Climate Patriots (Video)

A video, Climate Patriots, was recently (19 Feb. 2010) released from the Pew Project on National Security, Energy and Climate. The video highlights the impacts environmental security, especially climate change, will have on the American military. In addition to the national security threat of America’s oil dependency, the video emphasizes the security threats from climate change, stating they are two-fold—humanitarian disasters and increased political instability. Former Captain James Morin likens the ramifications of these security threats to “… taking every hornets’ nest we already have around the world and shaking it up.”

Former Republican Senator John Warner (Virginia) calls climate change a threat multiplier because it will exacerbate already precarious situations. “Climate change affects the sons and the daughters who are currently stepping up to wear the uniform of our country; [and] who may be called upon in the future to perform missions, which missions are a consequence of erratic climate change, shortage of energy or a variety of both together.” 

More Information on Climate Change & National Security:

• Quadrennial Defense Review Should Spark Interagency Climate Conversation. Climate Progress, 15 February 2010
• Climate Change Climbs the Ranks in the Pentagon and CIA (14 Dec. 2009, WWF blog post)
• U.S. military veterans travel to Copenhagen to discuss security threats of climate change (15 Dec. 2009, WWF blog post)
• Pentagon: “Climate change, energy security, and economic stability are inextricably linked."  Climate Progress, 1 Feb 2010.
• When poverty meets natural disaster & what that means with a changing climate (14 Feb. 2010)
• Climate Refugees: The Human Face of Climate Change (19 Feb. 2010, WWF blog)
• Review Aims to Rebalance Forces, Puts People First.  Press release (1 Feb 2010) from the Department of Defense.
• Greenhouse Gas Targets Announcement for DOD.  Press release (28 Jan 2010) from Department of Defense.