Effects of Rapid Climate Change on Violence and Conflict
Publisher: Oxford Research Encyclopedias
Author(s): Courtney Plante, Johnie J. Allen, and Craig A. Anderson
Date: 2017
Topics: Assessment, Climate Change, Conflict Causes, Livelihoods
Given the dire nature of many researchers’ predictions about the effects of global climate change (e.g., rising sea levels, droughts, more extreme weather), it comes as little surprise that less attention has been paid to the subtler, less direct outcomes of rapid climate change: psychological, sociological, political, and economic effects. In this chapter the authors explore one such outcome in particular: the effects of rapid climate change on aggression. They begin by exploring the potential for climate change to directly affect aggression in individuals, focusing on research showing the relationship between uncomfortably hot ambient temperature and aggression. Next, the authors review several lines of research illustrating ways that climate change can indirectly increase aggression in individuals. The authors then shift their focus from individuals to the effects of climate change on group-level aggression. THey finish by addressing points of contention, including the challenge that the effects of climate change on aggression are too remote and too small to be considered relevant.