FLICKR, THE NATIONAL GUARD
El Niño years bring with them warmer temperatures, atypical precipitation patterns—and violence, according to a study published Wednesday (August 24) in Nature.
Heat has been linked to violent behaviors among individuals, and researchers have previously suggested that global climate changes may be at fault for specific outbreaks of violence, war, and civil unrest. But thus far, the evidence for such claims has been lacking.
Examining data on organized political violence in the tropics from 1950 to 2004, Solomon Hsiang and his colleagues found that hostility was more common during El Niño years than La Niña years, estimating that the El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) could have influenced as many as 20 percent of civil conflicts in affected regions in the last 60 years. The authors hypothesize ...
