At the Security Council this week, Western nations clashed with Russia and some developing nations over the adoption of a statement asserting the threat of climate change to international peace and security. The Nation‘s Christian Parenti, author of Tropic of Chaos: Climate Change and the New Geography of Violence, joined the BBC to explain why such a basic assertion has become such a sticking point for international negotiators. 

For more on the politics of extreme weather, read Parenti’s report “Pakistan One Year After the Floods.”

—Kevin Donohoe