Bernie Sanders: Climate Change Is Directly Related To Growth Of Terrorism

But then the entire Republican presidential process at this point seems to be degrading into a contest of who can say the most stupid things the fastest, and if anyone sounds daffy in all this, it’s not Bernie Sanders, and it’s not only “slightly”.

Bernie Sanders doubled down Sunday on his assertion that climate change contributes to global terrorism. Do you still believe that?

“In fact, climate change is directly related to the growth of terrorism”.

While most Americans won’t probably understand the Democrats’ analogy, Time’s Justin Worland come to their help, arguing that “many academics and national security experts agree that climate change contributes to an uncertain world where terrorism can thrive”. When security includes questions of how families get enough food, how poverty might lead people to radical religious movements, and how natural resources destabilize governments, climate change is crucial.

Asked how Friday’s deadly terrorist attacks on Paris were linked to drought, Mr. Sanders said Sunday: “What happened in Syria, for example, there’s a few thought on this”.

A US official announced Saturday that the Paris terrorist attacks will not stop President Obama from attending the climate talks. Now, in fact, what we have got to do-and I think there is widespread agreement here-is the United States can not do it alone.

“If there’s not enough water, if there’s not enough land to grow your crops, you’re going to see migrations of people fighting over land that will sustain them”.

That’s not to say that climate change isn’t contributing to existing problems.

Sanders, who’s in the running for the democratic nomination, isn’t the only liberal politician to make the connection between conflict and climate. “And that will lead to global conflicts”, he said. Those critics are also wrong to downplay the impact that climate change is already having-and will have in the future when it comes to sparking or worsening worldwide conflicts. The Pentagon has consistently called climate change a “threat multiplier”.

“Climate change and water shortages may have triggered the drought that cause farmers to relocate to Syrian cities and triggered situations where youth were more susceptible to joining extremist groups”.

Climate change, however, is not “hermetically sealed from other risks”, writes Francesco Femia and Caitlin Werrell of the Center for Climate and Security in a blog post.

Obviously, terrorism isn’t driving climate change but climate change is one of the drivers of terrorism, but Bush wouldn’t even put climate change in the top ten.