Alarmingly, climate wars aren’t just a prospective issue for future generations to handle. Simply look to any number of conflicts in today’s world, and there is growing evidence that climate is playing a significant role. While drought fuels the fighting over poppy in Afghanistan, a similar situation is playing out in Mexico, where unusual patterns of precipitation have had consequences. Parenti acknowledges the leap of faith involved in accepting that what happens on Mexico’s farm fields has anything to do with killings near the U.S. border – “Drug dealers do not murder cops because the Intertropical Convergence Zone is off kilter,” he writes – but he ties the issues together anyway. The gang members may not be conscious of the forces motivating them, but with much of the land uncultivable (and with sources of seafood disappearing from warmer waters), desperate members of the unemployed are enlisting as foot soldiers in drug trafficking, according to Parenti.
     The theme extends also to the 2010 rioting in Kyrgyzstan. Ethnic tensions and a poor economy were blamed at the time, but Parenti is convinced that the rationing of electricity resulting from extreme drought in the hydroelectric-dependant state made this yet another clash tied to climate. And in East Africa the author saw firsthand that rival tribes are fighting over cattle along Kenya’s border with Uganda after having lost much of their herds to dry conditions. Parenti isn’t afraid of treading into hot-button current affairs like these and shining them through the topical lens of anthropogenic climate change. The approach is thought-provoking enough to invite critics and detractors, but for the most part, he takes pains to link his deductions to raw data.