Tropic of Chaos: Climate Change and the New Geography of Violence

In this scathing study, Parenti (Lockdown America) argues that climate change is already wreaking havoc on the planet in the form of devastating droughts and other weather aberrations that create a shortage of arable land and resources. In the developing world, these challenges intersect with the ongoing crises of poverty and violence to create what Parenti terms a "catastrophic convergence." Arguing that coming environmental shifts will "act as a radical accelerant," he describes how cold war militarism and neoliberal economics have eroded community fabric and public services in such disparate places as the arid savannahs of Kenya, the mountains of Afghanistan, the favelas of Brazil, the jungles of Colombia, and the deserts of northern Mexico, opening the door for "socially disruptive forms of adaptation," like brutality, genocide, and corruption. As the developing world sinks deeper into crisis, the developed world takes the "armed lifeboat" approach, consolidating wealth and firepower while ignoring the rising tide of need among the planet's most vulnerable citizens. Parenti's careful reporting and grasp of politics and economics support the book's urgent message%E2%80%94that impending global chaos is all but assured unless the developed world finds the political will to imagine a better future. (July)