Chats on the Charles

My recent blog post “Killing Me Softly With Your Smog” explored the perils of global warming for India, in particular the dangers of major population migrations as vast regions of the country become uninhabitable.

Today The New York Times published a searing pictorial cataloguing the impact of climate change on rural India, and the ensuing exodus from villages.

As tilling the land becomes untenable, India’s demographic dividend could turn into a multi-generational millstone.  Millions of underemployed, resentful youth can be an empty vessel for malignant ideologies.  In one of the most weaponized regions of the world, this is a disturbing development with global implications.

There is no greater urgency than developing a comprehensive plan for sustainable economic growth and peace in South Asia before changes in the earth’s climate precipitate a crisis.