Award-winning documentary investigates impacts of climate change
An award-winning documentary that examines the intersection of fossil fuels, climate change and national security will be screened this week at Salve Regina.
Billed as “The Hurt Locker” meets “An Inconvenient Truth,” “The Age of Consequences” investigates the impacts of climate change on increased resource scarcity, migration and conflict through the lens of U.S. national security and global stability.
Hosted by Citizens Climate Lobby Rhode Island in partnership with the Pell Center for International Relations and Public Policy, the screening will be held at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 31 in the Bazarsky Lecture Hall. To RSVP, visit the Pell Center’s Eventbrite page.
Through unflinching case-study analysis, distinguished admirals, generals and military veterans take us beyond the headlines of the conflict in Syria, the social unrest of the Arab Spring, the rise of radicalized groups like ISIS, and the European refugee crisis – and lay bare how climate change stressors interact with societal tensions, sparking conflict.
Whether a long-term vulnerability or sudden shock, the film unpacks how water and food shortages, drought, extreme weather and sea-level rise function as “accelerants of instability” and “catalysts for conflict” in volatile regions of the world.
These Pentagon insiders make the compelling case that if we go on with business as usual, the consequences of climate change – waves of refugees, failed states, terrorism – will continue to grow in scale and frequency, with grave implications for peace and security in the 21st century. The film’s unnerving assessment is by no means reason for fatalism – but instead a call to action to rethink how we use and produce energy.
