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Pentagon Unveils Plan For Military's Response To Climate Change

An anonymous reader writes Rising sea levels and other effects of climate change will create major problems for America's military, including more and worse natural disasters and food and water shortages that could fuel disputes around the world, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Monday. From the article: "The Pentagon's 2014 Climate Change Adaptation Roadmap (PDF) describes how global warming will bring new demands on the military. Among the report's conclusions: Coastal military installations that are vulnerable to flooding will need to be altered; humanitarian assistance missions will be more frequent in the face of more intense natural disasters; weapons and other critical military equipment will need to work under more severe weather conditions. 'This road map shows how we are identifying — with tangible and specific metrics, and using the best available science — the effects of climate change on the department's missions and responsibilities,' Hagel said. 'Drawing on these assessments, we will integrate climate change considerations into our planning, operations, and training.'"

11 of 228 comments (clear)

  1. Re:For everything there is a season by Frosty+Piss · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Can we get through Ebola, first, and then worry about...

    The government should be able to multi-task more than one problem at a time, yes?

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  2. Re:Systems perpetuate themselves by Charliemopps · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Because it's already too late. Even if we stopped CO2 production entirely, today, all of this stuff would still happen. The CO2 we're producing today is just compounding the problem for our grand children. Short of discovering cold fusion tomorrow and mass producing small devices with unlimited power that could change the CO2 back into a solid, we're screwed.

  3. SubjectsInCommentsAreStupid by lesincompetent · · Score: 2, Insightful

    If i recall correctly, similar reasoning was adopted by Mr. Homer J. Simpson while addressing his car's engine issue as he proceeded to string a strip of duct tape over the blinking warning light.

  4. Re:For everything there is a season by Archangel+Michael · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The problem is, the government is not doing what it can do, because it is afraid of offending people in a world where Political Correctness is going to kill millions.

    Ebola is easy to stop. We have oceans to protect us. All we need to do is stop allowing the 25,000 VISAS from affected countries from being used to gain entry. But t hat is too politically incorrect, so instead we're going to infect our troops by building hospitals there. Don't tell me that it is "low risk", because that is what they said in Dallas. And one million dollars for the first patent later we having stopped anything.

    Here is an idea, lets use Military to kill people and break things, and if we can't stomach that, bring them home. That is what they do.

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  5. Re:For everything there is a season by Frosty+Piss · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Ebola is easy to stop. We have oceans to protect us. All we need to do is stop allowing the 25,000 VISAS from affected countries from being used to gain entry.

    1. Person from Ebola Land travels to Europe or some other non-US country, and exposes a person who is not from Ebola Land, who then travels home to the US.

    2. US citizen travels to and from Ebola Land.

    There are many different ways that Ebola can reach out and touch people who are not from Ebola Land, shutting down foreign visas is not the solution.

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  6. Funny to see by grimJester · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Funny to see a branch of the US government that actually has to deal with reality.

  7. Re:Systems perpetuate themselves by Capsaicin · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Though folks are trying to quash debate, much like the catholic church did to Galileo.

    Yes, a state Attorney-General conducting an inquisition in an attempt to silence a prominent climate scientist is very much like what the Church did to Galileo.

    And debate on the causes...

    Seriously?! The causes are fairly well understood. If you can cite anything from the last 5 years which debates the causes please do (it goes without saying, I trust, that "cite" means a citation to a paper published in a recognised scholarly journal).

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  8. Re:For everything there is a season by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 4, Insightful

    2) Mandatory 21 day Quarantine, solves the issue.

    The problem with draconian over reactions like this is that they just make the problem worse. A mandatory 21 day quarantine incentivizes people to lie about where they have traveled, and to lie about their health condition. It is a disincentive for a traveler that slips through the net, and then gets sick, to seek medical help.

    Lie about it, get caught, and go to prison for 3-5 years.

    So if you lie, because you don't think you are infected, and then get sick the next day, you should keep your mouth shut and avoid medical help, so you don't go to jail.

    Life if you spread Ebola after lying and somehow survive.

    So if you think you have Ebola, and also think you have infected others, then your primary focus should be to avoid any contact with authorities, and discourage your friends and family from seeking help as well.

    Why do we have to have finely nuanced approaches that don't work is beyond me.

    Because the "nuanced" approaches are working well, while your draconian approach is idiotic and counter-productive.

  9. Re:For everything there is a season by Frosty+Piss · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Lie about it, get caught, and go to prison for 3-5 years.

    That's not the way things work in the real world. Move along and let the adults discuss the issue.

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  10. Re:For everything there is a season by Trailer+Trash · · Score: 4, Insightful

    There are many different ways that Ebola can reach out and touch people who are not from Ebola Land, shutting down foreign visas is not the solution.

    Exactly. That's why I don't encrypt passwords on any of my machines. Passwords can be brute forced so they're not a solution.

    I also have no locks on my doors. Someone can use C4 to blow them up and render them useless. Locks aren't a solution.

    Sometimes, even if you can find some way around the proposed idea it doesn't mean the idea isn't good, just that it isn't complete. Nobody said it was. But shutting down travel directly from ebolaland is an obvious first step.

  11. Is Manhatten being evacuated? by Karmashock · · Score: 4, Insightful

    What about San Francisco?

    Neither?

    Then most coastal US military bases are probably fine too. There might be some on a couple pacific islands that are having a hard time... but I believe the last time I checked every single one of them was due to erosion and not the rising of global sea levels.

    Furthermore, what are we talking about as of now?... 7 centimeters or something? Any harbor that could be made viable or non-viable by 7 fucking centimeters was an accident waiting to happen in the first place. I'm quite sure that the vast majority of harbors have far more robust tolerances.

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