Environmental Genocide

People like to know how they can personally help end the Darfur Genocide. Usually I tell them write to their representatives, sign some petition, watch this film or attend that lecture. Sometimes people ask how they, personally, could possibly be responsible for the atrocities happening in Darfur and why should they care. I tell them that we cannot sit silently by and allow violence to continue against innocent people. After reading an article called "The Real Roots of Darfur" in the April issue of The Atlantic*, I have something different to tell them.

Darfur began not so much an ethnic conflict as a conflict over land rights. In the 1980s, drought dried up the small amount of fertile land in the region. Prior to this environmental degradation, the Arabs (who were semi-nomadic herders) and the Africans (who were sedentary farmers) lived together peacefully. As the farmers began cutting off the herders' access to land, in efforts to protect their own land, tension grew between the two groups. As tension intensified between herders and farmers, it led to racial conflict. During the 1990s, the Africans in Darfur became more and more marginalized because the government in Khartoum supported the Arabs in fighting in the region. Now, I will tell people to not only write to their representatives and sign my petition, but also to cut down on carbon emissions wherever possible by walking or taking the bus, buying locally grown food that does not have to be transported long distances, and using florescent light bulbs. On second thought, I'll tell them to e-mail their representatives, save the paper.

The article in The Atlantic ends with a chilling quote from Michael Byers, a political scientist:
This changes us from the position of Good Samaritans--disinterested,
uninvolved people who may feel a moral obligation--to a position where
we, unconsciously and without malice, created the conditions that led to
this crisis. We cannot stand by and look at it as a situation of discretionary
involvement. We are already involved.
Darfur will serve as a warning of the devastation that global warming can lead to. In order to prevent the next genocide and to successfully rebuild Darfur, we need to reduce the amount of waste and pollution we produce. Every individual can be a part of that.

*I was unable to link this blog to the article because the article is only available online to subscribers. The Atlantic, however, is available in bookstores and libraries.