Global Justice Ecology Project Executive Director Anne Petermann talked about how climate change has impacted the country of Iran as temperatures rise to record levels during the latest Earth Minute segment on the Sojourner Truth Radio Show on KPFK-FM radio.

Listen and read the transcript below:

Mounting evidence points to the massive role climate change has had on the recent protests across Iran.

One day last summer, temperatures in Iran reached almost 129 degrees Fahrenheit—one of the highest ever recorded.

A severe years-long drought, dust storms and mismanaged water have damaged the country’s economy and driven many farmers off of their shriveled lands and into cities.

Iran’s former President provided subsidies to these struggling families and when the current president indicated he would reduce them, people across the drought-stricken countryside joined the wave of protests.

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Rainfall in the region will drop 20 percent by 2100, and temperatures could increase by as much as 5 degrees Celsius.

But Iran is not alone in suffering the mounting impacts of runaway climate change and any real solutions will require a fundamental transformation away from the economic and political systems driving the human race closer and closer to the edge of the climate cliff.

For the Earth Minute and the Sojourner Truth show this is Anne Petermann from Global Justice Ecology Project.