Defence One: Climate Security is National Security

[kpete]

Climate Security is National Security
Our book argues the threat of terrorism was never an existential threat—but climate change is, and it requires more military attention and resources.
By ANDREW HOEHN and THOM SHANKER
JUNE 30, 2023
COMMENTARY
CLIMATE

This essay is adapted from the authors’ book, Age of Danger: Keeping America Safe in an Era of New Superpowers, New Weapons, and New Threats (Hachette, 2023).

The military mission was traditional, straight-forward, right from the manual: Navy warships would ferry some 1,200 Marines to the western Pacific, where the force would assault a hostile island. ­­As the ships advanced, Navy meteorologists tracked a gathering storm—at a safe distance, they judged. But by the time the winds reached catastrophic typhoon level, it had changed course, and the super storm slammed into the Navy and Marine forces at sea. Giant troughs scattered the warships from their formation. Howling winds made air operations and air rescue impossible. Communications were shredded.

The cascading effects of the extreme storm only grew worse, since years of climate change meant that local islands and the local populations, still recovering from previous mudslides, power failures, and broad infrastructure disruptions brought by other typhoons, could offer no safe port in this storm.

This “mission” occurred seven years from now, in October 2030, as played out in the first-ever war game conducted by the Navy and Marine Corps to assess the challenge that climate change is presenting to the military’s ability to carry out its mission. The table-top exercise, held in June 2022, garnered scant public attention, but it sounded a clarion across the maritime services.

The military does not have the luxury of debating climate change, a reality now adding a powerful, destabilizing force to fragile, unstable areas of the world. Once-in-a-century ocean storms happen several times each season. Drought prompts food shortages, civil unrest, mass migration. Island nations that once served as safe ports could vanish under rising seas. All of these complicate the Defense Department’s efforts to combat global instability, even as it has to admit that the American armed services are the world’s largest consumers of fossil fuels.

MORE:
https://www.defenseone.com/ideas/2023/06/climate-security-national-security/388148/

[Lovie777]

1. OK..............

mankind have the "brains" to solve this, but they will not, cause the present solver(s) prefer profit.

You only live once.

[bahboo]

2. maybe the military and insurance industry will save us....jesus....

[Deep State Witch]

3. I Co-Authored A Paper On This

Back in 2006. My portion was the impact on the military and Intelligence Community. While I didn't focus on mega-storms, I did mention that many military bases were vulnerable to sea level rise and other forces. Most notably, those on islands and low-lying areas (i.e. Florida). My partner focused on mass migration of environmental refugees. We weren't able to submit it for an award because it wasn't politically popular at the time.

The scary thing is that everything that we predicted is coming true.