Borders-Climate Change Documentary

Hi Folks,

I am creating a documentary based on author, Todd Miller’s next book. This is a project I truly believe in. It’s about global security responses to climate change. 

Our research begain this past spring at the Border Security Expo in Arizona and the Defense, National Security & Climate Change Symposium in Washington, D.C. to write our article for In These Times Magazine.
 
The following are excerpts from an article we wrote for In These Times Magazine about climate change and the border security industry.
http://inthesetimes.com/article/18046/a-hawks-eye-view-of-climate-change
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"We know for a fact that [climate change] is already driving internal and cross-border migration," [ Brigadier General Stephen Cheney, American Security Project CEO] said to his audience of government officials—heavy on the Department of Defense—and industry reps from military contractors such as Lockheed Martin and Booz Allen Hamilton."
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It’s not just that climate change displaces people through floods, storms and rising sea levels; it also displaces them through scarcity of food and water, and by the conflicts that are in turn sparked by scarcity and migration. Sociologist Christian Parenti calls this “collision” of political, economic and ecological disasters the "catastrophic convergence."
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Currently, international law does not grant refugee status to those driven from their homes by disasters or climate change.
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The Department of Homeland Security’s Climate Action Plan, in effect since 2013, acknowledges that it may be necessary to prepare U.S. borders for “frequent, short-term, disaster-driven migration.” The plan anticipates increased population movements, “both legal and illegal, across the U.S. border,” because of “severe droughts and tropical storms,” particularly in Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean. The ongoing drought in Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador, for example, caused massive crop failures this year, likely adding to the influx of migrants already heading for the United States to escape extreme violence and poverty.

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When people are displaced or regions are destabilized by climate chaos, what will governments' security concerns be? How are they planning to react?

We have started to answer these questions. 

Todd and I went to the Philippines this past Summer. On our research trip twe met many community members who say the Philippine military has killed several climate justice activists in the wake of Super Typhoon Haiyan. I invite you to help us continue investigating the connection between global security and climate change.


Now, we are going to Paris to cover the events surrounding the UN Conference on Climate Change. Our reporting will include former Filipino climate diplomate, Yeb Saño's walking pilgrimage to the conference. You may remember Yep from his passionate speech at the UN when Super Typhoon Haiyan hit the Philippines in 2013. In August we spent several days in and around Tacloban interviewing people about the afterymath of Haiyan. 


Here is Yeb's speech:



 Todd Miller's first book, Border Patrol Nation, documents the hardening of U.S. borders. Our combined research on this topic includes onsite reporting throughout the U.S.-Mexico borderlands, Central America, the Philippines, and now the UN Conference on Climate Chang in Paris.

 I am a journalism grad student at the University of Arizona. You are invited to support the creation of a documentary about this global story. The contributions made through this GoFundMe site will pay for my airfare, camera equipment, and lodging. 

 Your contribution will directly support our documentation of the relationship between global security and climate change. Thank you for spreading the word, and for any support you might be able to give. 
 
You will see two reward levels below that we are offering to contributors.  

 Thank you for supporting this venture of independent investigative journalism. 

 

Peace,

 

Alex Devoid