Military sees climate change threat
AS YOU WERE SAYING ...
Last weekend, hundreds of civic leaders, veterans and community members gathered at South Boston High School to commemorate the 100-year anniversary of America’s involvement in World War I. Though the event featured tanks and re-enactors, stirring speeches, and patriotic musical performances, the highlight of the ceremony was somber.
As military drums stirred, the audience stood in respectful silence while active duty sailors, soldiers, and Marines read the names and displayed the photos of more than 100 men from this small neighborhood that fell fighting in Europe. It was a moving tribute and a sobering reminder of the catastrophic consequences that follow when America refuses to lead on the world stage. Our ability to hide behind the Atlantic and Pacific made possible our nation’s isolationism in the early stages of World War I.
However, when it comes to climate change, we have discovered that we can’t hide behind the oceans, not when the oceans are the problem.
Nearly a century after world leaders gathered in Paris to put a stop to the carnage on the battlefield in World War I, almost 200 countries sent representatives back to France for the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference. This historic agreement signaled the beginning of a change in global climate policy and solidified America’s role as a world leader on the most pressing issue facing our generation.
As a Coast Guard officer, I saw the effects of climate change firsthand. It was written on the faces of Haitian children forced to flee their homeland on makeshift rafts after a historic drought worsened conditions for almost 4 million people already suffering from food insecurity. It’s still apparent every day in Syria, where a massive drought forced a generation of farmers into overpopulated cities and helped ignite a civil war that has raged for years.
Rising temperatures and receding waters didn’t cause these problems by themselves, but the Department of Defense has long described climate change as a “threat multiplier” because it makes the jobs of our men and women in uniform harder. More frequent extreme weather events mean more requests for humanitarian aid, and droughts and resource shortages strengthen the very extremist groups our troops face on the battlefield.
The Paris Agreement commits every country, developed and developing alike, to realistic goals aimed at keeping the global increase in temperature under 2 degrees Celsius. Countries hold each other accountable, with each government required to provide updates on their targets and recommit to more ambitious goals every five years.
Withdrawing from the Paris Agreement and abdicating our leadership role in the world, would have a disastrous effect on the climate, the economy and our national security.
We can remain committed to the agreement we forged in Paris and ensure the signers remain on the right track, or we can turn our backs on the biggest challenge we face and pretend it does not exist. Whichever choice we make, the world will follow. We cannot afford to be wrong.
As a Coast Guard officer, I saw the effects of climate change firsthand. It was written on the faces of Haitian children forced to flee their homeland after a historic drought.