August 2, 2013

Climate change may increase violence, study shows



It's a hot day; sweat soaks your forehead, and you just want to get back to your air-conditioned home, so of course you're going to be angry if the car in front of you doesn't move when the traffic light turns green. Honk! Honk!

When the temperature rises, so does aggression -- and that can lead to large-scale consequences, considering that climate change is turning up the heat over the entire planet.

A new study in the journal Science shows that shifts in climate historically have been associated with violent conflicts, among both individuals and groups, and that current warming patterns could significantly increase the abundance of human conflict by midcentury.