Climate Wars: What People Will Be Killed For in the 21st Century (03/17/14)
Join us for a lecture by Harald Welzer, sociologist and social psychologist, Professor for Transformation-design at the University of Flensburg, as well as Executive Director of the foundation “Welzer is a sociologist and social psychologist, Professor for Transformation-design at the University of Flensburg, as well as Executive Director of the foundation FuturZwei. His main foci of research and teaching are memory, group violence and socio-cultural climate impact research. His books have been translated into 15 languages. – See more at: FuturZwei. His main foci of research and teaching are memory, group violence and socio-cultural climate impact research. His books have been translated into 15 languages. Welzer is the author of the best-selling Climate Wars: What People Will be Killed for in the 21st Century.
Struggles over drinking water, new outbreaks of mass violence, ethnic cleansing, civil wars in the earth’s poorest countries, endless flows of refugees: these are the new conflicts and forces shaping the world of the 21st century. They no longer hinge on ideological rivalries between great powers but rather on issues of class, religion and resources. The genocides of the last century have taught us how quickly social problems can spill over into radical and deadly solutions. Rich countries are already developing strategies to garner resources and keep ‘climate refugees’ at bay.
Harald Welzer shows how climate change and violence go hand in hand. Climate change has far-reaching consequences for the living conditions of peoples around the world: inhabitable spaces shrink, scarce resources become scarcer, injustices grow deeper, not only between North and South but also between generations, storing up material for new social tensions and giving rise to violent conflicts, civil wars and massive refugee flows. Climate change poses major new challenges in terms of security, responsibility and justice, but as Welzer makes disturbingly clear, very little is being done to confront them.
This event will be moderated by Henrik Selin, Associate Professor of International Relations and an expert on environmental politics, sustainable development, global governance and international institutions.
Monday, March 17, 2014
5 – 7 PM
Boston University, Sargent College, 635 Commonwealth Avenue, Room 102
Reception and book-signing to follow
Co-sponsored by the Goethe Institut Boston, the Goethe Institut Washington DC, and Brandeis University Center for German and European Studies.