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The Military's Latest Enemy: Climate Change

Posted by samzenpus on from the it's-getting-hot-in-here dept.

Lasrick writes A surprising report from the Pentagon last month places climate change squarely among the seemingly endless concerns of the US military. Although a Wall Street Journal editorial misrepresented the report in an editorial (subtitled 'Hagel wants to retool the military to stop glaciers from melting'), the report itself is straightforward and addresses practical military issues such as land management of bases and training facilities. "So, this plan is not really about mobilizing against melting glaciers; it's more like making sure our ships have viable facilities from which to launch bombs against ISIS. And the report doesn't just focus on home, though. It casts a wider eye towards how a changing climate will affect defense missions in the future."

3 of 163 comments (clear)

  1. history repeating by Texmaize · · Score: 0, Interesting

    When I read this, all I could think of was pre wwii Stalin Russia. When the dictator, Stalin, rose to power, he purged the military of its talented officers, because they were most likely to be able to mount an effective resistance to him. When WWII came, the Germans faced a very weak officer core, and were able to run over the Soviets fairly easily. It took an abnormally early winter to save them from that blunder.

    In an eerily similar fashion, many top US generals have been encouraged to resign in the last several years. Now, with the rise of ISIS, a newly expansionist Russia, and the spectra of a waking dragon, the US officer core is saying weather is our biggest threat.
    Wake up and do the math /.

    --
    "Liberalism is a very noble idea, currently controlled by some very bad people. Be sure you do not get the two confused.
  2. Climate change will eventually be accepted by all by ad454 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    All that is needed would be for new "climate change industrial complex" consisting of industries with huge growth potentials from climate change after-effects (such as dike/levee builders, water management including reclaimation & desalination, fertilisers for new growing regions with marginal soil, mega construction for displaced infrastructure, etc.) to make more money then the coal and petroleum industries. It may not sound like much, but many trillions of dollars will be needed for this.

    Then they will be able to give/bribe more money to politicians, who will the universally accept climate change as fact and change the public perception.

    Until then there is enough money from a new "climate change industrial complex", public doubt will remain.

  3. Re:The Pentagon is more important than climate cha by MillionthMonkey · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I cannot believe that one-sided, war-mongering, short-sighted propaganda piece is called 'News'.

    I used to work for a guy who founded a software company in Sunnyvale. After Bush got reelected, he decided to sell the company to Agilent for a couple million bucks, went back to Australia, and formed a new company there. He comes back to visit sometimes, and says that he now gets a lot of questions from people in Australia- "What happened over there? Americans used to be smart!" His standard answer: "No, it's not that they're stupid, but the news they get in the U.S. is really bad."