Sunday, February 7, 2016

Pentagon Orders Top Officials To Consider The Impact Of Climate Change On All Military Actions

An Air Force reserve pararescueman from the 920th Rescue Wing scans the ravaged Texas landscape in the aftermath of hurricane Ike. Photograph: Tech. Sgt. Paul Flipse/U.S. Air Force photo

Matt Smith, VICE News: The Pentagon Just Issued Marching Orders on Climate Change

A bit over a year after identifying climate change as a "significant challenge" for the US military, the US Department of Defense has given its top officials orders for handling the hazards posed by a warming world.

The boring-but-important 12-page document issued in January tells the armed service chiefs and top civilian officials to identify how climate change will affect their missions, figure out how to manage any risks it poses, and factor those into their planning. It gives specific tasks to various Defense Department offices and regional commands, from determining how higher sea levels or longer droughts affect US bases to what new gear might be needed to work in a thawing Arctic.

"Although this looks very bureaucratic in nature, I would actually give the department full credit for it," said David Titley, a retired rear admiral who served as the Navy's top oceanographer. "I think this is one of the more significant steps they've done, because they've linked that high-level strategy down to a daily to-do list."

Read more ....

Update: Pentagon orders commanders to prioritize climate change in all military actions (Washington Times).

WNU Editor: This directive only means one thing .... the creation of a new and powerful bureaucracy in the Pentagon.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

This is Bull sh__!

For every coal plant we take out of service, China or India replace it with 2.

The Al Gores and other pollyannas of the world said if we are not below X in carbon output a year, we are screwed. Well we have never been below X.

So according to them we are screwed. Yet they, people like Al Gore do not act like they are screwed. They act like they are large and in charge. Al Gore is more worried about releasing his 2nd Chakhra, than sea level rise.

Jay Farquharson said...

WNU Editor,

USNB Norfolk is getting $128B over the next ten years to repair flooding damage to the sub pens and relocate the maintenece facilities to higher ground. USMB Perris Island is being budgeted to be raised 12 feet. Diego Garcia's already been raised, and Guam is in the planning stages. The forward staged USNB Key West is scheduled to be abandoned to the sea, some time around 2050.

Joseph Lambert said...

And no one is even speaking to a much worse facet of global warming, the release of harmful frozen methane from the ocean floor and bogs. It is probably, irreversible yet must be dealt with as well as we are able.

Jay Farquharson said...

Other resding:

https://medium.com/war-is-boring/the-u-s-navys-biggest-naval-base-is-sinking-9cbfb063269f#.b8blcw28u

http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2014/06/30/climate-change-damages-bases-and-pentagon-preps-for-warmer-future

http://io9.gizmodo.com/new-evidence-climate-change-is-disrupting-u-s-militar-1598038924