Newsroom America: Dems: Military Will Engage in Conflicts Over Global Warming
The U.S. military likely will be dragged into conflicts around the world if global warming isn’t checked, a Senate panel was warned on Wednesday.
Retired Navy Vice Adm. Lee F. Gunn, president of the American Security Project, told a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing that “climate change is a threat to our national security.”
“Addressing the consequences of changes in the Earth’s climate is not simply about saving polar bears or preserving the beauty of mountain glaciers,” Gunn warned.
Climate change will affect the kinds of missions the U.S. military will have to undertake, Gunn and others have warned, such as increasing humanitarian missions as water sources dry up and millions of people become displaced.
Gunn said such missions will become “climate conflicts.”
“International conflicts over resources, due to migrants, and/or as a means of distraction are not only likely,” he added, “but likely to exacerbate the underlying climate change problem.”
Sen. John F. Kerry, head of the committee, has made climate change a top priority since taking over earlier this year.
“If we fail to connect the dots — if we fail to take action — the simple, indisputable reality is that we will find ourselves living not only in a ravaged environment, but also in a much more dangerous world,” he said.
http://www.newsroomamerica.com/usa/story.php?id=460819
