By Disha Rao
One of the most urgent needs of our time is to make visible how events unfolding in one part of the world can shape lives in another. In much of the Western world view, isolationism and territorial boundaries leave little room for true interconnectedness—or for understanding the real consequences, especially devastating ones, that flow from it.
The Canadian wildfires are one example of how environmental interconnectedness is now impossible to ignore. Distance may blur destruction, but it should no longer let us believe that a crisis in some distant, unfamiliar place has no bearing on our lives.
Foreign policies that lead to war, bombardment, occupation, militarization, and political violence must be discussed through this lens of interconnectedness. Americans deserve clear information about how such activities affect ordinary lives economically, environmentally, and socially—especially here in New Jersey.
War, climate disruption, and economic strain are not separate crises, but connected forces already shaping life in New Jersey and beyond. The US-Iran war shows how foreign policy decisions made far from home can intensify climate emissions, raise household costs, strain farmers and food systems, and expose critical infrastructure vulnerabilities.
Environmental Costs
Global warming is not a distant abstraction, nor is it shaped only by local conditions. CO2 traps heat around the Earth. Human activities, including fossil fuel use, deforestation, industrialization, consumption, and war have added more than natural systems can absorb. Since 1880, average global temperatures have increased by 2.2° Fahrenheit, or 1.2° Celsius.
One analysis suggests that more than 5 million tons of CO2 were emitted in the first 14 days of the US-led war on Iran.
New Jersey and the Northeast, more broadly, are warming. Summer 2024 ranked as the third-warmest summer in New Jersey since recordkeeping began in 1895, and 18 of the 20 hottest years recorded in the state have occurred since 2000, according to NJ Department of Environmental Protection data. Heat Hub NJ makes clear that extreme heat is already a public health and infrastructure concern. This is not an isolated weather story; it is part of a larger planetary crisis reaching directly into New Jersey lives.
Science tells us that emission of millions of tons of CO2 throughout this preventable war—which by the end of August had lasted 184 days—will, without a doubt, contribute to the heat we feel on city blocks, in farm fields, in classrooms, in senior housing, and in our homes.
General Economic Costs
According to Brown University, as of mid-August, the US-Iran war had cost each US household an average of $656.74 in increased gasoline and diesel energy costs.
For many families, that figure is not theoretical. It represents a missed payment, a delayed repair, a smaller grocery cart, or another month of stretching what is already too thin.
Although we are the Garden State, New Jersey farms are often small, specialized, and expensive to operate. This year, a warm spring followed by a freeze caused widespread crop damage across the state. Some farmers lost about 90% of their crops, while others experienced complete loss.
At the same time, NJ Spotlight News, for example, reported that diesel prices surged nearly 50% and the cost of nitrogen fertilizer rose more than 30%, placing severe strain on agriculture. Because fuel and fertilizer are basic inputs, these increases raise the cost of planting, harvesting, transporting, and, ultimately, feeding people.
Water Systems
The risk to water systems is not theoretical, either. New Jersey’s Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Cell (aka NJ Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness) has identified water and wastewater systems as facing serious cyber threats, and recent reporting from The New York Times described malicious cyber activity targeting water systems in seven US states in late July 2026. This summer, at least two New Jersey water systems were reportedly hit by cyberattacks, which temporarily limited the operators’ ability to monitor or manage the systems remotely.
Conclusion
New Jerseyans deserve a policy that refuses to treat war, climate, and economic survival as separate stories. They are one story. And it is already being lived here.
Resources
Brown University energy calculator: https://shorturl.at/SprX6
Agricultural costs: https://shorturl.at/75TPg
Cyber threats: https://shorturl.at/Zr2eX