I. Begin Here
The subtitle of today's post is: "When The Truth Is Found In The Wayback Machine."
The first post in this series, on July 14, 2009, discussed the national security implications of The Damaged Global Climate System's impact on the global environment (Global Climate & Homeland Insecurity).
In that first post I discussed an investigation by CNA concerning the U.S. Military's perception of global climate change.
As noted in that post, the substantial and robust report was "disappeared" sometime after I penned the post, but when I noticed the link no longer worked, I sought and found a copy of that CNA page recorded in The Wayback Machine.
Anyway, in that report the generals and admirals were unequivocal in their 2009 conclusions:
The nature and pace of climate changes being observed today and the consequences projected by the consensus scientific opinion are grave and pose equally grave implications for our national security. Moving beyond the arguments of cause and effect, it is important that the U.S. military begin planning to address these potentially devastating effects.(CNA Report, emphasis added, PDF). It is clear that those who participated in the study and report are aware of military national security matters:
GENERAL GORDON R. SULLIVAN, USA (Ret.)
Former Chief of Staff, U.S. Army
Chairman, Military Advisory Board
ADMIRAL FRANK "SKIP" BOWMAN, USN (Ret.)
Former Director, Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program;
Former Deputy Administrator-Naval Reactors, National Nuclear Security Administration
LIEUTENANT GENERAL LAWRENCE P. FARRELL JR., USAF (Ret.)
Former Deputy Chief of Staff for Plans and Programs, Headquarters U.S. Air Force
VICE ADMIRAL PAUL G. GAFFNEY II, USN (Ret.)
Former President, National Defense University; Former Chief of Naval Research and Commander,
Navy Meteorology and Oceanography Command
GENERAL PAUL J. KERN, USA (Ret.)
Former Commanding General, U.S. Army Materiel Command
ADMIRAL T. JOSEPH LOPEZ, USN (Ret.)
Former Commander-in-Chief, U.S. Naval Forces Europe and of Allied Forces, Southern Europe
ADMIRAL DONALD L. “DON” PILLING, USN (Ret.)
Former Vice Chief of Naval Operations
ADMIRAL JOSEPH W. PRUEHER, USN (Ret.)
Former Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Pacific Command (PACOM) and Former U.S. Ambassador to China
VICE ADMIRAL RICHARD H. TRULY, USN (Ret.)
Former NASA Administrator, Shuttle Astronaut and the first Commander of the Naval Space Command
GENERAL CHARLES F. “CHUCK” WALD, USAF (Ret.)
Former Deputy Commander, Headquarters U.S. European Command (USEUCOM)
GENERAL ANTHONY C. “TONY” ZINNI, USMC (Ret.)
Former Commander-in-Chief of U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM)
(ibid, caps in original). I have posted about other military officers tasked with grasping the climate change threat to national security (Has The Navy Fallen For The Greatest Hoax?, with a video of R.Adm. Tilley's presentation @ Pentagon).
II. Perhaps It Was The Irony?
I wondered why CNA would be directed to lose the report.
It was excellent, well researched, unconventional, and counter to the Oil-Qaeda and MOMCOM propaganda of the day (Will This Float Your Boat - 12).
But the number one polluter, in terms of fossil fuel burning, is said to be the U.S. military (A History of Oil Addiction - 2, cf. The Military Assault on Global Climate).
So, I though "perhaps they do not want us to think that they are a threat to national security" ... hence the missing report?
We are all in this together, and today's military is as much a victim of bad decisions made by their predecessors in command as we are (The Universal Smedley - 2, Viva Egypt - 2).
III. Military Solutions?
There is nothing the military can do beyond what other agencies can do (Why The Military Can't Defend Against The Invasion; The Extinction of Robust Sea Ports - 4; Greenland & Antarctica Invade The United States, 2, 3, 4; Why Sea Level Rise May Be The Greatest Threat To Civilization, 2, 3, 4, 5).
But they can stop fighting for possession and or control the oil that is causing the problem (The Fleets & Terrorism Follow The Oil).
They can switch to non-polluting sources of energy (U.S. Military Orders Less Dependence on Fossil Fuels).
IV. Military Conflict With Climate Change Deniers?
Some military officers have also anticipated problems with some of the current presidential candidates (Pentagon Officers: We Quit if Trump Wins).
One wonders how they have interacted with similar congressional deniers during the past few years (Inhofe's One Man Troofiness Crusade).
Even the courts and prosecutors are seeing reason for concern about the hiding of the facts (Have Courts Fallen For The Greatest Hoax?, Oil-Qaeda & MOMCOM Conspire To Commit Depraved-Heart Murder - 5).
Increasingly, the physical predicament is exacerbated by the predicament of the conflict of world views in government (The Authoritarianism of Climate Change).
Not to mention the cover-up instead of coverage in the press (In the Fog of The Presstitutes - 4).
V. Worse Than Previously Thought
One has to wonder if the deniers, who used to make fun of environmentalists because they wanted to save the snail darter (Snail Darter Politics) will awaken.
Up to this point in time, their dangerously myopic viewpoints have had certain untenable impacts on reality (Civilization Is Now On Suicide Watch, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8).
Impacts that bring it all home (The Extinction of Robust Sea Ports, 2, 3; The Extinction of Charleston, The Extinction of Philadelphia, The Extinction of Washington, D.C., The Extinction of Boston, The Extinction of Miami, The Extinction of Manzanillo, The Extinction of Houston, The Extinction of Providence, The Extinction of Chesapeake Bay Islands; Endangered Naval Bases).
It is not about snail darters assholes (On The Origin of Assholes), because now even East Antarctica is catching up (Melt Expanding into East Antarctica).
VI. Conclusion
It is time for the panicked frenzy of immature leaders in government to disappear instead of continuing to disappear the facts they are afraid to admit (The 1.14% vs. The 100%).
Time to admit that the waters around us have grown:
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You’ll be drenched to the bone
If your time to you is worth savin’
Then you better start swimmin’
For the times they are a-changin’
(The Times They Are A-Changin’, by Bob Dylan). Yep, worse than previously thought.
The previous post in this series is here.
"Everything is Broken" by Bob Dylan, (lyrics here).
"Pentagon orders commanders to prioritize climate change in all military actions" (link)
ReplyDeleteWe are more likely to be killed by a tot than a terrorist (Terrorism We Can Believe In? - 3).
ReplyDeleteMore likely to be killed by oil pollution than a terrorist, but CNN wants to and does cover that up (CNN Is Spending More Time On Fossil Fuel Ads Than It Is On Major Climate Stories).
Donald Trump said in last night's GOP primary victory speech that President Obama was wrong to say that climate change is a threat to national security.
ReplyDeleteTrump thinks China created the climate change "myth" for economic reasons.
Whoever becomes president this time will be at the helm as the ecology and economy crash (imho). Having a fascist idiot will be just as bad as having a psychopathic narcissist. "Any way you look at it we lose." (P. Simon paraphrase)
ReplyDeleteTom
ExxonMobil’s Disinformation Network
ReplyDeleteSchneiderman’s investigation — and one launched in January by California’s attorney general — followed the release of documents by the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) and reporters at InsideClimate News and Columbia Journalism School revealing that Exxon scientists conducted cutting-edge climate research decades ago and warned top management of the potentially catastrophic risks posed by global warming. Schneiderman’s staff is now reviewing the company’s statements to investors regarding those risks to see if they contradicted what it was hearing from its own scientists.
The New York AGs office also is taking a close look at ExxonMobil’s support for a network of think tanks and advocacy groups that has been spreading disinformation about climate science for nearly 20 years. Here is where questions about “collusion” and “conspiracy” come into play.
That network was exposed back in 2007 when UCS documented that ExxonMobil had spent at least $16 million between 1998 and 2005 on more than 40 climate science denier groups. The group that got the most money? CEI, which received more than $2 million. Despite the fact that it had no scientists on its staff, CEI established itself as the go-to group to provide “the other side” of a manufactured scientific debate. It is perhaps best remembered for reassuring Americans that global warming is nothing to worry about in a TV commercial extolling the virtues of carbon dioxide. The spot’s unforgettable tag line: “They call it pollution. We call it life.”
(As Climate Deception Investigations Gain Momentum, ExxonMobil Plays the Victim)
See also: The Exceptional American Denial