(Natural News) America is often called a melting pot because of the wide variety of cultures that can be found here, and it’s one of the things that makes it such a great nation. Many of us with family members in our lineage who hailed from other countries – particularly in Europe – have heard stories about their arduous boat journey across the ocean to the land of opportunity. We’ve heard their reasons for leaving their homeland, and there are typically multiple factors that drove their big decision. One that most of us haven’t heard as a reason for immigration, however, is climate change, yet that is exactly what a group of scientists would like us to believe prompted our ancestors to head overseas long before fossil fuels ever came into the equation.

That’s right: A team of German researchers has published a paper in Climate of the Past that links migration from Germany to North America in the 19th century to climate change. During this period, more than five million Germans headed to the North American continent. They say it wasn’t the wars, revolutions, and difficult life that many of the immigrants faced that sent them in search of greener pastures; it was disagreeable weather.

According to their calculations, climate can explain as much as 30 percent of the migration from Southwest Germany during this time period. They cite low crop yields and increasing cereal prices caused by unfavorable climate conditions. They looked at population data, harvest figures, weather data, migration statistics and cereal price records to reach their conclusions.

They say the first immigration wave during this time came after the Indonesian Tambora volcano erupted in 1815, spewing gases and ash into the atmosphere and leading to falling temperatures and famine.

In 1846, however, it was extremely dry and hot weather and the associated bad harvests and rising food prices that sent Germans packing. Researcher Annette Bosmeier said: “These two years of high migration numbers appear to be quite strongly influenced by climate changes, while for other migration waves other circumstances appeared to be more important.”

Climate refugees?

This finding will undoubtedly help stoke fears about the concept of climate refugees, which is something that many climate change alarmists try to use to promote their agenda. Sea levels will rise and droughts, floods and hurricanes will be regular occurrences, they claim, causing mass migration in the form of “climate refugees” who will converge on unsuspecting populations and lead to unforeseen problems.

Some experts have claimed that hundreds of millions of people will be displaced due to environmental problems that are exacerbated by climate change by the year 2050. The numbers will far exceed those fleeing the conflict in Syria, according to a study carried out by the Environmental Justice Foundation, creating a giant challenge for European nations.

Stephen Cheney, a retired U.S. Military Corps Brigadier General, said: “If Europe thinks they have a problem with migration today … wait 20 years. See what happens when climate change drives people out of Africa – the Sahel [sub-Saharan area] especially – and we’re talking now not just one or two million, but 10 or 20 [million].”

Not surprisingly, that study takes the opportunity to call on governments to do more to reach the Paris climate agreement targets. Environmental Justice Foundation director Steve Trent said that when climate change is added to existing political tensions, it can ignite conflict and violence that will have “disastrous consequences.”

In other words, climate change – even in the absence of fossil fuels – is the real reason people have and will continue to immigrate to other countries. All of this leads one to wonder what kind of insane climate change theories they will come up with next.

Sources include:

ScienceDaily.com

FastCompany.com

TheGuardian.com