A Relational Sociological Appraisal About Climate Refugees

Introduction

Due to the fact that the factors leading to global warming and the resulting effects are not only natural, sociologists have also made theoretical contributions by being interested in the subject. Among them, Bruno Latour, et al. [1-4] come first. For example, thinking that “we have never been modern”, besides his social criticism, Latour is the thinker who overcame the nature and culture dichotomy and made relational sociology. According to him, global warming is not just a natural phenomenon. Because, in the consumption society, greenhouse gas emissions increase due to the over-consumptionbased cultures of especially developed industrial societies and thus contribute to the increase of global warming. According to Latour [1], a world means a risk society in which the obvious distinction between the natural and the cultural disappears. Therefore, risk is a concept used to mean the hybrid of natural and cultural. In fact, risks are often man-made. Latour has included the concept of “New climate regime” in his most recent work “Down to Earth: Politics in the New Climatic Regime” (2018) [1]. In other words, he used the name “new climate regime” in his new book, which he preferred in his previous book “Facing Gaia: Eight Lectures in the New Climate Regime [5]” written in 2017.

Latour [1,2] argues that there is no difference between local and global, by resolutely maintaining his attitude of rejecting dualities, as he had before, as a relational sociologist. Because the issue of climate is both a global and a local problem and therefore co-existence. Also, as in his Actor Network Theory, nature is seen here as an actor acting on his own and reacting to society. The only difference is that he used to call the non-human “actant”, but this time he prefers to call it actor [6]. In his latest book, Latour [1] also engages in philosophical discussions about climate. It even proposes a new geopolitical organization. In other words, he proposes a new concept of “Terrestrial” to represent the New World. It is translated from French and means the Earth we live on. According to him, not only humans but also many species live on Earth. Latour also makes some explanations about inequalities, nationalism and migration in current climatic conditions. The aim here is to propose solutions by investigating the relationship between possible conflicts and climate crises. It was Donald Trump’s attitude towards environmental protection and the climate crisis, which removed the barriers to road and housing construction and thus encouraged the construction industry, which prompted him to think in this way. Because Latour does not see the climate crisis as a problem that can be solved within national borders. Instead, he also sees it as a problem on a global scale.

It is also useful to remember the opinions of many Frankfurt School critical sociologists such as Adorno and Horkheimer that modernity has made the world a prison of technical knowledge. They were right in thinking that we all live as small cogs in a big giant bureaucratic machine wheel. Because, contrary to the positive image that modern society evokes, the risk society put people under pressure, let alone liberating them. As Francoise Evald [7] states, risks control our future and colonize it in a way. As a matter of fact, even the events that have not yet fully emerged affect both our future and our actions and affairs today. In terms of our subject, future environmental problems and climate refugees require precautions to be taken today as a risk. In this context, we should not forget the British sociologist Antony Giddens, who, although not as much as Ulrich Beck (1992), contributed to the modern industrial society stage we are in, as well as to call it late modernity, as well as to be seen as a risk society [2]. While telling that the world that escaped us is full of risks, Giddens also makes a classification of them in this context. According to him, some of the risks are natural, while others are man-made risks. While earthquakes are natural disasters, establishing an industry on agricultural lands suitable for growing vegetables such as potatoes and causing population growth is paving the way for man-made disasters. Because the fact that a region is an industrial zone means more employment opportunities and an increase in population. Therefore, experiencing more loss of life is a man-made disaster and is mostly a problem of underdeveloped countries. Because, in any earthquake, buildings built on unstable floors and without technical durability calculations are buried in the ground with the liquidation mechanism, causing more loss of life. As a matter of fact, while earthquakes of the same intensity did not cause any loss of life in Japan, in the 1999 East Marmara Earthquake in Turkey, 17.000 people lost their lives according to official figures and 30 thousand people according to unofficial figures, hundreds of thousands of people lost their homes and jobs [8].

Problem and Research Questions as Sub-Problems

While addressing the global environmental problems that emerged mostly as a human- made disaster, the most recent initiative or turning point that established a link between climate change and migration took place in 2021. This study is the report named “Rebuilding and Enhancing Programs to Resettle Refugees and Planning for the Impact of Climate Change on Migration” signed by President Biden in the USA and prepared by national security authorities [9]. In addition, according to the report of The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), between 2008 and 2016, an average of 21 million people migrated forcibly every year due to climate or weather change that caused droughts, floods and fires [10]. In this report, it is also predicted that by 2050, approximately 150 million people will migrate from their countries, especially in three regions of the world (Sub-Shara Africa, South Asia and Latin America). It is also estimated that these migrations will occur mostly in urban areas and population movements will occur on an international scale. On the other hand, it is recommended to develop strategies to prevent these conflicts, which will lead to various violent conflicts.

The main problem of this study is that the whole world does not make the necessary preparations legally, politically, socially and economically by showing sufficient sensitivity to many significant problems, especially migration in terms of human mobility, which will be caused by climate changes, and therefore global inequalities increase. In this context, the main questions sought to be answered in this article are:

1. What are the relations between global warming and environmental problems in general, climate change and migration in particular, as well as health?

2. How and for what purpose did the concept of climate refugee emerge? What is the significance?

3. What should be done today in order to live in a sustainable, more democratic world? Which areas require the most urgent work? (eg law, refugee rights)

Methodology

This study is based on a relational sociological analysis. For this purpose, Harrison White and his classification on uncertainty were used. According to Harrison White, there are uncertainties in both social relations (ambage) and cultural values (ambiguities) [11]. In Identity and Control, he argues that people dislike uncertainty and try to control them. In terms of our subject, the distinction between the natural and the cultural in the risk society has disappeared and hybrid (Latour) appearances have emerged [1]. Harrison White defines these as “liminality” and proposes to reveal important “turning points”[12]. Regardless of the general name, the main characteristic of such relational sociological studies is the “reflexive” and “problem” oriented examination of daily life as a “process”. It would not be wrong to say that such opportunities that arise for us non-Western social scientists are very important as they have the potential to increase our self-confidence, as well as increase our opp It is observed that such studies are generally referred to as relational studies in the literature, sometimes called “Intersectionality” and sometimes “Standpoint Theory”, depending on the preference of those who apply it.

Especially those who work on women, migration, media, old age, disability, space and cultural studies have turned to relational studies with the desire for a more egalitarian and just world. As a matter of fact, some sociologists have begun to criticize the classical discourse based on the dualities built with the aim of marginalizing non-Western societies [13]. Because they knew that, unfortunately, it was not possible for social sciences in general, and sociology in particular, to reach general and universal laws by imitating natural sciences. To do science with positivist assumptions was to be unable to move in a tight dress. Likewise, anti-positivist interpretive approaches were too micro and insufficient to explore the multi-layered features of social reality. Deductive methodological assumptions based only on hypothetical deductions were not enough, and only inductive inferences were also missing. In that case, it would be more appropriate to use both together, overcoming the duality of deduction and induction, opportunity to better understand ourselves and contribute to the current literature [14].

Importance and Limitation of the Study

Relational sociological investigations are studies that are sometimes criticized as “old wine in a new glass” but can make a difference when we are more systematic and careful. These studies gain importance as they try to eliminate to some extent the inadequacies of micro-social studies on constructivist foundations under the general umbrella of symbolic interactionism, as well as classical macro approaches such as structural functionalism and conflict approach. First of all, the rejection of dualities such as structure-individual, structure-culture, traditional-modern weakens the discourse that paves the way for othering and discrimination. For example, the Bio-medical Model, which is based on the mind-body duality in medicine and was dominant until the 1970s as the basis of scientific medicine, has now left its place to the Bio-Psycho-Social (BPS) model [15]. Because, basically, health has started to be accepted as a “field” (Bourdieu) that is considered as a whole not only with physiology, but also with both socio-cultural and psychological aspects [16].

The relational sociological analysis of the problem addressed in this study has not been done much. It is not a new argument to think that global warming, which plays an important role in climate change in particular, is both a natural and cultural, that is, a “hybrid” (Latour) phenomenon [1]. However, using Harrison White and his theoretical background on uncertainty in the context of “liminality” in understanding and interpreting a new field such as climate refugee is an innovative approach [11,12]. Although the most important limitation of the study seems to be that it is not supported by empirical field data, it can be said that this limitation did not cause any problems in answering the research questions, since the current literature offers very rich information about Turkey, especially on irregular migration.

Relational Sociological Analysis of Uncertainties: Global Warming and Climate Change

Scientifically, climate changes may be the result of global warming in whole or in part [17,18]. Global warming is a kind of atmospheric or astronomical change that is scientifically studied according to the branch of climatology. It is the inability to get out of the heat in the atmosphere due to greenhouse gases such as CO2 (Carbon dioxide), CH4 (Methane), C4H10 (Butane). Therefore, heat energy either stays in the particles of matter too much and causes an increase in temperature, or it leaves the material quickly and causes heat loss. Climatologically, this leads to constant changes in the climate of Earth, Mars, Venus or any planet in question. As an example today, the weather is too hot and humid in winter or high temperatures come late in summer [18]. Climate changes cause drought in some regions and increase in rain in some regions. On the one hand, this situation may affect the biodiversity in the ecosystem and lead to the emergence of new plants with high allergic potential. The rate of infectious diseases transmitted by new types of insects and pests is also increasing. Water and food resources are adversely affected due to drought or bad environmental conditions. As a result of this, human mobility such as migration and displacement inevitably occurs and people are adversely affected [17].

Increase in temperature and climate change can increase air pollution, especially by increasing ozone and dust particles in the air. Depending on the decrease in precipitation, desertification may increase, and sandstorms originating from deserts may adversely affect other parts of the world. This situation may affect all countries on a global scale, but poor countries may face more adversities than this [19]. Urgent action is needed to slow down and prevent climate change. For this, governments are expected to take urgent measures. As a result of the increase in drought and desertification, more sandstorms can be seen, and as a result of climate change, more forest fires, droughts, storms and hurricanes can be seen.

The Relationship Between Floods and Health as Climate Change

In addition to natural factors such as the increase in solar heat, one of the environmental problems we experience, especially in recent times, is global warming caused by the greenhouse effect caused by human-induced excessive consumption. Depending on global warming, while the glaciers melt, flood disasters may occur with precipitation that falls at a higher rate than the absorption rate of the soil. Whereas in the past, floods were weather events with a low probability of occurrence and great effects, but now they have turned into the most common natural disaster [20]. The main effects of climate change on human health are chronic respiratory system diseases, asthma, allergic rhinitis and other allergies, pneumonia and viral respiratory diseases. Deaths due to these diseases may also increase. In other words, while climate changes trigger heart, respiratory tract, infectious, allergic and some other diseases, heat waves increase death rates. In particular, there is an increase in deaths due to respiratory system, cardiovascular diseases and brain diseases [21]. In addition, the negative effects of floods on human health consist of the following [22,23]:

1. Trauma deaths, mainly deaths from drowning, are the leading cause of death, especially in coastal areas and rapid flooding.

2. Intestinal infections occur due to the overflow of the sewage system and the lack of access to healthy water.

3. Problems such as anxiety, depression, insomnia and posttraumatic stress occur among those exposed to flooding.

4. Vector-borne diseases such as malaria, dengue and hemorrhagic fever, yellow fever, West Nile virus fever and Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic fever, leptospirosis are on the rise.

5. The findings that emerged as a result of studies on the effects of climate change on human health;

6. Changes in the distribution of some infectious disease vectors,

7. With the decrease in water resources, the shrinkage of agricultural areas,

8. The seasonal distribution of some allergic pollen species changes,

9. Increase in deaths caused by heat waves, and that exposure to these changes will affect human health.

10. Increase in the number of injuries, diseases and deaths caused by weather events such as heat waves, floods, storms, fires and droughts.

11. Continuing changes in vectors of some infectious diseases, shifting of warm climate zones to the north;

The change in the geographical distribution of malaria, the increase in the regions where the disease is likely to occur, the change in the spreading season, the emergence of drought and hunger, inevitably lead to an increase in migration.

The Relationship Between Climate Change and Migration

Throughout the history of humanity, mass migration events have occurred in the world for various reasons, especially political and economic, and have had very important consequences. For example, the Germanic invasion prepared the end of the Roman Empire. As a matter of fact, Rome was affected by these migrations and divided into two as East and West Rome in 397. The collapse of Byzantium, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, took place in 1453 with the conquest of Istanbul, formerly Constantinople, by the Ottoman Sultan Mehmet the Conqueror. The conquest of Istanbul by the Ottomans in this way is such an important event that it has been accepted all over the world as the date when the Middle Ages ended, and the New Age began.

The geography where today’s Republic of Turkey is located is known as Rumelia, which was once a part of the Byzantine Empire, and besides the Greeks, Armenians and some Muslim Arabs lived. With the migration of Turks from Central Asia with climate changes, it started to be called Anatolia. According to the official history, the Turks came to Anatolia with the victory of Alpaslan in Manzikert in 1071. However, it is also known that there are some sources indicating that the Huns, who came from Asia and went as far as Eastern Europe, actually originated from the Oghuz’s and were Turks. Moreover, it is seen in some legends such as Battalgazi that the Greeks called some immigrant Muslim Arabs as Turks. It is also mentioned in some sources that immigrants living in Rumelia are called Turks, in the sense of barbarians. In addition, there are literary works in which immigrant Muslims in the rural areas of Anatolia are called Turks, even if they are Arabs [24].

Since Anatolia is actually on the Silk Road from India to Europe, it has been a land that constantly receives migration. However, the Silk Road lost its importance after the Suez Canal was completed in 1869. In later periods, with the Treaty of Lausanne signed with Greece and the Republic of Turkey, population exchange was made between Turks and Greeks. There have been constant migrations from Bulgaria, Crimea and the Caucasus to Turkey. Muslim Turks came to Anatolia for political reasons. It should not be forgotten that 60 years ago, Turks migrated to Europe, especially to Germany, to work [25]. As a result of the wars in the Middle East in 2011, as never before in the history of Anatolia, forced and irregular migration from Syria to Turkey began. Immigrants, who were welcomed and regarded as guests due to their small number and coming from the neighboring Muslim country, were placed under temporary protection when it was realized that they were permanent. Syrians are not accepted as refugees in Turkey, despite their forced migration because their lives are under threat. The main reason for this is that Turkish laws only accept immigrants from the West, that is, from Europe, as refugees.

Although Turkey is a party to the 1951 United Nations Geneva Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, it has made a reservation in the aforementioned agreement that accepts an obligation to refugees from Europe. Here, Turkey does not consider Syrians as refugees, taking refuge on the grounds that they came from outside the West, especially since their number is high, and therefore does not fulfill all its obligations [26]. Turkey’s current policy is to grant only conditional and temporary refugee status to Syrians. This policy reduces Turkey’s obligations and only some basic services such as health and education are provided to Syrians. In fact, according to the Refugees Association data, there are currently five million Syrians living in Turkey, who arrived as a result of forced migration in 2011. The most dramatic aspect is that most of them are children under the age of 18. In addition, nearly one million of them were born in Turkey and are younger than 10 years old [26]. There is a large number of Somalis, Africans, Afghans or irregular immigrants from other Middle Eastern countries in Turkey. Although only 8% of Syrian immigrants live in shelters, the vast majority are dispersed throughout the country. Immigrants mostly live in big metropolises such as Istanbul and İzmir and in provinces such as Hatay and Gaziantep, which are close to the Syrian border. While they are only given seasonal work permits in agriculture, they generally work with insecure and low wages, which are tolerated despite being illegal. The population coming from Syria to Turkey with forced migration is experiencing many problems such as language, livelihood, poverty, health, education, identity and exclusion. It is possible to talk about many studies on this subject. In this context, their “liminal” status in uncertainties is the most important problem area especially for children [26].

It is clear that a large number of immigrants who came to Turkey unexpectedly through illegal ways will not return even though they live in poverty by being employed in temporary jobs without security and cheaply. In Turkey, there are many studies that show that middle-class immigrants who try to hold on by becoming entrepreneurs in the informal sector by selling at temporary stalls until their savings are exhausted also become workers and become victims [27-29]. Despite all their tolerance, it is witnessed that the Anatolian people, which is the homeland of many immigrants, engage in hate speech and attack the workplaces of Syrians, which they see as the reason for their unemployment. Undoubtedly, what it means to both tolerate and perceive them as a threat with economic or nationalistic motives can only be analyzed with the relational view and its concept of liminality.For example, Ulrick Beck, in his critical theory of the world risk society, especially focuses on the freedom and security dilemma and strives to overcome it [3]. According to Beck, individuals live in an atmosphere of fear with the effect of globalization. From past to present, these fears take different forms. Beck states that people have security problems today, especially through social media, and they have great fears because their information is stolen via Twitter or Instagram.

Today, individuals become passive as social media addicts. This, in turn, clearly evokes the negative dialectic of Horkheimer and Adorno of the Frankfurt School sociologists’ critique of how people were held captive by the culture industry in the past. Because today, advanced technology, smart phones are making people both free and addicted at the same time, almost enslaving them. Beck rightly wants us to be aware of the negative effects of rapid advances in scientific and technical fields in his theory [4]. Likewise, while immigrants are valued as cheap labor in agricultural seasonal production by capital or employers in the media, they are portrayed as a threat to the employment of local labor by large segments of the working population. As mentioned earlier, this liminal situation of being both useful and useless can only be understood from the holistic perspective of relational sociology, which rejects dualities. Because, for example, Afghans in Turkey are widely employed in animal husbandry, and Syrians in agriculture, which is no longer seasonal and is done in all seasons. Therefore, they contribute to the consumers by providing the low cost of agricultural food production arising from labor. Undoubtedly, labor is not the only input in agriculture. The high cost of fertilizers, drugs and energy used is also reflected in the prices, and the contribution of immigrants in the eyes of the consumer is reduced to a minimum and marginalized. That’s why 2011 Syrian irregular migration is an important break-down point. In terms of uncertainties, it is possible to be accepted as “contingency” because they come with external dynamics like migration [11].

Climate Refugees

Although climate change issues have been on the agenda of the whole world since the 1980s, more systematic initiatives on this issue are quite new. For example, in the United Nations in 2007, the issue was brought to the agenda by the United Kingdom and discussed in a holistic framework with both natural and human dimensions, emphasizing many factors. So much so that border disputes, energy supply, natural resource shortages, social conflicts, psychological or humanitarian crises, and finally, “migration” due to the rise of sea level in some regions, decrease in fresh water and decrease in agricultural capacity have been emphasized. The most important feature of this report is that, using the concept of “environmental refugees”, it states that they have to migrate due to both natural and man-made risks that will endanger their existence or directly affect their quality of life [30-32]. On the other hand, population movements caused by natural disasters such as desertification, especially the decrease in forest areas, as well as man-made disasters caused by excessive consumption, which is the dominant feature of modern industrial society, are also included in the literature as environmental migration. In fact, all migrations that are directly or indirectly affected by global climate changes are defined as environmental migration [31]. On the other hand, it is possible to see the effects of climate changes as climate processes (such as drought) and climate events (such as hurricanes) [32]. The longer duration of climatic processes is their distinguishing feature.

Undoubtedly, it is of great importance for our analysis that the legal and social status of those who migrate due to changes in environmental conditions are uncertain. For example, it has not been determined whether these migrants will be refugees only or environmental or climate refugees. As discussed by Harrison White [11], it is inevitable for these refugees to be unfamiliar with the cultural values of the country or region they migrated to. The uncertainty in values has the potential to inevitably create tension in their social relations with the local population, both in the short and long term. The Geneva Convention adopted in 1951 actually defined a refugee [33]. This convention defines the legal status of refugees. According to the convention, refugees must have a rightful fear of persecution on the grounds of their religion, race, nationality, membership of a social group or political opinion [34]. In this definition, natural or global environmental problems such as drought, flood, desertification or hunger, famine, epidemic are not mentioned in any way. However, the concepts of environment and refugee are combined in academic writings or civil society documents and they are called environmental refugees or climate refugees [30].

It is observed that the concept of environmental refugee was first used 47 years ago in 1976 by the American environmentalist Lester Russell Brown, the founder of the World Watch Institution. 10 years later, it is witnessed that the concept of environmental refugee is defined in the United Nations environmental report. It is known that concepts such as EDP’s (environmental-induceddisplaced persons) are used as well as environmental refugee [35]. According to the report, environmental refugees are individuals who have to leave their country because of risks that will endanger their existence [32,36,37]. In this context, we see “climate refugees” as a concept defined at a secondary level under the general umbrella of environmental refugees [35]. On the other hand, there are some classifications that the displacement due to this climate is temporary or permanent. According to Eksi [33] despite such classifications, they are not accepted as refugees under the Geneva Convention signed 72 years ago. Refusal to be accepted as refugees is a complete mess as they are not defined by international law. This is precisely the uncertainty in values in Harrison White’s terminology. Because these people are forced to leave the places they live in fear of falling into the situation of those who lost their lives due to climate changes. In other words, they are forced to migrate and leave their habitats temporarily or permanently due to exposure to risks that cannot be foreseen by international legislation, which has expired for 75 years. As Mc Adam points out, the fact that environmental damage is not explicitly mentioned in the convention prevents these immigrants from being legally accepted as refugees [38].

However, nothing is more valuable than human life, and today it is imperative that this archaic contract be reversed. On the other hand, it is not surprising that countries such as Turkey avoid accepting even those who come with forced migration as refugees because they do not comply with the legislation, and that necessary steps are not taken, fearing all the economic, social, cultural and political obligations that these immigrants will bring. As a matter of fact, even the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHRC) uses the concept of EDPs (Environmentally Displaced Person) rather vaguely within the scope of the 1951 Geneva convention, instead of the concepts of climate refugee or environmental refugee [10]. There is an important literature on the use of the concepts of Climate Refugee or Environmental Refugee at the local and regional level [39-41]. For example, the African Unity Organization, like the Green Party of Australia, has suggested expanding the concept of refugee, although it does not use the climate refugee. Here again there is uncertainty. According to Eksi [33], although protecting those who flee from environmental destruction is an important issue, the necessary mechanisms cannot be operated since they are not included in international laws. However, with the provision of temporary protection status in both US and Swedish law, it is tried to help those affected by environmental disasters. Although there are initiatives on temporary protection (Temporary Protection Directive) in the European Union, one of the many examples that these are an elitist approach that chooses immigrants in line with their own interests is the quotas for Syrian immigrants. Here, Europe has veiled its self-seeking aims as humanitarian aid and made it uncertain.

Biermann and Boas (2010) made some suggestions about climate refugees. These have been developed for application in the recognition, conservation and resettlement process [42]. First and foremost, of course, is the planned resettlement. Resettlement, not temporary asylum, is the second priority. Observing the collective rights of the community or country/nation, not the individual, and sharing the burden with international aids are among the suggestions. However, although these proposals are well-intentioned, they carry uncertainties that will open up opportunities for some hegemonic practices. Undoubtedly, developmental modernist views on migration should also be criticized because of conservative ideological assumptions. Because developmental projects assume that developed Western countries have the theoretical and technical knowledge to develop other less developed countries, and they intend to make other countries dependent on themselves or even colonize them. In fact, the West is mistaken in thinking that nature is a single system with its one world understanding. This is why the South’s understanding of Puluriversal versus Universal is innovative [43]. Although the anti-development views advocated by the anthropologist Arturo Escobar, especially the anthropologist Colombian anthropologist, gain importance in terms of having a relational perspective that cares about differences, they have to be carefully evaluated as they stand close to some post-modern and post-developmental economics approaches. However, Latin American social movements are extremely valuable in understanding climate migrants with their relational stances rather than rational ones and cannot be ignored.

Conclusion

As well-known British lawyers such as Behrman and Kent [36] have carefully pointed out, climate refugee as a multidisciplinary field expects academics to propose new solutions to lawyers. Because, very different from labor or voluntary migration, those who make forced climate migration deserve protection. The UNFCCC conference convened in Paris as COP21 has actually shown us that there are some opportunities for climate refugees in many aspects. So there is hope that if academics can bring innovative insights to overcome legal challenges, powerful policymakers will take them seriously. For example, these include not only allowing immigrants to stay in their new country of origin, but also giving them self-determination, cultural and human rights [36]. Climate change caused by global warming, unfortunately, negatively affects our world, its atmosphere and all living things on it. However, the change in the world’s climate is not of equal severity all over the world, and individuals from different regions and classes react differently. Climate change is an extremely complex phenomenon, which is at the forefront of the most important environmental, economic, legal and human rights problems of our time, and creates negative effects in all areas of life, especially in our geography, from health to agriculture and human rights.

People are directly exposed to changes in temperature, humidity, sea level rise and severe weather events due to climate change. On the other hand, the population is indirectly affected by changes in water and food quality, ecosystem, agriculture, industry, settlements, economy and human rights. Many important thinkers in the world, especially Bruno Latour, argue that opinions oscillate between two opposing views such as globalization minus and globalization plus, stating that the old dichotomous conceptualizations of global and local are insufficient. Because most of the time, self-interested views that do not benefit humanity can also dominate globally. In this case, there is a global minus. According to Latour, modernization and developmental advocacy, as well as old-fashioned human-centered paradigms, are insufficient today. The climate crisis shows that it is now too late and even “reaching the limits”. In Latour, he sees the climate crisis as a reaction of nature. He wants us to remember once again that our planet belongs to all of us, without denying immigration crises with populist, nationalist views. According to him, we must oppose the right-left, global-local dualities, without forgetting that nature and society are a single system. We should not forget the critical realist thinker Roy Bhaskar on this subject [44]. According to him, it is clear that people should take their steps carefully in their dance with nature.

In fact, Latour underlines that the manifestos of “political ecology” or “climate emergency” are not successful [1]. According to him, “terrestrial” meaning the “earth” we live in becomes the only possible option if nature is allowed to play a central role in society today. In other words, we can say that the ultimate purpose of his writings is to defend the terrestrial. Because the period we live in is an unstable period in which climate crises emerge. Let us not forget that ecological movements lead to other ecological or modernist dichotomy. While ecologic movements reach as far as green militarism, modernists think more in favor of human rights or economy. Latour states the need to achieve Zero Co2 emission by 2050 in all his books [1,5]. In fact, deep ecological views or the paradigm that thinks that man is an exception in the world are also hegemonic and repressive when evaluated from a relational point of view. Here, when viewed in the process, a liminal feature emerges again. The common feature of the views that put people in the center as much as those who care about nature is that they ignore differences as well as being ambiguous. As long as the need for joint projects for a more egalitarian world is ignored, it is difficult to get results in the short term.

As a matter of fact, the most striking aspect of the UN Report [10]is the concerns that climate migration, which has emerged with these geographical and environmental factors, will contribute to the increase of inequalities as well as economic and political instability. However, it is clear that the scenarios prepared to prevent climate changes, which will undoubtedly occur at different magnitudes in different places, should also be original. Since the issue concerns both the immigrants and the citizens of the country of emigrant, the possible relocation plans and policies, together with the communities that will be affected by the migration, are also the points discussed in the report. Countries of emigrant are undoubtedly not strong enough to handle this situation easily. Therefore, the problem of climate refugee and their rights arises. In general, economic development is an important component that provides advantage. However, even economically developed countries will not be able to fully protect themselves from diseases and injuries caused by climate change. Because factors such as economic development and the fair distribution of this development to the public, education, health care and the creation of infrastructure play an important role in shaping public health.

Extreme heat and cold waves that occur in meteorological conditions due to global warming and climate change, excessive precipitation, floods and various environmental problems caused by them, Covid-19 and its mutations, the cause of which is still unknown, trigger many chronic diseases and seriously affect human health.

Training in cooperation with the relevant public institutions and organizations and non-governmental organizations, especially the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock, the Ministry of Environment and Urbanization, the Ministry of Forestry and Water Affairs, the Presidency of Religious Affairs, the Ministry of National Defense, in order to raise the awareness of the society throughout the country. work is in progress. More research is needed to understand climate change, especially its negative effects on agriculture and health, and to prevent possible losses and damages. For this purpose, an attempt is made to carry out multi-purpose studies covering both developed and developing countries with the support of international institutions, especially the EU and the UN. One of them is the climate change studies carried out in Hatay in cooperation with the EU and the Turkish Government [45]. In addition, the eco-climate meeting for a greener Ankara will be held in March 2022

in cooperation with Ankara Chamber of Commerce and universities [19]. All these are insufficient but promising efforts to be prepared for tomorrow.

However, the studies are not at a level enough for Anatolia, which is on the migration route from Asia to Europe, known as the Silk Road, to be prepared for possible climate migrations. While the country is incapable of managing the 2011 Syrian and 2021 Afghan irregular migrations, it is not ready in any way, both economically and politically, to make preparations for the future. But there is no excuse for scientists not to do their work. Examining ambiguities and differences in relational sociological terms provides great opportunities for us to reach a more egalitarian and democratic world. Let’s not forget that it is a great advantage to get rid of oneway linear and determinist views, and to do problem-oriented applied sociological research as a reflexive and pragmatist.

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