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Klimakriege. Wofür im 21. Jahrhundert getötet wird
Kampf um Trinkwasser, neue Massengewalt, "ethnische Säuberungen", Bürgerkriege gerade in den ärmsten Ländern und endlose Flüchtlingsströme bestimmen schon jetzt die Gegenwart. Die Konflikte des 21. Jahrhunderts drehen sich nicht mehr um Ideologien und Systemkonkurrenzen, sondern um Klassen-, Glaubens- und vor allem Ressourcenfragen.
Aus den Völkermorden des 20. Jahrhunderts ist bekannt, wie schnell soziale Fragen in radikale und tödliche Lösungen übergehen können.
Die reichen Gesellschaften entwickeln bereits Strategien, "Klimaflüchtlinge" fernzuhalten.
Harald Welzer zeigt, wie Klimawandel und Gewalt zusammenhängen, und was getan werden müsste, um Menschheitskatastrophen abzuwenden.
Aus den Völkermorden des 20. Jahrhunderts ist bekannt, wie schnell soziale Fragen in radikale und tödliche Lösungen übergehen können.
Die reichen Gesellschaften entwickeln bereits Strategien, "Klimaflüchtlinge" fernzuhalten.
Harald Welzer zeigt, wie Klimawandel und Gewalt zusammenhängen, und was getan werden müsste, um Menschheitskatastrophen abzuwenden.
335 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2008
42 people are currently reading
804 people want to read
About the author
Harald Welzer
74 books59 followersHarald Welzer ist Direktor des Center for Interdisciplinary Memory Research am Kulturwissenschaftlichen Institut in Essen und Forschungsprofessor für Sozialpsychologie an der Universität Witten/Herdecke.
"Der Spiegel" stellte ihn im August 2007 in seiner Serie herausragender Wissenschaftler als "produktiven Quergeist" einem breiten Publikum vor.
(Klappentextinformation aus "Klimakriege" 2008)
"Der Spiegel" stellte ihn im August 2007 in seiner Serie herausragender Wissenschaftler als "produktiven Quergeist" einem breiten Publikum vor.
(Klappentextinformation aus "Klimakriege" 2008)
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 43 reviews
May 10, 2024
Als Public Intellectual hat Harald Welzer schon so manche gewöhnungsbedürftige These vertreten. Es ist jedoch ein Grundprinzip meines Verständnisses von Literaturkritik, nicht die ggf. fragwürdigen, politischen Ansichten eines Autors, sondern ausschließlich das vorliegende Werk zu bewerten. Und siehe da: „Klimakriege. Wofür im 21. Jahrhundert getötet wird“ kommt hierbei erstaunlich gut weg.
In „Klimakriege“ beleuchtet Welzer die (geo-)politischen und sozialen Folgen des Klimawandels. Welzer konstatiert, dass große Seen wie der Aral- oder der Tschadsee vertrocknen, Wüsten sich ausweiten und Regenzonen sich verschieben; all das hat unmittelbare Folgen für die dort lebenden Menschen. Der Kampf um knappe Ressourcen wie Wasser und Weideflächen verschärft sich, was wiederum in Gewaltexzessen kulminiert. Infolgedessen entstehen massiven Migrationsbewegungen, gegen die sich die USA und Europa zunehmend abschotten. Das Phänomen des Klimaflüchtlings oder der Asylverfahren in Drittenstaaten, die in heutigen Diskursen immer häufiger zur Sprache kommen, hatte Welzer also schon 2008 auf dem Schirm. Insgesamt muss Welzer attestiert werden, dass er viele Entwicklungen, die sich erst heute so richtig abzeichnen, schon zu einem recht frühen Zeitpunkt antizipiert hat. Das macht „Klimakriege“, obwohl schon 16 Jahre auf dem Buckel, zu einem ungemein aktuellen Buch.
Rundum zufrieden war ich trotzdem nicht. Der Buchtitel kommt zwar extrem griffig daher, verspricht aber auch etwas zuviel. Manche Nebenkapitel hätte sich Welzer auch sparen können, sie führen teilweise vom berühmten Hölzchen aufs berüchtigte Stöckchen. Auch die pessimistische, ja bisweilen schon fatalistische Tonart ist in meinen Augen nicht so richtig zielführend, läuft sie doch darauf hinaus, diesen Entwicklungen politisch nicht entschieden zu begegnen. Im Gesamtergebnis hat mir „Klimakriege“ dennoch gefallen. An der Schnittstelle zwischen Klimawandel, Geopolitik und Gewaltforschung liefert sie einen lesenswerten Debattenbeitrag
Review auf Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/C6x6HzJA0hL/
In „Klimakriege“ beleuchtet Welzer die (geo-)politischen und sozialen Folgen des Klimawandels. Welzer konstatiert, dass große Seen wie der Aral- oder der Tschadsee vertrocknen, Wüsten sich ausweiten und Regenzonen sich verschieben; all das hat unmittelbare Folgen für die dort lebenden Menschen. Der Kampf um knappe Ressourcen wie Wasser und Weideflächen verschärft sich, was wiederum in Gewaltexzessen kulminiert. Infolgedessen entstehen massiven Migrationsbewegungen, gegen die sich die USA und Europa zunehmend abschotten. Das Phänomen des Klimaflüchtlings oder der Asylverfahren in Drittenstaaten, die in heutigen Diskursen immer häufiger zur Sprache kommen, hatte Welzer also schon 2008 auf dem Schirm. Insgesamt muss Welzer attestiert werden, dass er viele Entwicklungen, die sich erst heute so richtig abzeichnen, schon zu einem recht frühen Zeitpunkt antizipiert hat. Das macht „Klimakriege“, obwohl schon 16 Jahre auf dem Buckel, zu einem ungemein aktuellen Buch.
Rundum zufrieden war ich trotzdem nicht. Der Buchtitel kommt zwar extrem griffig daher, verspricht aber auch etwas zuviel. Manche Nebenkapitel hätte sich Welzer auch sparen können, sie führen teilweise vom berühmten Hölzchen aufs berüchtigte Stöckchen. Auch die pessimistische, ja bisweilen schon fatalistische Tonart ist in meinen Augen nicht so richtig zielführend, läuft sie doch darauf hinaus, diesen Entwicklungen politisch nicht entschieden zu begegnen. Im Gesamtergebnis hat mir „Klimakriege“ dennoch gefallen. An der Schnittstelle zwischen Klimawandel, Geopolitik und Gewaltforschung liefert sie einen lesenswerten Debattenbeitrag
Review auf Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/C6x6HzJA0hL/
January 22, 2020
Extremely thought provoking extremely hard to read...
May 30, 2019
This is an exceptionally important book, one that captures many of the facets of the current and near future world. Unfortunately, it is written in a Central European academic style that renders it largely unreadable. There are some really interesting ideas contained within the text, but the delivery is exceptionally poor. I did struggle through to the end of the book. I learned something. I didn't find the book engaging or easy to read.
The book contains many positives. For example, I quite liked the idea that climate related disruption could be remote from a subsequent outbreak of violence. Conflict does not appear to be related to climate changes, but if the chain of causation is investigated, then the root cause of conflict can be seen as a response to changing weather patterns.
The author identifies five elements to killers coming to accept violence as meaningful:
1. A high degree of fear and insecurity.
2. A perception of increasinly restricted prospects.
3. A perceived threat of annihilation.
4. Killing becomes defined as a 'job' that needs to be done.
5. The killers assure themselves of the normality of their actions.
It has to be said that this framework is applied to the level of communal violence - one community pitched against another. The worrying thing is that, as politics becomes more polarised, the chances of this framework coming into play increase. I liked the way in which the author used this framework to explain evenys in Darfur, which he labels as the first climate war.
The analysis gave rise to four climate related conflict scenarios that I found to be noteworthy:
1. Increased conflict over land and freshwater. What this means for North America has yet to be teased out.
2. Growing migration from the global south to the global north. This has implications for noth Europe and North America.
3. Shrinking lakes and drying rivers. As these are natural boundaries between states, it creates the possibility of boundary conflicts.
4. The downstream consequences of climate mitigation actions might be a cause for conflict. For example, an upstream agricultural community might abstract the water relied upon by a downstream urban community leading to conflict between the two.
All of these possibilities, many of which have been seen in minor forms, have the potential to make the world just a little bit more violent and for the number of conflicts to increase.
I was particularly attracted to the idea of shifting baselines. This is where the abnormality of one generation becomes the normality of he next, and so on. I feel that too few futurists actually engage in that notion nd simply expect the mores of one generation to be broadly similar to the next. If we consider the relationship of various generations with their smartphones, this point becomes readily evident. This is an important piont that was worth struggling through the book to take.
On the whole, I do see this as an imprtant book. As I said, it is very poorly written and the language serves to obscure more than it enlightens. I found it worth the struggle because I did gain some insight from the book. I suspect that a less determined reader would ive up much earlier in the volume. It's a bit like panning for gold - you o trough an awdul lot of mud in order to get to the really useful nugget.
The book contains many positives. For example, I quite liked the idea that climate related disruption could be remote from a subsequent outbreak of violence. Conflict does not appear to be related to climate changes, but if the chain of causation is investigated, then the root cause of conflict can be seen as a response to changing weather patterns.
The author identifies five elements to killers coming to accept violence as meaningful:
1. A high degree of fear and insecurity.
2. A perception of increasinly restricted prospects.
3. A perceived threat of annihilation.
4. Killing becomes defined as a 'job' that needs to be done.
5. The killers assure themselves of the normality of their actions.
It has to be said that this framework is applied to the level of communal violence - one community pitched against another. The worrying thing is that, as politics becomes more polarised, the chances of this framework coming into play increase. I liked the way in which the author used this framework to explain evenys in Darfur, which he labels as the first climate war.
The analysis gave rise to four climate related conflict scenarios that I found to be noteworthy:
1. Increased conflict over land and freshwater. What this means for North America has yet to be teased out.
2. Growing migration from the global south to the global north. This has implications for noth Europe and North America.
3. Shrinking lakes and drying rivers. As these are natural boundaries between states, it creates the possibility of boundary conflicts.
4. The downstream consequences of climate mitigation actions might be a cause for conflict. For example, an upstream agricultural community might abstract the water relied upon by a downstream urban community leading to conflict between the two.
All of these possibilities, many of which have been seen in minor forms, have the potential to make the world just a little bit more violent and for the number of conflicts to increase.
I was particularly attracted to the idea of shifting baselines. This is where the abnormality of one generation becomes the normality of he next, and so on. I feel that too few futurists actually engage in that notion nd simply expect the mores of one generation to be broadly similar to the next. If we consider the relationship of various generations with their smartphones, this point becomes readily evident. This is an important piont that was worth struggling through the book to take.
On the whole, I do see this as an imprtant book. As I said, it is very poorly written and the language serves to obscure more than it enlightens. I found it worth the struggle because I did gain some insight from the book. I suspect that a less determined reader would ive up much earlier in the volume. It's a bit like panning for gold - you o trough an awdul lot of mud in order to get to the really useful nugget.
August 17, 2014
Stupid title. Sounds like it will be for Preppers but it is not.
I thought it might be about the potential for conflict over climate change. I also thought it might speculate on the future of politics in a climate changed world. We are already seeing some strange political creatures such as Harper in Canada and Abbott in Australia. Both are reactionary leaders of climate denying governments doing their darnedest to work on behalf of fossil fuel producers. I have come to the conclusion that the masters of these clowns know their days are numbered and are trying to squeeze out the last dollar before their whole operation becomes worthless.
It is not only the title that promises something that it does not deliver. Welzer constantly teases the reader with the idea he will tell us what will happen. This is really like a romance novel promising to turn into fully fledged porn but we only get a quick kiss as the climax.
The book suggests their will be more conflict. The conflict will be in the periphery not in the Western Heartlands. Welzer is big on violence becoming the final arbiter if things become desperate. He especially thinks that this will happen with areas with poor governance issues. This will be masked by ethnic rivalry which he suggests is the easiest way to get people to kill each other and anyway the creation of ethnically homogeneous nations is part of the modernization process. Darfur is the template he uses and he could be right to a point describing that region as the first modern climate war. And this is where my real problems with the book start.
Once you catch someone trying to pull a swifty like that it really gives you cause to question everything else that is purported to be true. There are many nations in Europe that have are heterogeneous and not just lately either. France has a sizable German speaking minority. Switzerland is a mish mash of religion and ethnicity. The Belgians, French and Flemish, may not love each other but they are not at each others throats either. Violence is not inevitable. I would suggest he over states his case. I would be surprised myself if there was no violent outcomes from climate change.
In this muddle of a book there are some highlights. His discussion of terrorism and violence "(Terrorism is) a self-empowering form of substitute warfare" is very thought provoking.
He also believes that there is a strong likelihood that we will do nothing. Western societies are different from individuals. He makes the point that as a society we act like a sociopaths. "If he consumes seventy times more than anyone else while largely relying on their raw materials- or someone who uses fifteen times more energy, water and food than the less well-off ....such personality would also be totally unconcerned about the lives of his children and grandchildren"
He has a point.
I thought it might be about the potential for conflict over climate change. I also thought it might speculate on the future of politics in a climate changed world. We are already seeing some strange political creatures such as Harper in Canada and Abbott in Australia. Both are reactionary leaders of climate denying governments doing their darnedest to work on behalf of fossil fuel producers. I have come to the conclusion that the masters of these clowns know their days are numbered and are trying to squeeze out the last dollar before their whole operation becomes worthless.
It is not only the title that promises something that it does not deliver. Welzer constantly teases the reader with the idea he will tell us what will happen. This is really like a romance novel promising to turn into fully fledged porn but we only get a quick kiss as the climax.
The book suggests their will be more conflict. The conflict will be in the periphery not in the Western Heartlands. Welzer is big on violence becoming the final arbiter if things become desperate. He especially thinks that this will happen with areas with poor governance issues. This will be masked by ethnic rivalry which he suggests is the easiest way to get people to kill each other and anyway the creation of ethnically homogeneous nations is part of the modernization process. Darfur is the template he uses and he could be right to a point describing that region as the first modern climate war. And this is where my real problems with the book start.
Once you catch someone trying to pull a swifty like that it really gives you cause to question everything else that is purported to be true. There are many nations in Europe that have are heterogeneous and not just lately either. France has a sizable German speaking minority. Switzerland is a mish mash of religion and ethnicity. The Belgians, French and Flemish, may not love each other but they are not at each others throats either. Violence is not inevitable. I would suggest he over states his case. I would be surprised myself if there was no violent outcomes from climate change.
In this muddle of a book there are some highlights. His discussion of terrorism and violence "(Terrorism is) a self-empowering form of substitute warfare" is very thought provoking.
He also believes that there is a strong likelihood that we will do nothing. Western societies are different from individuals. He makes the point that as a society we act like a sociopaths. "If he consumes seventy times more than anyone else while largely relying on their raw materials- or someone who uses fifteen times more energy, water and food than the less well-off ....such personality would also be totally unconcerned about the lives of his children and grandchildren"
He has a point.
September 9, 2015
"De klimaatoorlogen" is a book about war and why climate change may cause more war in the coming centuries. It studies the history of human kind and analyses the causes and outcomes of different wars at different times. Unlike what you might expect from the title, the book is mostly about wars and not so much about climate change.
It's in interesting view at what could happen and definitely a good counterargument to books like Abundance (Diamandis)
It's not the future I would like and it's certainly alarming to see some of the predictions regarding refugees in Europe already come true. Only 6 years after it was written.
The book itself is very hard to read. Very long run-on sentences that required second and third readings to properly understand. I'm not sure if this is due to the bad translation, but it was a struggle to finish this one.
It's in interesting view at what could happen and definitely a good counterargument to books like Abundance (Diamandis)
It's not the future I would like and it's certainly alarming to see some of the predictions regarding refugees in Europe already come true. Only 6 years after it was written.
The book itself is very hard to read. Very long run-on sentences that required second and third readings to properly understand. I'm not sure if this is due to the bad translation, but it was a struggle to finish this one.
April 1, 2016
I'm probably being a little generous with two stars. Talk about gloom and doom. While this book addresses some potential problems/conflicts that loom on the horizon, the author ties them all to global warming. My biggest critique of this book is that Welzer assumes that climate change is a closed subject, as if we know everything there is to know about it (causes, effects, etc). The thing is, there is a LOT we don't know about it; there's a lot of theory surrounding it. My second greatest critique is the anti-Western civilization sentiment throughout. Those evil capitalists!
At least I was in good company in my national security class, as many students voiced similar opinions and criticisms. And in a poly-sci class at a university? Where it is just one of those known facts that most poly-sci programs/students lean left? That says something. Welzer is off base and over-dramatic.
(Even the professor, who actually in this case is a Republican, laughed as he said, "I'm sorry I assigned this book.")
At least I was in good company in my national security class, as many students voiced similar opinions and criticisms. And in a poly-sci class at a university? Where it is just one of those known facts that most poly-sci programs/students lean left? That says something. Welzer is off base and over-dramatic.
(Even the professor, who actually in this case is a Republican, laughed as he said, "I'm sorry I assigned this book.")
February 8, 2023
super helpful for my research! def recommend for anyone who is unfamiliar with the subject and wants a good overview; the author uses a lot of examples, which i found really helpful for understanding his points as someone with 0 background in environmental or political science. it's dense in some parts, which is why it took me so long to get through it, but it was worth getting through those sections.
while mostly a scientific/academic book, the author is a great emotive writer. the two final chapters were material for radicalization. it's about 15 years old, so i would recommend supplementing this reading with more recently published material. however, the book is well-structured + insightful.
while mostly a scientific/academic book, the author is a great emotive writer. the two final chapters were material for radicalization. it's about 15 years old, so i would recommend supplementing this reading with more recently published material. however, the book is well-structured + insightful.
May 11, 2015
Mr. Welzer takes as a given that climate change is happening and that it is not stoppable, and then goes on to the main business of the book: understanding how people will react, and have been reacting, to the stresses of resource loss. As a German born just after WWII, he has taken on the task of studying the "social catastrophe" that is war, and that was Nazism.
Before writing this book he studied, with a team of researchers, 150,000 pages of transcripts of the conversations of German prisoners of war in British prisons. The British had bugged the cells to catch any information that might be useful in winning the war. Lessons learned from that study are applied in the book at hand. Namely, how do people go from decency to incomprehensible cruelty. "Climate Wars" is as much about that as anything else.
"Violence markets" is a term new to me. It refers to the kind of business that uses violence to drive money in the desired direction. This underlies what we call "warlords" in Afghanistan, Somalia, and similarly impoverished regions. Welzer makes clear how these work, and often draws from Nazi history to illustrate his points. I applaud that as a German he is willing to show a clear-eyed view of these crimes. They are often the most interesting parts of the book.
In the main, Welzer is arguing that we don't know how we will behave under stress, that the caring decent people we may be can erode in weeks when violence becomes the norm. I think it is an important lesson, and this is a great book.
Before writing this book he studied, with a team of researchers, 150,000 pages of transcripts of the conversations of German prisoners of war in British prisons. The British had bugged the cells to catch any information that might be useful in winning the war. Lessons learned from that study are applied in the book at hand. Namely, how do people go from decency to incomprehensible cruelty. "Climate Wars" is as much about that as anything else.
"Violence markets" is a term new to me. It refers to the kind of business that uses violence to drive money in the desired direction. This underlies what we call "warlords" in Afghanistan, Somalia, and similarly impoverished regions. Welzer makes clear how these work, and often draws from Nazi history to illustrate his points. I applaud that as a German he is willing to show a clear-eyed view of these crimes. They are often the most interesting parts of the book.
In the main, Welzer is arguing that we don't know how we will behave under stress, that the caring decent people we may be can erode in weeks when violence becomes the norm. I think it is an important lesson, and this is a great book.
May 31, 2019
"Death by Reading" is another reason you might die in the 21st Century. It was killing me to finish this dry book that offered little insight into a hopeful future. Page 173 offered four examples of things countries have done to make a better future. Most of the book was going over incidents of the past that may or may not have been cliimate related.
Welzer takes the liberty of calling other factors socio-cultural which he lumps in with climate causes. The writing is verbose e.g. "If one feels no moral dissonance over policy decisions to treat other human beings in that way, one can happily continue to refuse them admission. One way out of this dilemma would be to use one's native wit, not for devising ostensibly more human strategies of exclusion at considerable public cost, but to explore participatory avenues that the early industrialized countries will anyway have to embrace in the medium term for demographic reasons."
One star for at least getting right that A.D. goes before the year and not after (so many authors, particularly archaeologists, get this wrong).
Welzer takes the liberty of calling other factors socio-cultural which he lumps in with climate causes. The writing is verbose e.g. "If one feels no moral dissonance over policy decisions to treat other human beings in that way, one can happily continue to refuse them admission. One way out of this dilemma would be to use one's native wit, not for devising ostensibly more human strategies of exclusion at considerable public cost, but to explore participatory avenues that the early industrialized countries will anyway have to embrace in the medium term for demographic reasons."
One star for at least getting right that A.D. goes before the year and not after (so many authors, particularly archaeologists, get this wrong).
September 24, 2019
A longer review about this topic is posted about the book "Climate Wars" by Gwynne Dyer.
August 10, 2022
Už po pár desiatkach strán som mal zimomriavky na tele. Predstavoval som si, v akom svete asi budú žiť moje deti o 10 či 20 rokov...že to možno bude čosi celkom iné a budú musieť bojovať o vodu, pôdu, o zdroje...
Tie boje prebiehajú už aj dnes, možno v menšom meradle, nie vždy sa donesú k nám, nie vždy po nich siahnu denníky (tobôž bulvárne a tie čo idú po povrchu), no klimatické dejiny sa dejú už dnes. A to je hrozivé.
Dôsledky klimatických zmien sa prejavujú v posúvaní obývateľných zón a poľnohospodárskych regiónov. v rozširovaní púští a znižovaní vodných zdrojov...častejšie záplavy, naštrbuje sa existujúca rovnováha v geopolitike, budú pribúdať napäté situácie a budú hroziť čoraz viac násilné riešenia.
Welzer sa venuje širokému spektru tém a oblastí, ktoré prinesú klimatické zmeny a ich negatívne dôsledky. Popisuje súčasné klimatické konflikty, predkladá pokusy o nájdenie riešení.
zaujímavé sú kapitoly Zabíjanie včera a Zabíjanie dnes, v ktorých sa venuje konkrétnym konfliktom ako genocída v Rwande, prvá klimatická vojna v Darfúre, vyratúva kolabujúce štáty...
Ako vyzerá trh s násilím a ekoterorizmus? Ako bude vyzerať utečenecká kríza o pár rokov a ako sa budú posúvať hranice?
V závere autor predkladá nejaké návrhy Čo sa dá robiť a čo nie...no priznám sa, nemal som z týchto pasáži uspokojivý pocit. Všetko je v našich rukách, no nateraz to vyzerá, že nemáme prílišný záujem riešiť klimatické konflikty...teda najmä nie tí, ktorí majú najviac moci v rukách. Žiaľ. A to nie je dobrá správa pre naše deti a ich deti...
Tie boje prebiehajú už aj dnes, možno v menšom meradle, nie vždy sa donesú k nám, nie vždy po nich siahnu denníky (tobôž bulvárne a tie čo idú po povrchu), no klimatické dejiny sa dejú už dnes. A to je hrozivé.
Dôsledky klimatických zmien sa prejavujú v posúvaní obývateľných zón a poľnohospodárskych regiónov. v rozširovaní púští a znižovaní vodných zdrojov...častejšie záplavy, naštrbuje sa existujúca rovnováha v geopolitike, budú pribúdať napäté situácie a budú hroziť čoraz viac násilné riešenia.
Welzer sa venuje širokému spektru tém a oblastí, ktoré prinesú klimatické zmeny a ich negatívne dôsledky. Popisuje súčasné klimatické konflikty, predkladá pokusy o nájdenie riešení.
zaujímavé sú kapitoly Zabíjanie včera a Zabíjanie dnes, v ktorých sa venuje konkrétnym konfliktom ako genocída v Rwande, prvá klimatická vojna v Darfúre, vyratúva kolabujúce štáty...
Ako vyzerá trh s násilím a ekoterorizmus? Ako bude vyzerať utečenecká kríza o pár rokov a ako sa budú posúvať hranice?
V závere autor predkladá nejaké návrhy Čo sa dá robiť a čo nie...no priznám sa, nemal som z týchto pasáži uspokojivý pocit. Všetko je v našich rukách, no nateraz to vyzerá, že nemáme prílišný záujem riešiť klimatické konflikty...teda najmä nie tí, ktorí majú najviac moci v rukách. Žiaľ. A to nie je dobrá správa pre naše deti a ich deti...
July 25, 2022
Klimatické zmeny spôsobujú, okrem iného, na niektorých častiach sveta vysychanie vody a dezertifikaciu..tá núti ľudí sťahovať sa na miesta, kde môžu vykonávať svoju prácu (poľnohospodárstvo, chov dobytka na pasienkoch a i.) alebo si nájsť novú.. Putujú aj za zdrojom pitnej vody.. Takáto migrácia do miest alebo do iných štátov vedie k nasilnostiam (ci už zo strany frustrovanych migrantov alebo štátneho aparátu) a môže skončiť otvorenym bojom ci dokonca vojnou.. Ďalšou formou klimatických vojen je boj o suroviny (najmä ropu, zemný plyn, ale aj diamanty ci cenné kovy).. Kniha opisuje vplyv klimatických zmien na sociálne vrstvy a ich možné (násilné a geopoliticke) následky.. Vytkla by som azda pravopisné chyby, spôsobené zrejme rýchlym prekladom a ešte rýchlejšou korektúrou textov.. Ďalej mi trochu vadila pasáž o ilegálnych migrantoch do USA a terorizme: táto časť totiž na klimaticke dôvody odkazovala len minimálne a rozoberala príliš do detailov postoj US vlády k migrantom.. Celkovo ale pútavé a zaujímavé čítanie..
September 10, 2020
A dark, but horribly prescient, look to the future. Harald Welzer's intuitive look at why violence will happen in the future is one which is disturbingly necessary and makes a few very basic points many who study war and violence seem to forget. Wars will not start simply BECAUSE of Climate Change, but, Climate Change will exacerbate the underlying reasons for conflict in places where the possibility of it already exists. He uses the war in Darfur (Sudan, South Sudan, ect) which only ended - at time of writing today - with a limited peace agreement between the various rebel groups. Before that it had been ongoing for 17 years, and may still not be finished. He uses this as his model for the first "climate war" which has actions which can directly be traced to the effects of climate change. Desertification drove nomadic herders into territory farmed by sedentary peoples. This was but one underlying reason, but the dramatic population shifts brought on by droughts, famine and desertification drove the people to more violence than might otherwise have been seen. Underlying factors, government instability, inability to control the violence, and lifestyle friction, was all exacerbated by these climate conditions.
This is something which will be seen all over the world, Welzer argues. Climate change will provoke famine from desertification, less rainfall, and in turn this will lead to population exchanges, flight of refugees, ethnic cleansing, and even genocide as people will fight to survive. It will not be equally distributed either, with the more affluent and insulated Western nations being able to use their wealth and technology to, somewhat, mitigate and even profit from the changes at first. He uses the ongoing refugee crises as examples. The West is able to, with some success, sub-contract the messy work of making large internment camps and deporting masses of migrants to border countries like Turkey, Libya, Morocco, Israel and Algeria. This allows them to both put less effort and money into these projects, while also not having to take in as many refugees themselves. However, this book was written originally in 2007, with a 2017 update. Reading in 2020 it is hard to say this problem has not gotten WORSE and the effects of climate change will continue to exacerbate it. The ominous question looms, what happens when the countries which the effort of repelling migrants that the West offloads its efforts on to become overwhelmed by the sheer scale of refugees, or climate problems themselves?
Nor should Western nations assume that they are necessarily immune from climate related violence. War is often fought where countries have direct economic interests at stake. With the opening of exploitation for new resources in the North and Antarctic regions, countries with competing claims, and even those looking to make new ones, may find themselves at odds to take those. With oil consumption increasing, and the effort to extract oil becoming more intensive and energy inefficient, it is not improbable to conclude that many more advanced nations may take to claiming those resources by force.
In conclusion, the future is one where war is going to be seen as an option, and indeed in many cases as the ONLY option. If basic survival is at stake, this will be the only way to save one group. Some of these may be the short, sharp, conventional conflicts we recognize as war. Others may be long, hard to define, and decentralized conflicts like those in Darfur where it is largely group against group, ethnic cleansing, and the vast flight of hordes of refugees pressing against perceived safety. All in all, people will still die from war in the 21st Century.
This is something which will be seen all over the world, Welzer argues. Climate change will provoke famine from desertification, less rainfall, and in turn this will lead to population exchanges, flight of refugees, ethnic cleansing, and even genocide as people will fight to survive. It will not be equally distributed either, with the more affluent and insulated Western nations being able to use their wealth and technology to, somewhat, mitigate and even profit from the changes at first. He uses the ongoing refugee crises as examples. The West is able to, with some success, sub-contract the messy work of making large internment camps and deporting masses of migrants to border countries like Turkey, Libya, Morocco, Israel and Algeria. This allows them to both put less effort and money into these projects, while also not having to take in as many refugees themselves. However, this book was written originally in 2007, with a 2017 update. Reading in 2020 it is hard to say this problem has not gotten WORSE and the effects of climate change will continue to exacerbate it. The ominous question looms, what happens when the countries which the effort of repelling migrants that the West offloads its efforts on to become overwhelmed by the sheer scale of refugees, or climate problems themselves?
Nor should Western nations assume that they are necessarily immune from climate related violence. War is often fought where countries have direct economic interests at stake. With the opening of exploitation for new resources in the North and Antarctic regions, countries with competing claims, and even those looking to make new ones, may find themselves at odds to take those. With oil consumption increasing, and the effort to extract oil becoming more intensive and energy inefficient, it is not improbable to conclude that many more advanced nations may take to claiming those resources by force.
In conclusion, the future is one where war is going to be seen as an option, and indeed in many cases as the ONLY option. If basic survival is at stake, this will be the only way to save one group. Some of these may be the short, sharp, conventional conflicts we recognize as war. Others may be long, hard to define, and decentralized conflicts like those in Darfur where it is largely group against group, ethnic cleansing, and the vast flight of hordes of refugees pressing against perceived safety. All in all, people will still die from war in the 21st Century.
January 21, 2017
An academic old fart has figured out a scheme for the cruise the University denies him and his domestic partner: scare mongering. All he needs is to turn into a prophet. 2016. Anybody could have guessed without reading the tea leaves in 1916 that a War was going on. The result was unknown. The following war, its extremes and consequences were unimaginable. Yet by 1956 everything was over. Only that the state paid bureaucrat won't be alive by 2056. So who cares if he is delirious or not?
The scholarship is shallow. The Easter Island brought as a good example is as good as any UFO abduction book. There simply isn't enough information. Which perfectly suits Weltzer.
To add insult to injury, this English version of the conspiracy theorist fear mongering was paid by the German taxpayer. Probably some University paid for the German original.
"Après Welzer, le déluge"
The scholarship is shallow. The Easter Island brought as a good example is as good as any UFO abduction book. There simply isn't enough information. Which perfectly suits Weltzer.
To add insult to injury, this English version of the conspiracy theorist fear mongering was paid by the German taxpayer. Probably some University paid for the German original.
"Après Welzer, le déluge"
Read
December 13, 2024Very interesting on effects of climate change on global conflicts/migratory patterns. Particularly insightful when thinking about the current conflicts and refugee crises in Congo, Palestine, and Sudan
April 18, 2016
Rather boring and the tale has been better told by other authors. The focus seemed to be on how people would be killed in the 21st century not why they would be killed.
July 30, 2020
A lot of time explaining rather basic phenomena in a way that feels both undergraduate and academic in a bad way. There are better books on this topic that are also much more recent.
May 25, 2025
Dieses Gloriosum sagt, wir werden der Klimakrise nicht begegnen, sondern an ihr scheitern. Der Autor bewegt sich von Afrika aus über den ganzen Erdball und führt in globale Konflikte und Probleme ein, aber so, als ob es Europa nicht ganz berührte. Als würden wir die Insel der Seeligen bleiben. Es verschwinden Wälder, es herrscht Ressourcenknappheit. In Afrika ist der Individualkonflikt der zwischen Grundbesitzern und Viehzüchtern, die um Wasser und Nahrung konkurrieren. Die Überbevölkerung zwingt zur Migration und Kreativität, etwa zum Ziegelbrennen, das zu viel Holz verbraucht. In Afrika macht sich Korruption und Fehlwirtschaft breit. Der Autor fächert anhand von Afrika Krieg nach sozialen, ökonomischen und politischen Faktoren auf, nennt den Fluch der Rohstoffe, die international interessant sind. In Afrika passiert kurzum, was im Kleinen auf den Osterinseln passiert ist. Es vollzieht sich keine Zivilisierung, sondern es entsteht die Chance auf neue Prozesse, die sich vom Westen getrennt anders entwickeln. Gleichzeitig findet Entzivilisierung statt und es bilden sich Slums um Städte, der Landflucht wegen. Ein großer Punkt ist der Zugang zu Medien, der Einblicke rund um den Globus gewährt. Überall passiert ein Zusammenbruch der Sicherungssysteme und Umweltkatastrophen werden immer häufiger und Infektionskrankheiten breiten sich aus.
Es entstehen regionale und lokale Gewaltkonflikte, Seen und Flüsse verschwinden, was zu transnationaler Migration, aber auch zu Binnenflüchtlingen führt. Die Integration von Klima- und Kriegsflüchtlingen stellt das Bildungssystem, auch die Erwachsenenbildung, vor neue Herausforderungen. Andere Dinge wie internationale Umweltorganisationen oder ein internationaler Umweltgerichtshog sind bereits umgesetzt worden.
Der Autor spricht die Gewaltökonomie an, die Hilfsaktionen ausnutzt und Gewaltmärkte florieren lassen.
Anzudenken wäre, dass Asien sich so rasant entwoclelt hat und selber Kinder verweigert, dass Flüchtlinge fortan dort hin strömen und die dortigen Fabriken füllen, wenn sich das Bildungsniveau und der Andpruch an faire Arbeit weiter ausbreiten.
Desto sicherer die Verhältnisse sind, desto indirekter wird die moderne Kriegsführung. Einerseits durch Fernwaffensysteme, andererseits durch Strafen. Es werden eher Zivilisten geschützt oder wenigstens Hilfslieferungen erlaubt. Ursprung von Krieg sei der Kampf in hoch ritualisierter Form innerhalb von Ureinwohnern.
Es werden Gewaltakteure aufgefächert. Einerseits das Volk (Selbstverteidigung, reguläre Streitkräfte), andererseits Internationale (UN) oder Privatisierungen.
Gegenbewegungen werden besprochen wie die Unterstützung von Freiheitskämpfern oder die Reduzierung von CO2-Emissionen.
Schließlich wird sich mit europäischer Entstehungsgeschichte befasst und wie Homogenisierungsprozesse Teil von Modernisierung ist. Der Autor sieht Heterogenität als Konfliktpotential.
Dabei ist Terror ein Teil von Krieg geworden, der grenzüberschreitend funktioniert und billig ist. Er wird durch die Bildung von Parallelgesellschaften begünstigt und hat immer einen historischen oder religiösen Zweck.
Es wird Amerika und seine Grenzpolitik zu Mexiko angesprochen, aber vor Allem auch der Klimawandel, der sich als unkontrollierbare, globale Bedrohung präsentiert. Der Klimawandel wird weithin akzeptiert und leider mehr toleriert als abgewehrt, weil er unabkehrbar ist. So wird die Überfischung über Generationen als weniger schlimm empfunden.
Auch der Holocaust wird als globales Willkür- und Unrechtssystem bearbeitet.
Wir agieren generationsübergreifend durch die Tradierung von erfolgreichen Strategien und deren Ausbesserung oder Weiterentwicklung.
Der Westen wird modern weitgehend ausgeklammert, was ärgerlich ist. Gerade die Klimakrise wird auch uns hart treffen, weil der Golfstrom versiegt, wegen der Plattendynamik oder weil sich Krankheiten durch Insekten ausbreiten. Die veränderte Wetterlage sorgt auch bei uns für eine andere Agrarlandschaft und stellt unsere Wasserwirtschaft auf die Probe.
Es entstehen regionale und lokale Gewaltkonflikte, Seen und Flüsse verschwinden, was zu transnationaler Migration, aber auch zu Binnenflüchtlingen führt. Die Integration von Klima- und Kriegsflüchtlingen stellt das Bildungssystem, auch die Erwachsenenbildung, vor neue Herausforderungen. Andere Dinge wie internationale Umweltorganisationen oder ein internationaler Umweltgerichtshog sind bereits umgesetzt worden.
Der Autor spricht die Gewaltökonomie an, die Hilfsaktionen ausnutzt und Gewaltmärkte florieren lassen.
Anzudenken wäre, dass Asien sich so rasant entwoclelt hat und selber Kinder verweigert, dass Flüchtlinge fortan dort hin strömen und die dortigen Fabriken füllen, wenn sich das Bildungsniveau und der Andpruch an faire Arbeit weiter ausbreiten.
Desto sicherer die Verhältnisse sind, desto indirekter wird die moderne Kriegsführung. Einerseits durch Fernwaffensysteme, andererseits durch Strafen. Es werden eher Zivilisten geschützt oder wenigstens Hilfslieferungen erlaubt. Ursprung von Krieg sei der Kampf in hoch ritualisierter Form innerhalb von Ureinwohnern.
Es werden Gewaltakteure aufgefächert. Einerseits das Volk (Selbstverteidigung, reguläre Streitkräfte), andererseits Internationale (UN) oder Privatisierungen.
Gegenbewegungen werden besprochen wie die Unterstützung von Freiheitskämpfern oder die Reduzierung von CO2-Emissionen.
Schließlich wird sich mit europäischer Entstehungsgeschichte befasst und wie Homogenisierungsprozesse Teil von Modernisierung ist. Der Autor sieht Heterogenität als Konfliktpotential.
Dabei ist Terror ein Teil von Krieg geworden, der grenzüberschreitend funktioniert und billig ist. Er wird durch die Bildung von Parallelgesellschaften begünstigt und hat immer einen historischen oder religiösen Zweck.
Es wird Amerika und seine Grenzpolitik zu Mexiko angesprochen, aber vor Allem auch der Klimawandel, der sich als unkontrollierbare, globale Bedrohung präsentiert. Der Klimawandel wird weithin akzeptiert und leider mehr toleriert als abgewehrt, weil er unabkehrbar ist. So wird die Überfischung über Generationen als weniger schlimm empfunden.
Auch der Holocaust wird als globales Willkür- und Unrechtssystem bearbeitet.
Wir agieren generationsübergreifend durch die Tradierung von erfolgreichen Strategien und deren Ausbesserung oder Weiterentwicklung.
Der Westen wird modern weitgehend ausgeklammert, was ärgerlich ist. Gerade die Klimakrise wird auch uns hart treffen, weil der Golfstrom versiegt, wegen der Plattendynamik oder weil sich Krankheiten durch Insekten ausbreiten. Die veränderte Wetterlage sorgt auch bei uns für eine andere Agrarlandschaft und stellt unsere Wasserwirtschaft auf die Probe.
September 14, 2023
The book argues that climate change will lead to conflict and violence in the 21st century. Welzer identifies four main areas where climate change is likely to lead to conflict:
— Water scarcity: As the planet warms, water resources will become increasingly scarce, leading to competition and conflict over water rights.
— Food insecurity: Climate change is already disrupting agricultural production, and this trend is likely to continue. This could lead to food shortages and famine, which could spark conflict.
— Mass migration: Climate change is displacing millions of people around the world. This could lead to tensions and conflict between host countries and migrants.
— Resource wars: Climate change is making it more difficult to access resources such as oil and gas. This could lead to conflict between countries that are vying for control of these resources.
Welzer argues that these conflicts will be exacerbated by the fact that the countries that are most vulnerable to climate change are often the poorest and most marginalized. These countries will have fewer resources to cope with the effects of climate change, and they will be more likely to resort to violence.
The book concludes by calling for action to address climate change. Welzer argues that we need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and invest in adaptation measures to help vulnerable countries cope with the effects of climate change. He also argues that we need to develop new ways to manage conflict and prevent violence in the context of climate change.
Climate Wars is a sobering book that provides a glimpse of the future that could await us if we do not take action to address climate change. The book is a must-read for anyone who wants to understand the potential security implications of climate change.
Here are some additional points that Welzer makes in the book:
— Climate change is a threat multiplier, meaning that it will make existing conflicts more likely and more severe.
— Climate change will create new winners and losers, which could lead to social unrest and instability.
— Climate change could lead to the rise of new forms of conflict, such as resource wars and cyberwarfare.
— Climate change could also lead to the erosion of international norms and institutions, making it more difficult to resolve conflicts peacefully.
Welzer's book is a timely warning about the dangers of climate change. It is a call to action for us to take urgent steps to address this existential threat.
— Water scarcity: As the planet warms, water resources will become increasingly scarce, leading to competition and conflict over water rights.
— Food insecurity: Climate change is already disrupting agricultural production, and this trend is likely to continue. This could lead to food shortages and famine, which could spark conflict.
— Mass migration: Climate change is displacing millions of people around the world. This could lead to tensions and conflict between host countries and migrants.
— Resource wars: Climate change is making it more difficult to access resources such as oil and gas. This could lead to conflict between countries that are vying for control of these resources.
Welzer argues that these conflicts will be exacerbated by the fact that the countries that are most vulnerable to climate change are often the poorest and most marginalized. These countries will have fewer resources to cope with the effects of climate change, and they will be more likely to resort to violence.
The book concludes by calling for action to address climate change. Welzer argues that we need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and invest in adaptation measures to help vulnerable countries cope with the effects of climate change. He also argues that we need to develop new ways to manage conflict and prevent violence in the context of climate change.
Climate Wars is a sobering book that provides a glimpse of the future that could await us if we do not take action to address climate change. The book is a must-read for anyone who wants to understand the potential security implications of climate change.
Here are some additional points that Welzer makes in the book:
— Climate change is a threat multiplier, meaning that it will make existing conflicts more likely and more severe.
— Climate change will create new winners and losers, which could lead to social unrest and instability.
— Climate change could lead to the rise of new forms of conflict, such as resource wars and cyberwarfare.
— Climate change could also lead to the erosion of international norms and institutions, making it more difficult to resolve conflicts peacefully.
Welzer's book is a timely warning about the dangers of climate change. It is a call to action for us to take urgent steps to address this existential threat.
July 14, 2022
Not exactly the most uplifting read, but should nonetheless be on anyone’s booklist who wants to truly understand the scope of what we are up against when trying to understand climate change.
The book touched on many ideas: how climate change will render fragile states more fragile and violence-prone, how “wealthier” countries may increase their security apparatuses and lose their monopoly on legitimate violence, how resource wars within and between states will become more common, how these wars can often devolve and break open societies such that they realign along preexisting fault lines such as race, religion, clan, gang, ethnicity and more, and how ordinary people, when norms change, can justify doing extremely horrible things.
On that note, the unsettling but apropos allusions to Nazi Germany are incredibly important. As rules change, social and societal norms do to. Hardly anyone in Germany thought the oppressive schemes against the Jews were exceptional or “a bridge too far”, since they generally happened gradually (relatively speaking). They just went along with it because it was just “the way things were” and it became normal. And over a very short period of time, 8 years, the absolute cruelty and annihilation was normalized. The psychological “baseline” - or what was considered “normal” to the people - shifted to normalize such inhumanity.
This puts the current political culture of the scapegoating of immigrants, foreigners and religious and sexual minorities for the problems of the world into a much darker context. All that is necessary is gradual desensitization and dehumanization. Especially as resources and living space become more scarce as a result of climate change, potentially providing another pretext for atrocity.
Most disturbingly, the books speaks on how we are not conditioned to understand the stakes of climate change in an objective way. We are susceptible to the “drag effect” and “apocalypse blindness”, where our perception of what is true does not keep pace with social transformation, and that our programming trains us to believe that “progress is automatic”, when the truth could not be further from the case.
We must take this issue far more seriously than we currently do to forestall catastrophe. Extreme action is necessary.
The book touched on many ideas: how climate change will render fragile states more fragile and violence-prone, how “wealthier” countries may increase their security apparatuses and lose their monopoly on legitimate violence, how resource wars within and between states will become more common, how these wars can often devolve and break open societies such that they realign along preexisting fault lines such as race, religion, clan, gang, ethnicity and more, and how ordinary people, when norms change, can justify doing extremely horrible things.
On that note, the unsettling but apropos allusions to Nazi Germany are incredibly important. As rules change, social and societal norms do to. Hardly anyone in Germany thought the oppressive schemes against the Jews were exceptional or “a bridge too far”, since they generally happened gradually (relatively speaking). They just went along with it because it was just “the way things were” and it became normal. And over a very short period of time, 8 years, the absolute cruelty and annihilation was normalized. The psychological “baseline” - or what was considered “normal” to the people - shifted to normalize such inhumanity.
This puts the current political culture of the scapegoating of immigrants, foreigners and religious and sexual minorities for the problems of the world into a much darker context. All that is necessary is gradual desensitization and dehumanization. Especially as resources and living space become more scarce as a result of climate change, potentially providing another pretext for atrocity.
Most disturbingly, the books speaks on how we are not conditioned to understand the stakes of climate change in an objective way. We are susceptible to the “drag effect” and “apocalypse blindness”, where our perception of what is true does not keep pace with social transformation, and that our programming trains us to believe that “progress is automatic”, when the truth could not be further from the case.
We must take this issue far more seriously than we currently do to forestall catastrophe. Extreme action is necessary.
August 13, 2022
KLIMATOLÓG VÁM NEPOVIE, ČO TREBA ROBIŤ. Harald Welzer – nemecký sociálny psychológ napísal v roku 2008 knihu o násilí súvisiacom s klimatickou zmenou. Dnes čítame upravené vydanie v slovenčine a... všetko sedí. A okrem iného, apeluje na to, aby sme sa prestali na riešenia pýtať tých, čo sú skvelí v meraniach prírodných javov.
Klimatická zmena nie je prírodný, ale spoločenský problém, a to nielen preto, že vznikla v dôsledku ľudskej aktivity. Ak by tomu azda niekto neveril, tak či tak jej dôsledky predstavujú problém pre nás. Nielen naše fyzické prežitie, ale aj naše hodnoty a usporiadanie spoločnosti podstúpia veľké skúšky.
Welzer ukazuje na príkladoch z celého sveta, ako napriek našej naivnej viere, že časy násilných konfliktov sa skončili, je násilie ako prostriedok na zabezpečenie základného prežitia stále reálnou možnosťou. Vojna za našimi hranicami to konieckoncov potvrdzuje.
Nedá sa teda očakávať od odborníkov, ktorí merajú fyzikálne javy, aby sa odborne vyjadrovali k opatreniam, ktoré pomôžu náprave. Ak to robíme, „irituje nesúlad medzi presnosťou analýzy a malichernosťou návrhov na riešenie problémov.“ Potrebujeme masívny vklad spoločenských vied do toho, aby preskúmali možnosti reforiem, ktoré pomôžu spoločnostiam túto katastrofu prežiť.
A to bude znamenať položiť si nie banálne (koľko má stáť benzín), ale naozaj ťažké otázky: V akej spoločnosti chceme žiť? Je množstvo spotrebovanej energie a materiálu meradlom pokroku či zaostalosti? Ako sa vyrovnáme s tým, že pre náš komfort umierajú ľudia ďaleko od nás a tým, že týchto ľudí zabíjame, keď sa pokúšajú dostať k našim hraniciam?
Welzer hovorí o násilí bez servítky. Mapuje rôzne spôsoby a mechanizmy spoločenského násilia od Osvienčimu po vojny vo Vietname či Iraku. Ukazuje veľké ekologické konflikty, ktoré sú však aj samotnými zúčastnenými pomenovávané ako etnické (Darfúr, Palestína). „Sociálny úpadok je vyvolávaný ekologickým kolapsom, väčšina aktérov to však nevidí. Vidia len útoky, rabovanie, smrtiace násilie, teda nepriateľstvo nich voči nám.“
Ak si pred násilím budeme zatvárať oči, o to skôr nás dobehne. A to nevyriešime meraním žiadnej fyzikálnej veličiny.
Klimatická zmena nie je prírodný, ale spoločenský problém, a to nielen preto, že vznikla v dôsledku ľudskej aktivity. Ak by tomu azda niekto neveril, tak či tak jej dôsledky predstavujú problém pre nás. Nielen naše fyzické prežitie, ale aj naše hodnoty a usporiadanie spoločnosti podstúpia veľké skúšky.
Welzer ukazuje na príkladoch z celého sveta, ako napriek našej naivnej viere, že časy násilných konfliktov sa skončili, je násilie ako prostriedok na zabezpečenie základného prežitia stále reálnou možnosťou. Vojna za našimi hranicami to konieckoncov potvrdzuje.
Nedá sa teda očakávať od odborníkov, ktorí merajú fyzikálne javy, aby sa odborne vyjadrovali k opatreniam, ktoré pomôžu náprave. Ak to robíme, „irituje nesúlad medzi presnosťou analýzy a malichernosťou návrhov na riešenie problémov.“ Potrebujeme masívny vklad spoločenských vied do toho, aby preskúmali možnosti reforiem, ktoré pomôžu spoločnostiam túto katastrofu prežiť.
A to bude znamenať položiť si nie banálne (koľko má stáť benzín), ale naozaj ťažké otázky: V akej spoločnosti chceme žiť? Je množstvo spotrebovanej energie a materiálu meradlom pokroku či zaostalosti? Ako sa vyrovnáme s tým, že pre náš komfort umierajú ľudia ďaleko od nás a tým, že týchto ľudí zabíjame, keď sa pokúšajú dostať k našim hraniciam?
Welzer hovorí o násilí bez servítky. Mapuje rôzne spôsoby a mechanizmy spoločenského násilia od Osvienčimu po vojny vo Vietname či Iraku. Ukazuje veľké ekologické konflikty, ktoré sú však aj samotnými zúčastnenými pomenovávané ako etnické (Darfúr, Palestína). „Sociálny úpadok je vyvolávaný ekologickým kolapsom, väčšina aktérov to však nevidí. Vidia len útoky, rabovanie, smrtiace násilie, teda nepriateľstvo nich voči nám.“
Ak si pred násilím budeme zatvárať oči, o to skôr nás dobehne. A to nevyriešime meraním žiadnej fyzikálnej veličiny.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 20, 2017
نعيش حاليا عواقب ونتيجة لسلسلة من تصرفات سلبية لأمم بعيدة , والمفترض ان نسلك لنصلح هذه العواقب لأناس سياتون بعدنا .. فكيف يمكن أن يكون هذا !!
كتاب حروب المناخ للألماني هارالد وزر-برفسور علم الاجتماع- ورئيس مركز بحوث علوم البيئة . يطرح مشكلة المناخ والانحباس الحراري من النظرة الإجتماعية لمجتمعات الانسان وسببه في انتشار العنف والقتل بين الدول وبين الافراد المجتمع الواحد .
الكتاب لايتناول الناحية الفيزيائية او الجيولوجية للمشكلة المناخية . بل يتناولها اجتماعيا وتأثيرها على نسيج المجتمع الانساني والشعوب المتاثرة بالظاهرة والمسببه لها .
موضوع حساس ومهم دائما المؤسسات الرسمية تتغافل عنه ولا تتناوله حق تناوله .
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يبحث الكتاب في موضوع العنف المجتمعي والأممي من عدة جوانب مهمة الى جانب بحث العنف المناخي .
يحنوي الكتاب على اسس اجتماعية مهمة تتعلق بالنظام المؤسسي والعنف المتسرب للمجتمع واسبابة وسبب انتشاره .
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كم اتمنى ان يقوم اهل السياسة والحرب والمنتمين للاحزاب السياسية باطيافها ان يطلعوا على هذا الكتاب ليتعرفوا اين حقيقة يجب ان تتوجه بوصلة حناجرهم وتخطيطاتهم واعتراضاتهم ومبايعاتهم . . ( طبعا اكيد لن يحدث)
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علوم المجتمعات هي من أهم وأجل اعلوم الواجب على القاريء والمثقف ومدعي انه صاحب قضية أن يقرأها ويلم بها وبدراساتها لفهم النفس الانسانية وبالتالي المجتمع ليقف بعدها على حقيقة مطالبه وقناعاته .
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مما قال الكتاب :
ان الناس لايلاحظون غالبا –وهم داخل نطاق التغيرات الاجتماعية- كيف تغيرت طرق استيعابهم وتغيرت لديهم الخرائط الذهنية حول الخطأ والصواب , والطبيعي والغير طبيعي, ومايمكن ومالايمكن توقعه. وغنما يلاحظون فقط التغيرات المفاجئة .
كتاب حروب المناخ للألماني هارالد وزر-برفسور علم الاجتماع- ورئيس مركز بحوث علوم البيئة . يطرح مشكلة المناخ والانحباس الحراري من النظرة الإجتماعية لمجتمعات الانسان وسببه في انتشار العنف والقتل بين الدول وبين الافراد المجتمع الواحد .
الكتاب لايتناول الناحية الفيزيائية او الجيولوجية للمشكلة المناخية . بل يتناولها اجتماعيا وتأثيرها على نسيج المجتمع الانساني والشعوب المتاثرة بالظاهرة والمسببه لها .
موضوع حساس ومهم دائما المؤسسات الرسمية تتغافل عنه ولا تتناوله حق تناوله .
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يبحث الكتاب في موضوع العنف المجتمعي والأممي من عدة جوانب مهمة الى جانب بحث العنف المناخي .
يحنوي الكتاب على اسس اجتماعية مهمة تتعلق بالنظام المؤسسي والعنف المتسرب للمجتمع واسبابة وسبب انتشاره .
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كم اتمنى ان يقوم اهل السياسة والحرب والمنتمين للاحزاب السياسية باطيافها ان يطلعوا على هذا الكتاب ليتعرفوا اين حقيقة يجب ان تتوجه بوصلة حناجرهم وتخطيطاتهم واعتراضاتهم ومبايعاتهم . . ( طبعا اكيد لن يحدث)
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علوم المجتمعات هي من أهم وأجل اعلوم الواجب على القاريء والمثقف ومدعي انه صاحب قضية أن يقرأها ويلم بها وبدراساتها لفهم النفس الانسانية وبالتالي المجتمع ليقف بعدها على حقيقة مطالبه وقناعاته .
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مما قال الكتاب :
ان الناس لايلاحظون غالبا –وهم داخل نطاق التغيرات الاجتماعية- كيف تغيرت طرق استيعابهم وتغيرت لديهم الخرائط الذهنية حول الخطأ والصواب , والطبيعي والغير طبيعي, ومايمكن ومالايمكن توقعه. وغنما يلاحظون فقط التغيرات المفاجئة .
July 17, 2021
A Brief History of Violence
Climate change is the largest problem that humanity has ever faced and ever will face. An obstacle truly and fully global in scale, nowhere on the planet will remain untouched. As climate deniers so loudly proclaim, the climate has indeed changed before, several times. However, what they fail to address is that any massive shift in climate has coincided each time with a global mass extinction event. While the human species may survive such an extinction event, human societies likely won't.
The enormity of this problem cannot be understated, but one of the largest shortcomings (beyond legitimate bad-faith actors seeking to undermine public understanding) is that the majority of reporting and information regarding climate change is presented in the terms of the natural sciences. The average person hears statistic after statistic about CO2 concentrations, ocean acidification, insect extinction, but in many instances that is as far as the information goes. Climate change is certainly a problem for the natural world, but for humans it is fundamentally a societal problem. In this book, Harald Welzer approaches climate change from a sociological and historical lens, and in so doing discusses the actual implications and inevitabilities on human society, which is ultimately the only thing that will matter to humans . Telling someone "climate change will bring two nuclear powers into conflict over water" is much more useful in heightening awareness than simply informing someone that the reefs are dying. These two things are intrinsically related, but the issue of climate change desperately needs to be discussed, first and foremost, on what it means for human society and survival.
The most dangerous impact of climate change on human societies is violence. Harald Wexler says repeatedly that "violence is always an option," and this really is the crux of the book (the title kind of gives it away). He explores history, both ancient and contemporary, to demonstrate all the different kinds of violence that humans have perpetuated over our existence, arguing that "peace" is an aberration rather than the norm, and that human societies have always had violence to turn to in the face of any threat to survival, real or imagined. That last phrase is important - Wexler examines the Holocaust and the Rwandan Genocide to show how such atrocities were perpetrated through the creation of a threat. In both these instances, through steady propaganda/disinformation spread by those in power, one part of the populace was turned against another. In all instances of violence, however, it becomes necessary to define the opponent as an "other" to oneself, someone less deserving of survival for whatever reason. And as history shows us, it's a lot easier than we want to admit for most people to go along with this reasoning. This brings us to what Harald (and myself) believe are the most pressing impacts of climate change on human society: access to resources, and refugees that resource inequality will create.
As the world heats up, water becomes scarcer and crop yields plummet. At the time this book was written, over a decade ago, regions and countries around the globe were already seeing crop yields fall below what was needed to properly feed the population, and conflicts broke out as a result. This trend has obviously only worsened in recent years - lest we forget, there is strong evidence that one of the main catalysts of the Arab Spring, and the Syrian Civil War, was lack of access to food. As resources become scarcer, countries and groups who once shared the same arable land or water sources are pushed into increasing tension with one another. Such scenarios have the possibility to increase already existing tensions, or create a reason to unify the country/group in conflict against another.
Attached to the issue of dwindling supplies of food and water is an influx of refugees. In my opinion this poses the largest threat of conflict within the West, and I believe all the evidence we need is to look at the rise of far-right, nationalistic movements across the hemisphere. For your consideration: Marie Le Pen legitimately challenging the presidential race in France, Switzerland and Denmark codifying Islamophobia into their law, a rise in neo-Nazi movements in Germany, and the poster child of nationalistic fervor and hatred, the American Right with its wholehearted embrace of Trump and his proto-fascistic leanings.
The weaponized arm of the United States media machine, whether it be the outright, visceral fearmongering on the part of the right-wing media or the more passive "center" publications, has a deadly capacity to whip up the kind of fervor and anti-refugee sentiment that threatens entire populations of people. For a very timely example, turn back just last year to 2020. China was blamed for COVID-19 in openly racist and conspiratorial terms by the far-right, and also subtle versions of those same sentiments by "centrist" publications like The Economist or The New York Times. As a result, anti-AAPI hate crimes rose over 1000%, resulting in a mass shooting directed against the community barely a year later. As billions around the world leave their homes because they have no other option , this same kind of fearmongering will be applied to them, and in the case of the United States, it already is. Fox News spends much of its day pointing towards a nonexistent "crisis" on the southern border, but as climate change worsens and more and more of Central America and Mexico is driven north, there's no doubt that it will reach a fever pitch.
We can only expect this rhetoric to get worse as the climate crisis heightens and it becomes impossible to deny. As stories of dwindling resources and abundant disaster spreads around the world, threats against refugees heighten. Only by acknowledging this possibility can we prepare for it. The message needs to be spread now that climate change will bring refugees, and we need to establish the necessary systems to prepare for them and provide for the most efficient and supportive transition. Lives depend on it.
Climate change is the largest problem that humanity has ever faced and ever will face. An obstacle truly and fully global in scale, nowhere on the planet will remain untouched. As climate deniers so loudly proclaim, the climate has indeed changed before, several times. However, what they fail to address is that any massive shift in climate has coincided each time with a global mass extinction event. While the human species may survive such an extinction event, human societies likely won't.
The enormity of this problem cannot be understated, but one of the largest shortcomings (beyond legitimate bad-faith actors seeking to undermine public understanding) is that the majority of reporting and information regarding climate change is presented in the terms of the natural sciences. The average person hears statistic after statistic about CO2 concentrations, ocean acidification, insect extinction, but in many instances that is as far as the information goes. Climate change is certainly a problem for the natural world, but for humans it is fundamentally a societal problem. In this book, Harald Welzer approaches climate change from a sociological and historical lens, and in so doing discusses the actual implications and inevitabilities on human society, which is ultimately the only thing that will matter to humans . Telling someone "climate change will bring two nuclear powers into conflict over water" is much more useful in heightening awareness than simply informing someone that the reefs are dying. These two things are intrinsically related, but the issue of climate change desperately needs to be discussed, first and foremost, on what it means for human society and survival.
The most dangerous impact of climate change on human societies is violence. Harald Wexler says repeatedly that "violence is always an option," and this really is the crux of the book (the title kind of gives it away). He explores history, both ancient and contemporary, to demonstrate all the different kinds of violence that humans have perpetuated over our existence, arguing that "peace" is an aberration rather than the norm, and that human societies have always had violence to turn to in the face of any threat to survival, real or imagined. That last phrase is important - Wexler examines the Holocaust and the Rwandan Genocide to show how such atrocities were perpetrated through the creation of a threat. In both these instances, through steady propaganda/disinformation spread by those in power, one part of the populace was turned against another. In all instances of violence, however, it becomes necessary to define the opponent as an "other" to oneself, someone less deserving of survival for whatever reason. And as history shows us, it's a lot easier than we want to admit for most people to go along with this reasoning. This brings us to what Harald (and myself) believe are the most pressing impacts of climate change on human society: access to resources, and refugees that resource inequality will create.
As the world heats up, water becomes scarcer and crop yields plummet. At the time this book was written, over a decade ago, regions and countries around the globe were already seeing crop yields fall below what was needed to properly feed the population, and conflicts broke out as a result. This trend has obviously only worsened in recent years - lest we forget, there is strong evidence that one of the main catalysts of the Arab Spring, and the Syrian Civil War, was lack of access to food. As resources become scarcer, countries and groups who once shared the same arable land or water sources are pushed into increasing tension with one another. Such scenarios have the possibility to increase already existing tensions, or create a reason to unify the country/group in conflict against another.
Attached to the issue of dwindling supplies of food and water is an influx of refugees. In my opinion this poses the largest threat of conflict within the West, and I believe all the evidence we need is to look at the rise of far-right, nationalistic movements across the hemisphere. For your consideration: Marie Le Pen legitimately challenging the presidential race in France, Switzerland and Denmark codifying Islamophobia into their law, a rise in neo-Nazi movements in Germany, and the poster child of nationalistic fervor and hatred, the American Right with its wholehearted embrace of Trump and his proto-fascistic leanings.
The weaponized arm of the United States media machine, whether it be the outright, visceral fearmongering on the part of the right-wing media or the more passive "center" publications, has a deadly capacity to whip up the kind of fervor and anti-refugee sentiment that threatens entire populations of people. For a very timely example, turn back just last year to 2020. China was blamed for COVID-19 in openly racist and conspiratorial terms by the far-right, and also subtle versions of those same sentiments by "centrist" publications like The Economist or The New York Times. As a result, anti-AAPI hate crimes rose over 1000%, resulting in a mass shooting directed against the community barely a year later. As billions around the world leave their homes because they have no other option , this same kind of fearmongering will be applied to them, and in the case of the United States, it already is. Fox News spends much of its day pointing towards a nonexistent "crisis" on the southern border, but as climate change worsens and more and more of Central America and Mexico is driven north, there's no doubt that it will reach a fever pitch.
We can only expect this rhetoric to get worse as the climate crisis heightens and it becomes impossible to deny. As stories of dwindling resources and abundant disaster spreads around the world, threats against refugees heighten. Only by acknowledging this possibility can we prepare for it. The message needs to be spread now that climate change will bring refugees, and we need to establish the necessary systems to prepare for them and provide for the most efficient and supportive transition. Lives depend on it.
October 20, 2021
DICE: "Tal vez el hecho de que el 90% de todas las guerras posteriores a 1945 tuvieran lugar fuera de Europa y de América del Norte haya contribuido a que el mundo occidental conciba las guerras básicamente como un problema de otras sociedades."
Y TAMBIÉN DICE: " La hipótesis según la cual las transformaciones sociales comienzan en las pequeñas cosas, que siempre fue errónea pero es altamente sugestiva, se vuelve ideológica cuando no incluye a los actores corporativos y políticos en la responsabilidad, y se vuelve precisamente irresponsable cuando sostiene que el problema puede contrarrestarse con cambios en el nivel del comportamiento."
O: "Es curioso que la crítica de la cultura del consumo y los medios y el registro de todos los daños colaterales de la modernización, desde la obesidad infantil hasta la erosión de las relaciones sociales, no cambie un ápice la convicción de que en Occidente se vive en el mejor de todos los mundos pensables."
YAPA: "hay libros que uno escribe con la esperanza de estar equivocado."
Y TAMBIÉN DICE: " La hipótesis según la cual las transformaciones sociales comienzan en las pequeñas cosas, que siempre fue errónea pero es altamente sugestiva, se vuelve ideológica cuando no incluye a los actores corporativos y políticos en la responsabilidad, y se vuelve precisamente irresponsable cuando sostiene que el problema puede contrarrestarse con cambios en el nivel del comportamiento."
O: "Es curioso que la crítica de la cultura del consumo y los medios y el registro de todos los daños colaterales de la modernización, desde la obesidad infantil hasta la erosión de las relaciones sociales, no cambie un ápice la convicción de que en Occidente se vive en el mejor de todos los mundos pensables."
YAPA: "hay libros que uno escribe con la esperanza de estar equivocado."
July 10, 2020
Espera-se que ao decidir por escrever sobre algo, o autor venha a contribuir com uma tese sólida sobre o que se dispõe a discorrer. Climate Wars mostra o escopo da obra de diversas maneiras sempre coadjuvantes a um problema real que a humanidade vem enfrentando a muito tempo, e que passou a ter uma causa na forma de vida da civilização cristã ocidental pós revolução industrial. 250 anos nos transformaram nos piores vilões do universo e vamos destruir a joia da coroa: a Terra.
Não se pode dizer que o autor não tenha apresentado informações muito interessantes e que enriquecem o leitos sobre os (muito) variados aspectos que ele aborda. O que fica difícil é entender a linha que conecta todos eles e ver a solidez de sua ligação com o motivo principal da obra.
Não se pode dizer que o autor não tenha apresentado informações muito interessantes e que enriquecem o leitos sobre os (muito) variados aspectos que ele aborda. O que fica difícil é entender a linha que conecta todos eles e ver a solidez de sua ligação com o motivo principal da obra.
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April 22, 2023HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
“If one were to imagine the ‘go on as usual’ strategy at the level of individuals, one would immediately think of a sociopath who has no problem consuming seventy times more than anyone else while largely relying on their raw materials — or someone who uses fifteen times more energy, water and food than the less well-off and discharges nine times more pollutants into the atmosphere. Such a personality would also be totally unconcerned about the lives of his children and grandchildren, accepting that, because of him and his kind, 852 million people worldwide go hungry and more than 20 million are refugees.” from Climate Wars: Why people will be killed in the twenty-first century, Harald Welzer (p165)
“If one were to imagine the ‘go on as usual’ strategy at the level of individuals, one would immediately think of a sociopath who has no problem consuming seventy times more than anyone else while largely relying on their raw materials — or someone who uses fifteen times more energy, water and food than the less well-off and discharges nine times more pollutants into the atmosphere. Such a personality would also be totally unconcerned about the lives of his children and grandchildren, accepting that, because of him and his kind, 852 million people worldwide go hungry and more than 20 million are refugees.” from Climate Wars: Why people will be killed in the twenty-first century, Harald Welzer (p165)
November 30, 2016
climate change, for those who are rooted in reality firmly enough not to deny it altogether, has been primarily seen as an environmental problem, it's massive social and cultural ramifications, in a more subtle yet equally devastating form of denial, have for decades been on the fringe of discussion. the problem of scope (causality spanning over generations, worldwide consequences beyond the power of human influence) seems to further the mindset of ignorance as a mechanism of dissonance reduction. Welzer shows us the consequence of such behavior: The world we live in will end, and it will end badly.
September 21, 2021
Climate Wars: What People Will be Killed for in the 21st Century
The title tells it all.
What I liked:
-It seems very factual.
-This is a scholarly work, showing the social science side of climate warming. The poor will suffer the most. Many people will be killed if they are in the way of people trying to survive or for scare resources.
What I didn't like:
-This book was a dark book. The author has tons of references (good) as to how we, as humans, kill each other often, including genocide, and says climate change will only make it worse. It's true, but I felt he made the point them kept pounding it home.
-Too many examples.
The title tells it all.
What I liked:
-It seems very factual.
-This is a scholarly work, showing the social science side of climate warming. The poor will suffer the most. Many people will be killed if they are in the way of people trying to survive or for scare resources.
What I didn't like:
-This book was a dark book. The author has tons of references (good) as to how we, as humans, kill each other often, including genocide, and says climate change will only make it worse. It's true, but I felt he made the point them kept pounding it home.
-Too many examples.
October 21, 2021
Es geht in diesem Buch aus dem Jahre 2008 weniger um konkrete Prognosen als um Gräueltaten der Vergangenheit. Es geht weniger um natur- als um sozialwissenschaftliche Erkenntnisse über die Folgen der Klimaveränderung. Es geht um das menschliche Mit- und Gegeneinander. Worum wird denn - wie in der Vergangenheit - gekämpft? Um Ressourcen und Lebensraum. Es wird zu Gewalt und Kriegen kommen — denn dies gehört zur Menschheitsgeschichte.
Getreu dem Motto "Optimismus ist lediglich ein Mangel an Information" wird hier ein eher nüchtern-pessimistischer Standpunkt vertreten. Dennoch (oder gerade deswegen?) eine kurzweilige Lektüre.
Getreu dem Motto "Optimismus ist lediglich ein Mangel an Information" wird hier ein eher nüchtern-pessimistischer Standpunkt vertreten. Dennoch (oder gerade deswegen?) eine kurzweilige Lektüre.
September 1, 2022
Historisch gesehen, das Buch ist sehr interessant, da man über viele Konflikte, Kriege und Katastrophen lesen kann, die das Leben von vielen Menschen verändert haben. Die Prognosen vom Author sind aber momentan nicht gelungen.
Das Buch war im Jahr 2008 geschrieben und die Hauptprognose ist, dass die westlichen Länder radikälere Maßnahmen gegen Flüchtlinge nehmen würden. Das Gegenteil ist aber passiert, die Flüchtlingenannahme in der westlichen Welt ist in den letzten Jahren auf Rekordniveau gestiegen.
Das Buch war im Jahr 2008 geschrieben und die Hauptprognose ist, dass die westlichen Länder radikälere Maßnahmen gegen Flüchtlinge nehmen würden. Das Gegenteil ist aber passiert, die Flüchtlingenannahme in der westlichen Welt ist in den letzten Jahren auf Rekordniveau gestiegen.
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