Many of us have watched the news in horror, as federal agents demonize immigrants and asylum seekers who look to the United States as a place of hope and refuge.
In what is often referred to as the “Migrant Caravan,” somewhere between 4,000 and 5,000 Central Americans have been walking toward the southern U.S. border since October. Several hundred have now reached the border and were met with rubber bullets and tear gas.
There is bitter irony in this, as U.S. policies have contributed to, or even caused, the untenable conditions these people seek to escape. Experts say that alongside factors like violence, crime, and corruption, climate change is a catalyst for other major problems, including crop failures and poverty.
Both globally and here in Vermont, people who depend on small farms have become painfully aware of changes to weather patterns that can ruin crops and decimate incomes.