Open access notables
Visiting online haunts of climate science rejectionists reveals a nexus of anxieties in some sections of the public: climate change and population migration. Judging from connections formed in headlines and article texts, one could easily conclude that readers' fears are being exploited; it's not hard to find content implying that the concept of climate change is a subterfuge to justify opening borders to 'foreigners.' Given what we know of developing physical effects of climate change, it may seem intuitively obvious that growing pressures on populations can lead affected people to 'upping stakes' and trying to escape increasingly poor living conditions. What's the reality of the situation? It's not entirely clear, according to Tabitha Watson et al., publishing in Climate Resileince and Sustainability and offering their literature survey The climate change, conflict and migration nexus: A holistic view. The authors find a picture that is largely framed by early hypothesis and challenged by complicated circumstances, the latter imposing difficulties on attribution. They conclude that a more interdisciplinary approach is vital for making progress in this research area, which can offer direct advice for implications on immigration policy. Such advice-by-evidence should be of particular concern for countries that may be less urgently affected by climate change even as they may be more responsible for its cause.