--- title: The Real Cause of the Great Migration description: What else is behind the Great Migration, the NFL's data revolution, how genetically-modified plants can stop e. coli and more. canonical: https://time.com/4033258/the-real-cause-of-the-great-migration/ author: TIME article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-09-14T16:00:18.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:01:41.690Z article:section: Ideas og:title: The Real Cause of the Great Migration og:description: These are today's best ideas og:url: https://time.com/4033258/the-real-cause-of-the-great-migration/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfc7a1736987316c5/69886375a988cae2ef6b4510/gettyimages-485015916.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: GREECE-TURKEY-EUROPE-MIGRANTS og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Real Cause of the Great Migration twitter:description: These are today's best ideas twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfc7a1736987316c5/69886375a988cae2ef6b4510/gettyimages-485015916.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Real Cause of the Great Migration by [The Aspen Institute](https://time.com/author/the-aspen-institute/) ## The Aspen Institute Sep 14, 2015 4:00 PM UTC  Syrian refugees arrive on the shores of Lesvos island in Greece in an inflatable boat from Turkey on August 23, 2015\. AFP PHOTO / ACHILLEAS ZAVALLIS (Photo credit should read ACHILLEAS ZAVALLIS/AFP/Getty Images) Syrian refugees arrive on the shores of Lesvos island in Greece in an inflatable boat from Turkey on August 23, 2015\. AFP PHOTO / ACHILLEAS ZAVALLIS (Photo credit should read ACHILLEAS ZAVALLIS/AFP/Getty Images)ACHILLEAS ZAVALLIS—AFP/Getty Images by [The Aspen Institute](https://time.com/author/the-aspen-institute/) ## The Aspen Institute Sep 14, 2015 4:00 PM UTC **1\.** [**Don’t blame war for the Great Migration. And get used to it.**](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/immigration/11842760/Prepare-yourselves-The-Great-Migration-will-be-with-us-for-decades.html) By Fraser Nelson in the Telegraph **2\.** [**The NFL — not the NSA — is leading a data revolution.**](http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/09/the-nfl-is-reshaping-the-surveillance-society-xbox-one-experience-and-gambling/) By David Kravets in Ars Technica **3\.** [**Genetically-modified plants could eliminate food poisoning.**](http://www.popsci.com/scientists-have-invented-new-way-to-remove-e-coli-from-your-food) By Steph Yin in Popular Science **4\.** [**Can a protest movement about garbage put an end to Lebanon’s system of government by religious quota?**](http://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/the-monitors-view/2015/0830/Saying-rubbish-in-Lebanon-to-politics-by-faith) By the editorial board of the Christian Science Monitor **5\.** [**Here’s how text messaging can reduce teen smoking.**](https://news.vcu.edu/article/VCU%5Fresearchers%5Fuse%5Ftext%5Fmessages%5Fto%5Freduce%5Fteen%5Fsmoking) By Anne Dreyfuss at Virginia Commonwealth University  [_The Aspen Institute_](http://www.aspeninstitute.org/) _is an educational and policy studies organization based in Washington, D.C._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4033258/the-real-cause-of-the-great-migration/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4033258/the-real-cause-of-the-great-migration/"},"headline":"The Real Cause of the Great Migration","datePublished":"2015-09-14T16:00:18.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:01:41.690Z","description":"These are today's best ideas","url":"https://time.com/4033258/the-real-cause-of-the-great-migration/","keywords":["Innovation","Smoking","Lebanon","NFL","GMO","refugee"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfc7a1736987316c5/69886375a988cae2ef6b4510/gettyimages-485015916.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"The Aspen Institute","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/the-aspen-institute/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfc7a1736987316c5/69886375a988cae2ef6b4510/gettyimages-485015916.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"GREECE-TURKEY-EUROPE-MIGRANTS","caption":"GREECE-TURKEY-EUROPE-MIGRANTS","creditText":"ACHILLEAS ZAVALLIS—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/innovation/","name":"Innovation"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4033258/the-real-cause-of-the-great-migration/","name":"The Real Cause of the Great Migration"}}]}] ```