Letter to the Editor: Climate Change a Threat Multiplier, U.S. Military Says

It’s not just tree-huggers who are concerned about climate change. Of all the organizations and institutions focused on global warming, the United States military – hardly a bastion of left-wing thinking – is the largest and arguably in the best position to understand the multiple threats that warming poses. And during the past 10-plus years, it has raised the alarm in numerous reports, directives and public statements.

In his book All Hell Breaking Loose: The Pentagon’s Perspective on Climate Change, author Michael Klare has produced an in-depth account of the military’s profound concern about climate change and the myriad dangers it presents. Klare, broadly knowledgeable about military structures, strategy and operations, delves into these dangers chapter by chapter.

Climate change, the military believes, is a threat multiplier. It exacerbates other serious problems, from pandemics to mass migration to food insecurity and water scarcity. It threatens the stability of key allies. And it raises the specter of multiple emergencies arising at the same time in disparate places.

Klare says the U.S. military sees climate change as “ratcheting up global chaos,” leading to “state failure, uncontrolled migration and ungoverned spaces.” And the greater the chaos, the more our military will be stretched thin to the point of threadbare, unable to respond to global trouble as it has done so effectively in the past.

It also threatens our military bases themselves, many of which are located on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts and already dealing with the intrusion of the oceans. But even inland bases, historically located along major rivers, are in danger as flooding worsens in the Midwest and elsewhere. In 2014, the Government Accountability Office reported that climate change threatens the “viability of numerous military facilities throughout the country.”

So, you don’t have to listen to Al Gore or the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to hear how deadly serious this issue is. Just listen to our armed forces.

Betsy Rogers

Sister Bay, Wisconsin