THE OTHER REASON TO DEAL WITH THE CLIMATE CRISIS....

[ProSense]

THE OTHER REASON TO DEAL WITH THE CLIMATE CRISIS....

Those who follow the issue are well aware of this, but it was good of the New York Times to highlight the national security implications of global warming. For that matter, it was encouraging to know this issue is gaining prominence in policy circles.

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The reasons for combating the climate crisis are already overwhelming, but security challenges usually aren't at the forefront. Given the interests of those who prefer to ignore the crisis, perhaps it's time to reframe the debate to consider an angle they care about.

Sen. John Kerry, for example, noted that in Sudan, drought and expansion of deserts has produced horrifying violence and displacement. "That is going to be repeated many times over and on a much larger scale," he said.

Indeed, Kerry has been making this argument for the last several years, but finally has an ally at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue. The NYT noted, "Although military and intelligence planners have been aware of the challenge posed by climate changes for some years, the Obama administration has made it a central policy focus."

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Just another angle for wavering lawmakers to consider when the ACES debate begins in earnest in the Senate.

[jwirr]

1. No one says it but that can happen here in the American continents

as well - maybe not any time soon but the water shortage in the Southwest could cause migration to other states very soon. Also we need to understand that Mexico is not fairing as well in this climate change issue as we would hope. What do we do when we have millions starving on our southern border. I for one do not just want to let them starve.

Now is the time to deal with building a more sustainable world both for ourselves and our neighbors. Canada, USA and Mexico should be finding ways to do this now before it is too late.

[Cha]

2. These people Are saying it..

GliderGuider (1000+ posts) Sun Aug-09-09 09:30 PM
Original message

NYT: Climate Change Seen as Threat to U.S. Security
Climate Change Seen as Threat to U.S. Security

WASHINGTON — The changing global climate will pose profound strategic challenges to the United States in coming decades, raising the prospect of military intervention to deal with the effects of violent storms, drought, mass migration and pandemics, military and intelligence analysts say.

An exercise last December at the National Defense University, an educational institute that is overseen by the military, explored the potential impact of a destructive flood in Bangladesh that sent hundreds of thousands of refugees streaming into neighboring India, touching off religious conflict, the spread of contagious diseases and vast damage to infrastructure. “It gets real complicated real quickly,” said Amanda J. Dory, the deputy assistant secretary of defense for strategy, who is working with a Pentagon group assigned to incorporate climate change into national security strategy planning.

This argument could prove a fulcrum for debate in the Senate next month when it takes up climate and energy legislation passed in June by the House.

Senator John Kerry, the Massachusetts Democrat who is the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee and a leading advocate for the climate legislation, said he hoped to sway Senate skeptics by pressing that issue to pass a meaningful bill.

“I’ve been making this argument for a number of years,” Mr. Kerry said, “but it has not been a focus because a lot of people had not connected the dots.” He said he had urged President Obama to make the case, too.

Mr. Kerry said the continuing conflict in southern Sudan, which has killed and displaced tens of thousands of people, is a result of drought and expansion of deserts in the north. “That is going to be repeated many times over and on a much larger scale,” he said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/09/science/earth/09climate.html?_r=2&hp

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=115x204566

[jwirr]

3. Earmarked it read later.

[karynnj]

5. Not to mention, he spoke of such things every day in 2004 as our nominee

[Cha]

6. More people weren't ready to listen

then..hopefully they are now.

[karynnj]

7. I agree

That was before Gore had his book/movie, which did an incredible job teaching what global warming was. In addition, the media covered less of Kerry's rallies than they did of any major party candidate in my life time. There was never much unfiltered coverage of rallies - they selected what they wanted. The Kerrys spoke of writing their book because so little of it got out that people were surprised that a couple, who met working for the environment, spoke of either the environment or global warming. Even though JK did each and every day. It was why CSPAN became my favorite channel.

[Cha]

8. The corporatemediawhores made sure

Kerry lost.

[karynnj]

9. They clearly did - the interesting thing is that they had to work so hard to do so

I think he was the first major candidate in decades to have no network do a puff piece biography, where life's events are made to seem like a natural path towards a pinnacle of leadership. All three networks even did this for Bush, though that had to be difficult. Kerry's biography was full of wonderful things. (There was a PBS double Kerry/Bush bio, CNN had a "balanced" one - even though Kerry's career was not balanced, but exceptional, MSNBC had a bio all on his leading the antiwar movement - something he is proud of, but the most controversial part of his history.)

The media played with the SBVT for over two months - never asking for a shred of proof on charges 100% contradicted by official NAVY records.

The amazing thing is the speeches when he won primaries, his convention speech and the debates were all good enough to make up for the lack of much positive media - at any point. Given that 59% thought the country was doing at least fairly well, he did exceptionally well on a very uneven playing field.

My guess is the reason is one that should make the far left regret their own lack of enthusiasm. Look at Hondouras and you know precisely what a President Kerry would have done - and it is based on the same worldview he spoke of on Vietmam in 1971 and the Contras in the 1980s. What President have we had willing to make that change? My hope is Obama.

[Cha]

10. It would have been brilliant to have

Kerry as President..I was devastated for quite awhile ..just ask my crew at work.

But, this is the way things worked out and I'm so happy he's where he is helping the Dem Prez we did get(Big Miracle in my book).

I love Pres Obama like I know you love Senator Kerry.:patriot::patriot:

[karynnj]

11. I am also extremely happy to have a President Obama

In addition, Kerry would have had the dysfunctional 109th Congress, where Obama has 60 Democrats in the Senate and a Democratic House. As importantly, the country KNOWS how bad things were by 2009. Had Kerry won, he would have had to deal with all the problems, that people really didn't see coming in 2004.

I know Iraq and Afghanistan would have been better, but without knowing how bad they became, what ever carefully crafted exit plan Kerry used would have been compared negatively to the victory Bush would have had. Everything was already in play for the financial crash, Kerry would have taken the actions a year and a half earlier that he sponsored in the Senate, but again, all that would have been seen was that the economy tanked.

I do think that Kerry is now set to be an extremely important Senator. I am incredibly impressed with the way he is working on climate change. If anyone has/had the ability to possibly get something through it will be Kerry. He may never get credit for all he has done, but he and those close to him clearly know.

[Cha]

12. Yes, we'll know. The

corporatemedia would never give him credit for anything..but DU will know:)

[karynnj]

4. There are people who have spoken of it in the US - one is John Kerry

In addition to the shortage of water in some areas, there is the problem of rising water elsewhere. Senators Kerry and Feingold had an amendment to require all US government funded water projects - ie damns, brides, etc to consider the effect of global warming and to meet standards tougher than current regulations about being designed to handle anything less than a 100 year storm. The reason is that assuming a static situation with a known variance, there is an underlying trend - so something that happened only once in the last hundred years will happen with greater probability in the future.

As to sustainability, Kerry was working on that as long ago as the early 1990s. In fact, after Rio, he and Teresa Heinz were two of the people who started "Second Nature", designed so people in all related fields might learn the principles in college. http://www.secondnature.org/AboutSN.html#History The Kerrys' book, This moment in Earth, clearly sees these issues.

The important thing here, is that Kerry has held hearings on the impact of this issue as a national security threat. He clearly has enlisted the support of many top ranked military on this and the enthusiastic support of former Senator Warner. (here's a link to that hearing - http://foreign.senate.gov/hearings/2009/hrg090721p.html ) In addition, Kerry has gotten support of several top business people.

What is clear is that getting a bill out of the Senate will be tough. Unlike healthcare, reconciliation can't be used because the budget was not written in such a way as to get it. This also may signal it is less important to the President than healthcare is. However, it is clear that Senator Kerry is making a very powerful, multi prong case for not only getting something done - but doing it as well as possible given the politics.

In hearings and interviews, he has dispelled some Republican points.

1) He is writing in legislation that will strictly regulate the cap and trade market, disallowing things like derivatives. Now, Kerry was the one who wrote the legislation against international money laundering, investigated BCCI and was one of the good guys who investigated the savings and loan crisis.

2) Kerry has been in talks with the rest of the world, including China, for years. His comments on what China is doing and plannin to do show that they have made an enormous change over the last few years.