THE HEAT AND THE FURY | A Busboys and Poets Books Presentation

"Schwartzstein's vignettes of each troubled region are vibrantly narrated as he encounters indignant locals and has run-ins with menacing state security officials attempting to block his investigations into what they invariably consider a 'sensitive' subject. It's a riveting journey through a world running hot." –Publishers Weekly, starred

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.

Peter Schwartzstein is joining us on the Busboys stage alongside executive director for the Council for the Advancement of Science Writing Meaghan Parker to share their experiences investigating climate violence. Copies of the book will be available for purchase during and after the event, and Schwartzstein will be signing following the program.

This event is free and open to all. Our program begins at 6:00 pm, and will be followed by an audience Q&A. Copies of THE HEAT AND THE FURY will be available for purchase before and after the event. Please note that this event is in person and will not be livestreamed.

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Peter Schwartzstein is an environmental journalist who reports on water, food security, and particularly the conflict-climate nexus across some thirty countries in the Middle East, Africa, and occasionally further afield. He mostly writes for National Geographic, but his work has also appeared in the New York Times, BBC, Foreign Affairs, and many other outlets. He is a Global Fellow with the Wilson Center's Environmental Change and Security Program, a TED fellow, and a fellow at the Center for Climate and Security.

Meaghan Parker is the incoming executive director for the Council for the Advancement of Science Writing, a nonprofit organization that seeks to increase and improve science journalism. As a Wilson Center Public Policy Scholar, she recently completed a report on "Funding the Future of Environmental Journalism," which draws on her experience as the executive director of the Society of Environmental Journalists (SEJ). Under her leadership from 2018-2023, SEJ raised more than $5 million; doubled its Fund for Environmental Journalism; launched new fellowship, training and outreach programs; and committed to integrating equity throughout its activities, which more than doubled the diversity of its membership. 

Previously, she was the senior writer/editor and partnerships director for the Environmental Change and Security Program and the Global Sustainability and Resilience Program of the Wilson Center, where she worked for 15 years. She was a founder and editor-in-chief of the award-winning New Security Beat, a daily blog covering environment, health and security. She was the lead editor of "A New Climate for Peace," an online platform and independent study commissioned by the foreign ministers of the G7. She was the supervising producer of the award-winning documentary trilogy, "Healthy People, Healthy Environment," which was filmed in Tanzania, Nepal and Ethiopia. 

Before stepping down to join the SEJ staff, she served for six years on SEJ's Board of Directors. She currently serves on the Board of The Uproot Project, the membership association for environmental journalists of color, as well as on the Advisory Council of Planet Forward, a project of George Washington University; and the Mississippi River Ag & Water Desk, a project of the University of Missouri. She is a member of the Society of Environmental Journalists, JAWS (Journalism and Women Symposium), the National Association of Science Writers and The Uproot Project.

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