More on climate and violence.

Last week, I questioned whether we should believe research purporting to show that global warming will make the world "a very violent place by mid-Century."

I haven't reported the story, and I am not in any position to referee a debate on this question, but I note that Keith Kloor, at his Discover blog Collide-a-Scape has posted a skeptical analysis rich with links to his own and others' previous posts.

During the past decade, he writes, "a cottage industry was born and it built on the climate/conflict meme." Kloor condemns what he calls "the long-dead corpse of environmental determinism."

Whether or not climate change increases the likelihood of conflict, the debate over that question has clearly ignited conflict among researchers.

Kloor makes a strong argument that we ought to be careful in thinking about this, and his piece has more than enough links to get you started if you plan to write about it yourself.

-Paul Raeburn