With seven coups since 2020, West Africa is drawing global attention as a hotspot for conflict and a critical locus of discourse on climate security. Rising temperatures and scarce rainfall have amplified the dangerous effects of weak governance, ethnic rivalries, lack of economic opportunities, and violent extremism in the region. Government policy failures in the … Continue reading Blame Governments, Not the Environment: How Political Failures Worsen the Effects of Climate Change in West Africa
Category: Environment & Health
Feeding the Hungry with Feminist Theory
Image Source: Food Navigator (Getty Images) Food security, when every person has access to enough food to meet their dietary needs for a healthy lifestyle, is more important now than ever before. It’s estimated that roughly 345 million people worldwide are struggling with food security. Effects of climate change, the war in Ukraine, and the … Continue reading Feeding the Hungry with Feminist Theory
PRC’s Renewed Soft Power Strategy and U.S. Global Health Security Efforts in Latin America
Image Source: Observer Research Foundation, Diplomacy Gone Amiss. When Joseph Nye coined the term “soft power” in 1990, he could not have known how strongly the People’s Republic of China (PRC) would buy into the concept; China’s leader Hu Jintao declared in 2007 that the PRC needed to invest more into soft power. Since that … Continue reading PRC’s Renewed Soft Power Strategy and U.S. Global Health Security Efforts in Latin America
What Russia’s Weaponization of Hunger Can Tell Us About the Power of Shame
The Black Sea Grain Initiative is a UN-brokered agreement between Russia and Ukraine signed in July 2022 (Public Domain Pictures). The global humanitarian community had whiplash last week. This stems from Russia’s decision to withdraw from the Black Sea Grain Initiative, an agreement facilitating the exportation of wheat from the region, and then promptly re-entered … Continue reading What Russia’s Weaponization of Hunger Can Tell Us About the Power of Shame
Health on the (Red) Line: Refocusing on Malaria in the Discourse of Climate Change
(Image source: Gerald Yuvallos - flickr/Yuvallos/2005) Malaria: The Silent Killer The second most deadly animal in the world is the human; the first is the mosquito. Different species of mosquitoes transmit parasitic infections, such as Zika virus, West Nile virus, Chikungunya virus, dengue, and malaria. The Anopheles mosquito carries malaria and in the 20th and … Continue reading Health on the (Red) Line: Refocusing on Malaria in the Discourse of Climate Change
Environmental Warfare in Ukraine: Should We Prosecute Eco-Crimes Like War Crimes?
A factory and a store burning after being bombarded in Irpin, on the outskirts of Kyiv, on March 6, 2022 (Flickr). Ukraine is on the verge of an ecological tragedy. The destruction of industrial facilities and contamination from heavy weaponry means that if Ukrainians are able to return to their homeland, they might not have … Continue reading Environmental Warfare in Ukraine: Should We Prosecute Eco-Crimes Like War Crimes?
The Rising Dilemma
Majuro, the capital of the Marshall Islands, where residents have had to build homemade seawalls to protect their homes and communities. Photo Credit: Kadir van Lohuizen / NOOR The 2021 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report on climate change is a “code red” for humanity. On the track we are headed, the global surface … Continue reading The Rising Dilemma
Climate Change: A Dynamic Threat
Sunsets started to tease the Arctic horizon as scientists on board the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Healy headed south in the Chukchi Sea during the final days collecting ocean data for the 2011 ICESCAPE mission. Photo Credit: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Climate change already devastates our environment, most visibly in the form of massive … Continue reading Climate Change: A Dynamic Threat
The Resource Curse, Colonialism, and The Hypocrisy of Western “Climate Leadership”
Photo Credit: Getty Images Introduction: Is Colonialism still in the Atmosphere? Western countries are often hypocrites, especially when it comes to climate change mitigation. As the world works to curb emissions and tackle climate change, many Western countries, including the U.S., Britain, France, and Germany, are investing in green energy sectors across African countries attempting … Continue reading The Resource Curse, Colonialism, and The Hypocrisy of Western “Climate Leadership”
How Air Pollution Acts as a Force Multiplier for Aggressive Behavior, and What Can Be Done About it
By now, we are well aware of the catastrophic effects of greenhouse gas emissions and corrupt industrial practices. We are pumping pollutants into our atmosphere at least 10 times the rates at which humans did 250 million years ago when the largest extinction event in Earth’s history nearly wiped out all life on Earth. Low-altitude … Continue reading How Air Pollution Acts as a Force Multiplier for Aggressive Behavior, and What Can Be Done About it