Military Blasted for Lacking “Environmentally Conscious Mindset,” Being Unprepared for Climate Change

A new government-funded study takes an indirect jab at President Trump for pulling out of a costly and dubious global climate accord signed by Obama and chastises the U.S. military for not possessing an “environmentally conscious mindset.” It also claims the Department of Defense (DOD) is “precariously underprepared” for the national security implications of climate change. A lengthy report published by the United States Army War College essentially blasts the DOD—and the president—for ignoring the threats that climate change poses to national security. The distinguished authors, which include Army and Air Force colonels, an Ivy League professor and other highly regarded academics, claim the national security threats include; widespread disease such as malaria, severe weather, reduced water and food supplies, mass migration and the displacement of millions of people.

Of interesting note is that the masterminds of this dramatic taxpayer-funded probe admit that “the study itself did not involve original research on the nature or magnitude of climate change.” Rather the acclaimed scholars and military personnel assume, based on what they claim is a preponderance of evidence available, that significant changes in climate change have already occurred and are likely to worsen in the years ahead. “This report accepts as a core assumption the reality of climate change and climate-change related global warming,” the authors write. “Regardless of the science behind climatological projections of global warming, climate change is a controversial political issue. For the purposes of this study, we ignore that controversy.”

Instead the authors go full throttle into the evils of global warming and the devastating impact on humanity, the environment, the military, national security and pretty much everything else. Rising seas will displace hundreds of millions of people and create massive, enduring instability. “This migration will be most pronounced in those regions where climate vulnerability is exacerbated by weak institutions and governance and underdeveloped civil society,” the report states. The authors point out that recent history has shown that mass human migration can result in increased propensity for conflict and turmoil as new populations intermingle with and compete against established populations. Sea level rise will cause changes in water and food security and the salt-water intrusion into coastal areas along with changing weather patterns will eliminate fresh water supplies in many parts of the world.

Climate change will also result in social, political and market “pressures” that may impact the military’s activities, according to the authors. To back this up, they refer to general, unidentified “studies” that indicate “global society” increasingly views climate change as a grave threat to security. Elected officials will also become more concerned about climate change, according to the study, resulting in significant restrictions on military activities that produce carbon emissions. “In concert with these changes, consumer demands will drive market adaptation,” the report states. “Businesses will focus on more environmentally sound products and practices to meet demand. The DOD does not currently possess an environmentally conscious mindset. Political and social pressure will eventually force the military to mitigate its environmental impact in both training and wartime. Implementation of these changes will be costly in effort, time and money.”

The report is also critical of President Trump for pulling out of a controversial globalist project, known as the Paris Climate Accord, to combat climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The U.S. was set to be the largest contributor (Obama kick started the cash flow with a $1 billion infusion to a Green Climate Fund that is expected to collect $100 billion annually) and the pact’s onerous energy restrictions were forecasted to cost millions of jobs in the U.S. When Trump withdrew in mid-2017, he cited the accord’s draconian financial and economic burdens on the U.S. “The agreement is a massive redistribution of United States wealth to other countries,” the commander-in-chief said, referring to it as a disadvantage to the U.S. because it would leave American workers and taxpayers to absorb the cost in terms of lost jobs, lower wages, shuttered factories and vastly diminished economic production. At the time Trump said the onerous energy restrictions on the U.S. would cost nearly 3 million lost jobs by 2025 and slash manufacturing jobs by 440,000. A mainstream newspaper editorial wrote that “the reality is that withdrawing is in America’s economic interest and won’t matter much to the climate.”

The report condemns the government for pulling out of the globalist climate experiment and states that the “U.S. withdrawal from the Paris accords elicited strong reactions in the developed world—- as environmental and security concerns increasingly overlap, the international perception of the U.S. as an irresponsible actor could have serious implications for the U.S. military, which relies on allies to maintain its global posture.”