The record snowfall on the east coast last week may have convinced Fox News that climate change is a joke. It didn’t convince a group of retired military brass and specialists or the people at the Pew Project on National Security Energy and Climate. They have made a short video about the threat climate change and continued U.S. energy dependence poses to national security. Admiral John Natham says it’s essential to treat national security, energy dependence and climate change interdependently. “You can pay now or you can pay later– and by pay later, [we mean] it’s not about dollars; it’s about American lives.”
Climate Patriots from Laura Lightbody on Vimeo.
The Pew Project underlines the geo political destabilizing effects of natural disaster and shrinking resources. U.S. politics and security will not be immune to struggles around the world. The Department of Defense is taking steps now to ensure military preparedness by switching to renewable energy sources and smart grid technologies. Why aren’t we doing the same thing in our cities and towns, switching away from carbon producing wealth-transferring energy sources to ensure stability? The Pew study puts the economic cost of melting Arctic glaciers at $2.4 trillion by 2050, a sum equal to the GDP of Russia, Germany and the United Kingdom.
Meantime, State Sen. Greg Brophy and other Colorado lawmakers joke every snowfall that “four inches of global warming fell” on their towns and so on, joining in with the Fox News national hee haw while Colorado Congressman and defense hawk Doug Lamborn rails against “cap and tax” climate change legislative efforts. As the man with the stripes says, America, you can pay now or you can pay later.
Comments are closed.