Climate Change Refugees: Can We Handle The Coming Crisis?

Humans have always been a highly-adaptable and mobile species. Our biggest migratory shifts throughout history have primarily been based around dramatic changes in climate. As we progress further into the latest of these global climate adjustments, there is no question that millions — if not billions — of people will be displaced from their homes due to a variety of climate-related issues.

Unfortunately, versatility isn’t enough for survival this time. As we approach a world population of seven billion people, we face a very serious crisis as to how we will successfully handle the encroachment of climate refugees in regions already over-populated and short on resources.

While pundits and talking heads love to debate the degree of responsibility mankind has in effecting climate change, there is no doubt that the earth is warming at a drastic rate. 2010 is thus far the hottest year ever on record, and a Stanford Study concludes that heat waves like those recently experienced around the world will become increasingly common. Because of this, the Arctic is melting at a rate faster than ever, threatening coastal and island populations, and the demand for water is steadily increasing, leading to a global water shortage.

Reuters reports that 2,000 indigenous Panamanians on the island Carti Sugdub will be among the first to abandon their homes as a result of imposing sea levels, which have risen 7 inches in the last century — a rate that is only increasing. Residents of the Maldives islands are making arrangements to purchase land elsewhere for the relocation of their nation, as their islands are expected to be among the first completely engulfed by the ocean.

Even the United States has begun to witness its own climate refugees as people left the Gulf coast in the aftermath of hurricane Katrina, one of many environmental catastrophes that are becoming more frequent across the planet as a consequence of global warming.

Dr. Spencer Wells, a geneticist, anthropologist, and explorer-in-residence for the National Geographic Society, told BigThink, “One of the big issues in the next century is going to be dealing with these climate refugees.” He bluntly contends that rather than drown or starve, people facing barren land or invading seas will simply pack up and head elsewhere — a simple argument that is difficult to disagree with.

While tools like Google Earth’s new climate map help us better understand and predict the outcome of rising temperatures and sea levels, they are reactive rather than proactive. Many solutions to the pending calamity have been offered, from floating islands for those losing their land to a “Great Green Wall of Africa” to block the expanding Sahara desert, but as with many of the fixes for climate change, these seem to be ideas that may never see the light of day, or if so — too little, too late.

Considering how difficult it is for our legislators to achieve any success addressing climate change — remaining gridlocked with the a stalled climate bill and distorting it so much to appease naysayers that it may end up doing more harm than good — it’s hard to imagine our government successfully taking any premeditated and preventative action to protect and prepare for climate refugees. Most likely our senators will be arguing over cap-and-trade until the sea levels flood Capitol Hill, if those fleeing the disastrous effects of global warming don’t come knocking down their doors first, that is.