Water water nowhere

This semester I took geology in order to get my physical science requirement out of the way. I'm not a fan of any science class, and looking at rocks is about as dull as it gets, but the class has made me look at the world in an entirely different way. I've always loved nature but I had never before realized how intertwined humans are with their environment. I know that you've heard before, in an earlier post by me and one by my fellow blogger Ana Halper, that the genocide in Darfur is rooted in a conflict over resources. One of the most important resources is water, for the simple reason that it keeps us alive. Water is hard to come by in Darfur. The Sahara desert is expanding, thanks to global warming, and causing prolonged droughts in Darfur, as well as in West Africa and the Horn of Africa. Water scarcity is also one of the many hardships facing the displaced people and refugees in Darfur and Chad. But we can help them. The American Refugees Committee (ARC), a humanitarian aid organization based in Minneapolis, has a program to build water pumps in Darfur. Next semester, when the University of Minnesota chapter of STAND begins to focus on fundraising, we'll send the money we raise to the ARC to help them build water pumps. By doing this we will help the people of Darfur, but this is an action that should be taken in other places as well. Providing easier access to water is one way we can alleviate conflict today and prevent it in the future.

"no more blood for oil"

This article from today's New York Times got me thinking. It reported that the world's poorest nations-- closest to the equator-- would bear the brunt of climate change, even though the world's richest nations have caused it.

Before I go into more depth, here's Gore's cutesy primer on global warming, in case you're still a bit lost on the basics of climate change, (as I think many of us are).



The NYT went into a bit more depth than Suzy. But although it discussed the inevitability of starvation and drought in the developing world, the article did not mention that in the driest regions of Africa, climate change would also cause brutal wars over dwindling water-- one of which is already taking place in Darfur. The genocide is partly a conflict over water, one that heated up as the Sahara moved farther south. The truth is that the Darfur genocide might not be taking place if not for global warming. About two weeks ago, my fellow blogger, Hannah Baldwin provided a concise and moving overview of this issue.


This connection is crucial. Yet both Africa activists and environmentalists overlook it. In reality, the immediate effects of global warming are less like the doomsday scenarios in The Day After Tomorrow, and more like the crises already taking place across the continent of Africa. Yet even those chanting "no more blood for oil" don't always know about the blood being spilled in Darfur.

But in today's political climate, that could easily change. In the minds of voters, Al Gore and Democratic victory in the Mid-terms have already turned global warming into the non-partisan, non-controversial reality it's always been. Although the NYT is famously liberal, it's noteworthy that today's article included no "fair and balanced" quotes from oil company "scientists", and no rhetoric from the Bush administration-- perhaps because even Bush is starting to believe.

As a nation, we have begun to move forward from accepting global warming as truth, to coping with its consequences. As we work to smooth our own transition into a warmer world, we must not do what we usually do about genocide: cope instead of prevent, as we forgot about Africa.

Since Dave Gethings interns with the UN, and is planning their conference on Global Warming, I'm very interested in what he knows and feels about this issue. Maybe if we're lucky, he'll make a post in response. :)

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.