February 12, 2015
DARA International/for PhillyVoice
An independent study suggests climate change has a much higher impact on human lives.
A new, independent report conducted by DARA International presents findings on the global impact of climate change as a cause of human fatality worldwide. The report's sobering findings offer another perspective about where attention might need to be directed to maintain the security of at-risk populations.
In an interview with Vox this week, President Obama suggested that the threat of terrorism is overstated by the media, albeit understandably, when compared to the wider impact of climate change. Obama told Matt Yglesias:
It's not a sexy story. Climate change...is happening at such a broad scale and at such a complex system, it's a hard story for the media to tell on a day-to-day basis
The New Republic has taken a closer look at the president's remarks after White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest put them in context. More people on an annual basis have to "confront the impact of climate change or the spread of disease" than is the case with terrorism, Earnest said.
Per the DARA study, 400,000 annual deaths can be directly linked to climate change, while the consequent environmental impact on food security, nutrition, water safety, and the spread of diseases pushes that number up to nearly 5 million deaths.
For comparison, TNR's analysis looked at the 2014 Global Terrorism Index by the Institute for Economics and Peace, which attributes 100,000 deaths to terrorism over the study's 13-year period. While the 18,000 people killed by terrorism in peak year 2013 represented a 61 percent increase over the previous year, 80% of those deaths were limited to just 5 countries in the Middle East.
The point is not necessarily to suggest that this is an apples to apples comparison. The deadliness of terrorism has increased five-fold since 2000, according to the Global Terrorism Index, and currently stands as one of the greatest dangers to political stability and trust in international affairs.
But as a threat to human life, it needs to be viewed more objectively in relation to other causes.
The larger problem may be a lack of consensus among politicians and from media outlets on how to characterize the public health dangers presented by climate change, both now and in the foreseeable future. As TNR's report suggests, the complications arising from climate change could eventually become a driver of terrorism.
