It will become significantly harder for those who deny climate change in the United States to continue to do so after this. The US Department of Defense believes that global warming is a ” threat multiplier “.
As Climate Progress reported :
In terms of U.S. defense strategy, climate change is a “threat multiplier” that can worsen national security problems such as terrorism and infectious disease spread, according to a new Pentagon report released Monday.
The 20-page “2014 Climate Change Adaptation Roadmap” said the U.S. Department of Defense is “already beginning to see” some of the impacts of sea level rise, changing precipitation patterns, rising global temperatures, and increased extreme weather — four key symptoms of global warming.
These symptoms have the potential to “intensify the challenges of global instability, hunger, poverty, and conflict” and will likely lead to “food and water shortages, pandemic disease, disputes over refugees and resources, and destruction by natural disasters in regions across the globe,” the report said.
Because of uncertainty surrounding just how bad these problems will be in the future, the report calls for a proactive defense strategy — one which will require “thinking ahead and planning for a wide range of contingencies.”
“Climate change will affect the Department of Defense’s ability to defend the nation and poses immediate risks to U.S. national security,” the report reads. “Weather has always affected military operations, and as the climate changes, the way we execute operations may be altered or constrained.”
I have blogged in the past about how the US Army is going green. My good friend Olivier who is a specialist in Conflicts, Peace and Defence policies had even published an article on how climate change to catalyse security challenges.
Having a look at the Pentagon above (full size photo provided by Wikipedia), I believe that if they are serious about climate change, they should :
- Renovate the buildings to improve energy efficiency ;
- Put solar panels on roofs facing both South and West ;
- Plant trees in their parking lots…
This way the US military would green a bit its main offices… And I am sure there are dozens of other ideas if one were to think about it more than two minutes…