarkable convergence of results. We find strong causal evidence linking climatic events to human conflict across a range of spatial and temporal scales and across all major regions of the world," wrote Hsiang, along with co-authors Marshall Burke and Edward Miguel.

Researchers analyzed 60 previous studies, including studies involving the fall of empires throughout history, along with recent wars and crime rates in the United States. They also considered the relation of the weather in police officers' decision to shoot a criminal as well as decisions of baseball pitchers to throw the ball directly at a batter on purpose.

After careful and thorough analysis, analysts allegedly found out that extreme weather leads to aggressive and violent behavior, which also means that the hotter it gets, the "hotter under the collar human beings were likely to behave."

The results served as a warning to all people, but scientists also pointed out that while they are quite sure with their conclusion, there are still several factors affecting human behavior besides the increase in temperature.

Hsiang pointed out that technological development, life expectancy, and global connectivity should also be considered. This statement led to criticism on the research.

Edward Carr, a tenured associate professor in the Department of Geography at the University of South Carolina, said that the results of the research are not earth-shattering at all.

"The Hsiang, et al paper bears little resemblance to the media stories written about it. It makes very measured, fairly contained claims about climate change and conflict that, if represented accurately in the media, probably would not have made for interesting stories," Carr wrote on his official website.