The End of Eden
Climate change comes to the end of civilization

http://harpers.org/archive/2018/08/climate-change-in-iraq-the-end-of-eden/
Publisher:  Harper's Magazine
Year Published:  2018
Resource Type:  Article

A look at the devastating environmental outlook in Iraq, where climate change has led to rising temperatures and a dramatic drop in precipitation. Further exacerbating the environmental problems are decades of mismanagement, war, and regional politics.

Abstract: 
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Excerpt:

On a blistering morning in July 2017, Ghazi Luaibi rose before dawn and set out in a worn black sedan from his home in Zubair, a town of concrete low-rises in southern Iraq. He drove for a while along sandy roads strewn with plastic bags. On the horizon, he could see gas flares from the oil refineries, pillars of amber flame rising into the sky. As he approached Basra, the largest city in the province, desert scrub gave way to empty apartment blocks and rows of withered palms. Though the sun had barely risen, the temperature was already nearing 100 degrees Fahrenheit. The previous year, Basra had registered one of the highest temperatures ever reliably recorded on earth: about 129 degrees, hot enough to cause birds to drop from the sky.