The Heat and the Fury: On the Frontlines of Climate Violence

In this ground-breaking book, British-American environmental journalist, Peter Schwartzstein, takes the reader on the first on-the-ground exploration of climate change's contribution to global conflict. From the ravaged villages of Iraq, where ISIS has used drought as a recruiting tool and weapon of terror, to the pirateridden waters of Bangladesh - and drawing on more than a decade of reporting from dozens of countries - Schwartzstein writes about the unexpected ways in which climate change is feeding global unrest and conflict. Through the stories of the soldiers, farmers, spies and others affected around the world, he makes sense of a form of conflict that remains poorly understood, even as it devastates the lives of so many millions of people. While researching this book, Schwartzstein was chased by kidnappers, detained by police and told, in no uncertain terms, that he was no longer welcome in certain countries. Yet, as he recounts, these personal brushes with violence are simply a hint of the conflict simmering in our warming world. In The Heat and the Fury, we learn how much of a threat this chaos also presents closer to home: from exploding military arsenals to intensifying violence against women during periods of extreme heat, Western countries are not immune. Above all, this is a hands-on investigation of climate's increasingly violent frontlines, providing a further glimpse into the ways in which global warming is affecting our planet and its inhabitants. But, as Schwartztein's unparalleled reporting shows, there's nothing inevitable about climate violence. In fact, as he sets out, the same stresses that are pitching people against one another can even help bring them back together.