On July 17, 2019, The Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) and American Security Project (ASP) presented a webinar about the impacts of climate change on our military. The main speaker was Brigadier General Stephen Cheney, USMC (Retired). His presentation was in agreement with the Florida Veterans For Common Sense (FLVCS) position on climate change.
General Cheney’s main message was that climate change is a very real threat to our national security and we must plan and budget for it. FLVCS has been promoting this message for years. He used the same example and logic as in the FLVCS’ climate change report. The General said that the likelihood of war with China or Russia may be 2%. The likelihood and hence the risks presented by climate change are much greater. For example, we face 100% chance of climate migrants.
The General pointed out that tactical concerns are important too. Bases and stations are going under water and being wiped out by storms. It is going to be very costly to make installations more resilient to sea level rise and extreme weather events, not to mention more extreme heat.
The FLVCS’ climate change report describes two kinds of action to take against climate change: Adaptation vs. Mitigation. Unfortunately, but understandably, the military is focusing on Adaptation. The military must adapt to climate change and the J5 at each of the combatant commands must make plans for protecting against climate change: Build strong and high, with more and more insulation!
Mitigation is not in the military’s mission. So theoretically the military is not concerned with the cause of the problem. Ironically, the armed forces are the #1 consumer of fossil fuels. However, the services are embracing conservation and the use of alternative energy for operational reasons. For example, hauling diesel fuel is a liability and solar panels are safer than diesel fuel.
A positive outcome from the talk is that the General thinks Congress finally gets it. He said, on both sides of the isle, they know what’s causing climate change and they understand that we need to do something about it – to mitigate by stopping the emission of heat trapping gases and at the same time removing excess carbon from the atmosphere. Mitigation is important, because no amount of adaptation will save us from the worst of climate change. The most important thing that we can do to mitigate climate change is put a price on carbon. Putting a price on carbon is something that is literally in congress’ hands. The Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act (HR 763) has been introduced in the House of Representatives. It behooves us all to call our Representatives to tell them to get behind this Bill.
For more information:
- To register/hear/see the lecture, go to https://tinyurl.com/Impacts-CC-Nat-Sec
- To read FLVCS’s climate change report to learn what YOU can do to mitigate, go to https://tinyurl.com/Urgency-In-Action
- To learn more about the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act (HR 763), go to https://energyinnovationact.org/