Climate Change as Challenge — Why is climate change a challenge to America’s national security? How does climate change threaten America’s national security and national interests? What impacts does it have on U.S. national interests?
Pentagon’s Perspective on Climate Change — What is the Pentagon’s perspective on climate change? How does that perspective shape the overall response to global warming and climate change by the US government? Does that perspective differ fundamentally from other U.S. agencies and departments?
Limitations and Blind Spots — What does the Pentagon’s perspective on climate change fail to address in terms of how climate change impacts US national security and what does it miss about the threats from climate change? Is climate change really only a second order threat to America’s national security? What else can andshould be done to protect America from the threat of climate change?
Chicago style citations
This is my essay so far:
Climate Change on America’s National Security
As we continue to burn more fossil fuels into the air, climate change will continue to challenge America’s national security, resulting in severe weather, droughts, heatwaves, sea-level rise, habitat shifts, and the spread of diseases. Despite, the warnings from military officials, climate change still remains an imminent threat to the United States, unless more steps are done to limit the amount of fossil fuel we burn and reduce the use of petroleum. In Michael Klare’s, All Hell Breaking Loose, Klare discusses the impacts climate change has in America, as well as other nations. Klare states that if more action isn’t taken, climate change will become worse and inflict more damage. Climate change is interfering with the military’s ability to do their jobs, which makes it a threat to the United States’ national security.
Climate change threatens America’s national security because its affects global stability, military readiness, humanitarian crisis, and poses the risk of war. Communities in the United States are experiencing extreme weather events, drought, flooding, sea-level rise, retreating glaciers, habitat shifts, and the increased spread of life-threatening diseases. Another issue that arises from climate change and affects the United States border is mass migration. When countries are unable to provide assistance to the scarcity of resources in their region, it results in people being forced to migrate to new places in order to seek help. This poses a threat to the United States border because of overpopulation. There is enormous pressure from the United States to accept immigrants
Climate change acts as a threat multiplier because it creates multiple threats for the states. When a region suffers from a loss of resources, it creates conflict amongst its people. Take on the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a scarcity of resources because people became fearful of getting COVID. People began buying a lot of toilet paper, cleaning supplies, masks, etc because they didn’t want to leave their homes. We saw an increase in crimes happening during the pandemic. When there is a loss of resources, it leads to civil unrest.
The United States heavily relies on the military to protect itself from outside threats. However, as Klare argues, climate change interferes with the military’s ability to do its job, thus making it a threat to the United States’ national security. In 2017, Hurricane Irma hit the military bases in Florida, and As other soldiers were sent to
As climate change continues, so will the threat
Climate change, then, represents a threat to American armed forces because it’s going to interfere with their ability to carry out their job. And therefore, it’s a threat to national security
Pentagon’s Perspective on Climate Change
Although their efforts have been slow, the Pentagon has created reforms to address the issue of climate change. Military officials see climate change as a threat to America’s national security, and constantly call out for change. The military has taken action by reducing the military’s greenhouse gas emissions. In 2016, as an effort to reduce the Navy’s consumption of petroleum and create energy alternatives, General Ray Maybus created the Great Green Fleet. The Great Green Fleet was 13 ships that ran on alternative energy sources. It was one of many steps taken by the military to reduce their reliance on foreign oil suppliers. This initiative was also a way to show the world, that the United States was taking “leadership in alternative energy supplies.”
The Department of Defense has created efforts to unite with other military nations to solve the issue of climate change. Although climate change was disregarded during the Trump Administration, military leaders still see the importance of the military to military collaboration. A 2019 report, stated the Pentagon was continuing to work with other military nations to understand and create measures to further prevent the spread of global warming (Klare, 175). Climate change doesn’t only affect the communities in the United States, it’s a global issue.
Pentagon’s Failure to Address Climate Change
The Pentagon has failed to acknowledge climate change as an imminent threat to United States national security. For years, climate change has been a controversial issue in American politics. It has created a divide between those who believe in climate change and seek change and those who don’t see the importance of the matter. We saw this through the Trump Administration, which demolished environmental safeguards, suppressed climate science, and abandoned global cooperation on climate action. This has created a challenge to America’s national security because it is an issue that is often overlooked and ignored by politicians. Although the Pentagon has taken the steps to prevent climate change, It still isn’t enough. More action needs to be done, in order for climate change to Klare argues that this is due to the lack of understanding of how climate change really affects communities and interferes with the military doing their jobs.
Military officials see climate change as a threat because “it’s going to degrade their ability to deal with conventional military problems (Ward, 2020).” This means that if the threat of climate change persists, it would eventually lead to what Klare refers to as an “all hell breaking loose” scenario.
Climate change isn’t a second-order threat to America’s national security, rather the book argues that climate change is an issue that should be prioritized now rather than later. From my understanding of the book, Klare argues that if the threat of climate change persists,
In order to reduce climate change, there needs to be more effort in promoting alternative energy supplies in all departments. As of now, we only see the military stepping up and creating plans to limit the use of fossil fuels. Once climate change is recognized as a threat by many, then we can create plans that will become more effective. As Klare states in the book, this isn’t just an issue for the United States, it affects all the nations. Nations must work together before climate change gets worse.
