Climate Changed

by Daniel Briggs

Climate Changed is an honest, humane account about the rapid downsizing of the world’s natural resources and the consequences this has for millions of people who, year after year, are displaced from their home countries because of politically-instigated and economically-justified war and conflict. Based on interviews with 110 refugees who arrived into Europe from 2015 to 2018 and observations of refugee camps, border crossings, inner-city slums, social housing projects, NGO and related refugee associations, this book offers a moving insight into the refugee experience of leaving home, crossing borders and settling in Europe. Briggs sets this against the geopolitical and commercial enterprise that dismantled refugees’ countries in the international chase for wilting quantities of the world’s natural resources. At every point of their journey to their new lives and in the resettlement process, the refugees are victimised and exploited, as there is always money to be made from them. Even if refugees’ labour is in demand, there is a European social climate of intolerance and stigma which jeopardises integration and counters their well-being and safety. The climate has changed. This book will appeal to students and scholars in core areas of sociology, environmental and sustainability studies, human geography, and politics. Policymakers, practitioners and voluntary workers within the sector of frontline immigration, as well as aid workers, town planners and welfare support staff, will also find this book of interest.

204 pages, Paperback

Published November 30, 2020

Reviews

[Antonia Julia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Daniel Briggs Climate Changed: Refugee Border Stories and the Business of Misery
The book Climate Changed: Refugee Border Stories and the Business of Misery take two timely and important topics: the refugee crisis in Europe that peaked in 2015 and climate change. The reasons why refugees leave their home country are manifold, but the main reasons listed in the book are climate change like drought, conflict, or war.
The author Daniel Briggs examines why refugees fled their home country, the means of escaping and, how their life continues afterward. The study took place between August 2015 till August 2018 and followed refugees and their stories through fourteen countries. One example of a harrowing story is when Briggs learns from a mother that her son did not speak for one year due to the trauma of fleeing Syria. ISIS, the Islamic State terrorist group, took a city under their control and beheaded citizens that belonged to the police, military, or government and "enemies" of Islam. The book is divided into eleven chapters where the reader learns about the methodology, some reasons that caused civil war or conflict in the refugees' home countries, and the role of climate change in migration.
Furthermore, the consequences of capitalism and neoliberalism, and lastly, some concluding notes on politics, society, and refugees. The chapters provide an intimate insight into the asylum seekers' journeys and what trauma occurred in their home country and migration routes. The adding of climate change as a cause of migration brings new wind into the refugee literature as this is often not mentioned in academic literature.

[Jake · Rating 2 out of 5]

A book that isn't focused enough and doesn't seem to live up to it's ambitious and necessary aims.

A real shame, I was looking forward to reading this one for a while.

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

~3.5