Coming Soon To A Goverment Near You: The War on Climate Change!

[Jexiel]

Terrorists hate us because we got nicer weather. Nice to know we could come up with another boogeyman.


http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/09/sc...nted=1&_r=1&hp

Excerpt from the article:

WASHINGTON — The changing global climate will pose profound strategic challenges to the United States in coming decades, raising the prospect of military intervention to deal with the effects of violent storms, drought, mass migration and pandemics, military and intelligence analysts say.

Such climate-induced crises could topple governments, feed terrorist movements or destabilize entire regions, say the analysts, experts at the Pentagon and intelligence agencies who for the first time are taking a serious look at the national security implications of climate change.

Recent war games and intelligence studies conclude that over the next 20 to 30 years, vulnerable regions, particularly sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East and South and Southeast Asia, will face the prospect of food shortages, water crises and catastrophic flooding driven by climate change that could demand an American humanitarian relief or military response.

[...]

“The demands of these potential humanitarian responses may significantly tax U.S. military transportation and support force structures, resulting in a strained readiness posture and decreased strategic depth for combat operations,” the report said.

“We will pay for this one way or another,” Gen. Anthony C. Zinni, a retired Marine and the former head of the Central Command, wrote recently in a report he prepared as a member of a military advisory board on energy and climate at CNA, a private group that does research for the Navy. “We will pay to reduce greenhouse gas emissions today, and we’ll have to take an economic hit of some kind.
“Or we will pay the price later in military terms,” he warned. “And that will involve human lives.”

[Каие]

This is just common sense and logic. Western Businesses can easily be painted as exploiting the local 3rd world populace, or resource and since there is a common perception in non-Free market countries that Western Businesses are the owned by and ran by their respective countries, the respective countries will be blamed politically. And anythign these days which results in complaining against the Western nations, results in some form of hostility and discontent which requires only a small step to devolve into violence and threats, be it rioting, or armed attacks.

[Jexiel]

Logic and common sense should dictate that you look inward when faced with this kind of problem. It also works under the assumption that the US will be relatively unaffected by climate change and thus in a position to help others. Well, if you tell me sear levels are going to rise I have to imagine large sections of the Eastern US and Western Europe will be under water forcing your own population to migrate to drier areas.

[Каие]

I don't think it is referring to the more hardcore possible scenarios of water levels rising. It refers to things like food shortages, famines, droughts, worse hurricanes and monsoons, deforestation, finite resources dwindling (The whole Saudi Welfare state is ran on Oil for example).

[Jexiel]

It seems to me these people are expecting quite a lot of water. The article also states that "the US must lead the way in reducing gas emissions." That only works if everyone else follows your lead.

And this is all under the assumption that Humans are the cause of climate change.

A changing climate presents a range of challenges for the military. Many of its critical installations are vulnerable to rising seas and storm surges. In Florida, Homestead Air Force Base was essentially destroyed by Hurricane Andrew in 1992, and Hurricane Ivan badly damaged Naval Air Station Pensacola in 2004. Military planners are studying ways to protect the major naval stations in Norfolk, Va., and San Diego from climate-induced rising seas and severe storms.


Another vulnerable installation is Diego Garcia, an atoll in the Indian Ocean that serves as a logistics hub for American and British forces in the Middle East and sits a few feet above sea level.


Arctic melting also presents new problems for the military. The shrinking of the ice cap, which is proceeding faster than anticipated only a few years ago, opens a shipping channel that must be defended and undersea resources that are already the focus of international competition.

[Каие]

Government reports are all basically elaborate and elongated assumptions.

[Jexiel]

We agree on that.

[Swordthrower]

What we need to consider now, in the vein of a war on climates, is a preemptive strike.

For time saving efficacy's sake we should consider dramatic strokes. I'm thinking the illegalization of combustion engines would make a great stride in this regard. Employees of ways and means departments would have to be given very very different assignments, of course, however the bureaucracitc paperwork involved would mean an increase in general employment.

This would result in:
Far less harmful emissions,
Much less oil consumption,
A decrease in nuclear holocausts.