THE HUMAN IMPACTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE

Climate Change Is Already Causing Mass Human Migration; When temperatures are high, Pakistani men are 11 times more likely to move out of town

Colin Scvhultz, January 29, 2014 (Smithsonian)

“…Climate change is already inducing marine animals to migrate, and according to [Heat stress increases long-term human migration in rural Pakistan], it's starting to make people move, too…For the past 21 years, researchers have been studying the migration patterns of people in Pakistan…[The scientists] measured the relationship between Pakistanis' movements and changes in a handful of environmental variables…[They] found that even though Pakistan is prone to extreme floods…flooding in general has little effect on where people chose to live long-term…Instead, they found, high temperatures, particularly during the spring and winter farming season, were the dominant driver of mass migration. It's not that it suddenly became too hot for people to live. But as temperature and weather patterns change, previously productive ground may become uneconomical to work…[and] Pakistani men to pack up and leave for greener pastures…[The exodus] sends a rippling shock through the rest of the economy… click here for more

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