In the suffocating desolation of this summer, two intertwined forces wreak havoc on the United States: escalating political violence and the relentless grip of climate change. As temperatures surge, so does our collective anxiety and aggression, amplifying the already simmering tensions within our society.
This year, however, marks a turning point. With a pivotal election looming in 2024, the very fabric of our nation threatens to unravel further. The repercussions we face today may seem minor compared to what lies ahead.
Three years ago, during the Great Lockdown and the Black Lives Matter protests, our nation exploded into an unprecedented movement for social change. Yet the response from our political system fell short — repression and indifference met our demands for justice and equality. Meanwhile, wealth flowed disproportionately to the top 1%, economic disparities widened, and despair grew across America.
The current surge of violence is a chilling reflection of the underlying tensions that have plagued our society since that moment. This year alone, a neo-Nazi gunman killed eight people and injured seven others in Allen, Texas, White nationalists plotted to attack power substations in Baltimore, and armed extremists protested at drag events in Ohio.
Our electoral politics are changing, too. As the 2024 election season begins, the actions and rhetoric of leading Republican presidential candidates Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis raise alarming concerns about the subversion of democracy. They channel an unnerving vein of extremism, targeting LGBTQ+ communities and expressing a willingness to pardon individuals involved in the Capitol attack on January 6, 2021. Their conduct deepens the damage inflicted upon our democratic institutions and stokes further political division.
The cumulative effect of these challenges has left our country in pain. People are tired, less trustful, and angrier than ever. Even amidst this crisis, though, there is a growing factor posing a grave threat to our stability: the relationship between climate change and radicalization.
This summer, as temperatures rise and extreme weather becomes more and more frequent, our emotional temperature rises in parallel. Hurricanes, floods, wildfires, and heatwaves scar not just our infrastructure but our society as well. Fear, anxiety, and aggression flourish within regions already divided by political strife.
Extreme heat produces a sense of agitation and heightens stress levels, causing individuals to seek simplistic narratives to make sense of their challenges. Opportunistic leaders exploit this vulnerability, creating scapegoats and fostering distrust among communities. The lines between rational debate and dogmatic ideology blur as fear takes hold of our collective conscience.
These emotions become fertile ground for violence. A 2022 study by Madeline Romm, a researcher at the University of Maryland, found that violent extremist organizations capitalize on “community and individual grievances” from climate-related social deterioration to further their ideological agendas. Worsening livelihood conditions, exploitation by elites, resource mismanagement, and tactical considerations by violent non-state actors all create pathways to extremism. Other studies of crime conducted in Los Angeles and Chicago similarly reveal that violence reliably rises with temperature. In other words, climate change can be an indirect contributor to radicalization.
In our current political moment, these facts are especially ominous. Perceived grievances drive violent extremists to disproportionately target marginalized groups — often women, communities of color, or LGBTQ+ people. Climate change increases the likelihood of these violent acts, particularly when combined with the fostered hostility from right-wing political leaders.
Consequently, the convergence of the 2024 election season with the El Niño weather pattern, which promises even warmer temperatures, could ignite tensions across our country. In June, global temperatures briefly spiked above the 1.5 degree Celsius benchmark established in the Paris Climate Accords. It is a hint of the harm to come. These trends underscore the urgent need for proactive measures to address climate change, build resilience, and foster social cohesion.
Failure to do so would risk plunging our society further into the abyss of radicalization and unrest.
Regrettably, the United States appears hesitant to implement the necessary measures. Despite widespread public support for the Green New Deal, Republicans and Democrats continue taking money from and bolstering fossil fuel companies. While President Joe Biden signed the historic Inflation Reduction Act — the most significant investment in climate policy in American history — the Supreme Court has weakened his administration’s regulatory power, threatening to undermine progress.
In this landscape, the voices of the wealthiest corporations seem to drown out the urgency of the situation and the demands of the majority. This stark imbalance perpetuates a system that prioritizes profit over the well-being of our planet and its inhabitants.
The interplay of political violence and climate change perilously pushes us to a dangerous precipice. A 2023 National Science Review study posits that specific temperature thresholds may unleash “irreversible changes” with far-reaching consequences. Food and water scarcity, uninhabitable coastal areas due to rising sea levels, and a global migration crisis are just a few potential disasters that could strain resources and infrastructure, leading to widespread social unrest.
This summer, perhaps our last “normal” summer, could slip away, leading us inexorably toward collapse. System-wide failures due to climate change would drive conflicts, and instability would cascade through all spheres: political, social, economic, and environmental.
The growing awareness of this fragility explains the jump in depression and suicide in the United States, particularly among young people. Collapse can create a paralyzing sense of dread and apathy. The existential threat of climate change, and the political and social challenges that arise as a result of it, pose constant burdens to our mental health. When a system is as broken as ours, it is no wonder that our bodies and minds suffer.
However, even within this darkness, we are not without agency. It is our responsibility to recognize the gravity of the situation and summon the collective will to forge a better path forward.
To avert disaster and bring about the systemic change our country urgently needs, we must tackle these issues head-on, fostering open dialogue and promoting empathy and understanding. People need to know that they are not alone.
An approach to improving social cohesion starts with establishing a comprehensive care network and focusing on building robust relationships. Extremists prey on fear and isolation, so our response should comprise mutual aid programs, personal check-ins, and spaces allowing people to share their burdens and find solace in their communities.
We must also mobilize at every level. Confronting these complex issues necessitates structural change. The existing frameworks within capitalism have proven inadequate. We must dismantle a system that normalizes violence as a solution to fear. From the classroom to the workplace, we should ensure that democratic and egalitarian values are at the forefront.
Together, we can orchestrate social and political movements in every corner of our nation with demonstrations, boycotts, and rallies that demand action on climate change, injustice, wealth inequality, and marginalization. We must reject the oppressive systems that created this crisis, meticulously deconstructing them and envisioning new structures that prioritize the well-being of all people and the preservation of our planet.
We possess the power to shape a future that reclaims the ideals we fight for — justice, equality, and unity — and breathes life into them through transformative liberation.
The time for action is now. The future of our nation depends on it.
Image by Patrick Perkins is licensed under the Unsplash License.
