The Heat and the Fury: On the Frontlines of Climate Violence

by Peter Schwartzstein

As a journalist on the climate security beat, Peter Schwartzstein has been chased by kidnappers, badly beaten, detained by police, and told, in no uncertain terms, that he was no longer welcome in certain countries. Yet these personal brushes with violence are simply a hint of the conflict simmering in our warming world.

Schwartzstein has visited ravaged Iraqi towns where ISIS used drought as a recruiting tool and weapon of terror. In Bangladesh, he has interviewed farmers-turned-pirates who can no longer make a living off the land and instead make it off bloody ransoms. Security forces have blocked him from a dam being constructed along the Nile that has brought Egypt and Ethiopia to the brink of war. And he has heard the fear in the voices of women from around the world who say their husbands’ tempers flare when the temperature ticks up.

In The Heat and the Fury, he not only puts readers on the frontlines of climate violence but gives us the context to make sense of seemingly senseless acts. As Schwartzstein deftly shows, climate change is often the spark that ignites long smoldering fires, the extra shove that pushes individuals, communities, and even nations over the line between frustration and lethal fury. What, he asks, can ratchet down the aggression? Can cooperation on climate actually become a salve to heal old wounds?

There are no easy answers on a planet that is fast becoming a powder keg. But Schwartzstein’s incisive analysis of geopolitics, unparalleled on-the-ground reporting, and keen sense of human nature offer the clearest picture to date of the violence that threatens us all.

Genres: Nonfiction, Politics, Climate Change, Environment, Travel

328 pages, Hardcover

Published September 24, 2024

Reviews

[mer! · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an incredibly written, well-rounded, and extremely informative piece on the very subjects I have been (semi-) panicking about for the past few years. I think I can say for sure that I am free from the grasps of eco-nihilism thanks to what Schwartzstein illustrates as the realistic picture of what we can expect in the oncoming years as the climate worsens, while still including the wins and unexpected positives that have occurred. This book explores experiences of those accross the board in several places outside of the Western world (and in!) with a largely unbiased level of depiction- at least considering that it was written up to 2022/3. Well done and bravo. Will recommend this to anyone who also is a bit scared about the direction the planet is heading to educate and hopefully enlighten them to the fact that it's not all over, not yet.

[Campbell MacDiarmid · Rating 5 out of 5]

Based on a decade of field reporting, Schwartzstein has scoured his reporter notebooks to weave an alarming narrative: climate change induced violence and disorder is not just our planet’s future but increasingly our present too.

A depressing subject to be sure, but Schwartzstein has managed to write a rollocking tale stocked with a memorable cast of characters from Abbas, the paunchy Iraqi policeman, to Rafikul, the Bangladeshi pirate. In doing so, he’s managed a rare feat, writing a page-turner about climate change.

[John Marricco · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super important book for everyone to read! Rarely do we hear what is happening about other countries climate woes here in America, this one really brings it home. My well went dry for 2 months last fall '24, so I had a taste of what it can be like to not have water from my faucet. But the situations around the world are extremely humbling to us who have it good, which Peter touches on near the end of the book. What was enforced for me from this book was if things don't change yesterday we are doomed, we must begin to work together wisely and peacefully, now.

[Devin Morrow · Rating 5 out of 5]

Schwartzstein has seamlessly woven over a decade of journalism into a riveting, essential read on climate security. It’s hard not to feel a sense of impending doom as he encounters the threats and reality of water scarcity and drought, landslides and floods, and soured aquifers destroyed by industry in too many parts of the world from West Africa and Sudan to the Middle East and beyond to Nepal. The resulting conflicts seems almost ridiculously obvious as he walks us through the realities of each desperate situation. Anyone in denial that conflict is directly linked to the climate crisis will find these arguments difficult to disregard. Engagingly written, impossible to ignore, The Heat And The Fury is a must-read for our times.

[Mélissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well written, and a clear case for the human stories behind the climate crisis and our governments's inability to address both the crisis and also its consequences. I find it hard to finish books such as this one and not find myself more politically radicalized.

[Michael]

My interview with Schwartzstein discussing the book here:
https://umfm.com/programming/broadcas...

[Toby Crime · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you come to this book with questions like 'Is there a specific theoretical form to 'climate-violence?' or 'What is unique about the conditions of climate crisis as it relates to various forms of violence?', this book will not have the depth you desire. That isn't to denigrate it for not being something it never aims to be, but to emphasise that the 'frontlines' aspect of the subtitle should be taken seriously. He's almost entirely engaged in well-written reporting from case studies which involve something he understands as 'climate-violence'.

Even for such a journalistic angle, this book seriously lacks any early engagement with the potential variation in how the term violence is used and contested. This means at various points throughout the book, you end up being unclear on which types of violence he's highlighting. While it's most clear when looking at inter-personal or non-state violence i.e. domestic abuse or a jihadist insurgency, sometimes it may be that he's seeing failure of critical state infrastructure as a form of violence in how it leaves many vulnerable. It's hard to know whether he just doesn't feel a need to clarify this, or is deliberately ambiguous to avoid having to engage in more contested political debate. The shallowness of his theoretical framework was reinforced to me whenever he referred simply to 'poor governance' as a factor, obfuscating the need to identify causes more strongly.

However, despite these limitations, for what it is, these case studies are interesting in themselves. Each is well presented despite a lack of clarity on their wider function. From conflict running up the Nile over an Ethiopian dam, to Nepalese urban water infrastructure, these are meaningful accounts of people's lives and the structures around them.

[Phillip Brougham · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really insightful read about the real world effect of climate change on the hardest hit places on the globe. The author writes with intimacy and deep care for the subject, mixing anecdotes, observations and data together with ease, while able to also zoom out on the big picture of major climate factors. It does a great job of threading climate issues with governmental failure, conflict and politics. A really great read especially for those who are getting started with climate security issues

[C.M. Stenquist · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting read. Lots of different perspectives.

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

Extensively researched with personal experiences. This information should be brought to everyone's attention. I did find the author's writing style and use of language a bit cumbersome, and had to go back and reread several sentences to understand the full meaning of wha was being said at the time. All in all, a very worthwhile book for those interested and concerned with very real climate change, as well documented by the author.