Climate Change and National Security: Estranged but Inevitable Bedfellows

Published by Juliana Williams, April 16th, 2007 Government , News and Media , Politics , United States

Former US military leaders have now called on the Bush administration to tackle climate change as a threat to national security. These generals now voice what has long been understood by climate activists: climate change is NOT just an environmental issue. It is an economic, social justice, global security, health and enivornmental issue.

For an adminstration so up in arms to stop terrorism (shameless pun, i know) addressing climate change should be equally as important. According to BBC, “Gen Zinni, a former commander of US Central Command, says: ‘It’s not hard to make the connection between climate change and instability, or climate change and terrorism.’” Duh.

Maybe, just maybe, the Bush administration will wake up to the threat posed by climate change and take smart actions. It’s a longshot, but I have hope.

2 Responses to “Climate Change and National Security: Estranged but Inevitable Bedfellows”

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1 Calvin Jones Apr 16th, 2007 at 5:13 pm

This story really has done some circulation, perticularly in circles where climate scientists hold no sway. Really facinating report.

I collected numerous resources relavent to these issues recently and they can be found on my blog post.

http://climatechangeaction.blogspot.com/2007/03/climate-change-strategic-national.html
2 Janis Mara Apr 17th, 2007 at 10:36 am

Yes, you know, it would seem to me that a bunch of generals would tend to have more credibility than, say, liberal pinko scientists or, worse yet, pro-environmental tree huggers so maybe this will make an impact! We can only hope!

Janis Mara
http://www.ecotality.com

About Juliana

Juliana Williams grew up in Washington State and graduated from Whitman College. Juliana began organizing in 2004, working to get her campus to purchase renewable energy. She volunteered with the Sierra Student Coalition and co-organized the Northwest Climate Justice Summit in 2007. She was a lead organizer for the SSC's March to ReEnergize Iowa in 2007. She lives in Iowa and currently works for the SSC as their Midwest Campus Organizer, supporting amazing students in MN, IA, MO, NE and SD working on global warming campaigns. She is an avid ultimate player, plays her string bass and spends way too much time on wikipedia.