027 Glacier rivers DSC_0068 …has reaffirmed its concerns about climate change as a threat to national security. First put forward as part of its 2010 Quadrennial Defense Review, this year, Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel (the first former enlisted man to head this department) listed several challenges to the military including the likelihood of being called upon to provide more humanitarian interventions and needing to plan for damage at coastal bases due to the rising sea level. While the majority of the U.S. Congress denies or ignores the consequences of climate disruption, the military is one of the few government institutions to acknowledge the preponderance of scientific evidence. Also this summer: a new report on the economics of climate change and the latest evidence about ice melting in Greenland and Antarctica.

DOD Report              Risky Business Report            Melting Ice Report

While the first DOD and Risky Business reports recognize that consequences will arise from the melting ice scenario, they stop short of calling for an all out give-no-quarter war on the use of carbon energy sources. When a hurricane threatens a coastal base, the Navy protects its ships by sending them elsewhere. But that doesn’t stop the storm.

{Rivers on unnamed glacier, Baffin Island, July 29, 2009. DLW photo.}

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