The Destruction of Palmyra–Blame it on Water Shortage

More specifically it has been suggested that the civil war in Syria was caused by country's dwindling fresh water supply. It seems rural Syrian farmers had to migrate to cities like Damascus in the thousands to look for livelihood as their farmland dried up. As the population grew in the desert cities, the cities became exhausted from shortages of basic amenities and work fuelling a growing disgruntled population to revolt against authorities and the elites. The feud turned to war. Thus ISIS which is systematically destroying pre-Islamic historical monuments which arose from the Syrian Civil War that can be blamed on water shortage. So instead of spending billions in destructive bombing campaigns, perhaps just build desalination plants and work on an equitable water agreement of the Tigris and Euphrates basin. The same farmers who are bearing arms might just turn in their guns for pitch forks and the peace of farming. As the world gets hotter and human population climbs water shortages are inevitable. Bombing people who are fighting for basic needs is certainly a horrible way to solve the problem, they get angry and do silly things.

I came across this article from the Smithsonian as I was looking up the destroyed Arch of Triumph that connects the the problem of the lack of water to the Syrian crisis. Learn more about the historical significance of Palmyra from BBC. At least we have the internet to remember what the monuments looked like–like the Buddhas of Bamiyan, Afghanistan.

These are travel ideas unfortunately relegated to the history books and google images.