All Hands on Deck for the “War” on Climate Change

Yesterday, I wrote a piece for The National Interestdefending President Obama’s references to the national security implications of climate change in his speech to the graduating class at West Point in early June.

While some of his critics may sneer at what they call a “war on weather,” a warming planet does in fact pose a destabilizing threat to agriculture, water delivery systems, and the general safety and security of human populations. Planning for it now, as the Obama Administration is doing across its defense, diplomacy, and development arms, is essential to managing that threat:

The place of climate change in the headlines may ebb and flow, especially compared to the traditional categories inter- or intrastate violence that mark the Syrian civil war or the offensive by ISIS against the Iraqi government. Over the coming decades, however, it is highly likely that those disruptions that are of such concern to military planners now will only grow in frequency and severity. Responding to those effects will require a coordinated global response. The United States will be well-positioned to avoid persistent instability in the international system if it plans for the strategic implications now.

You can read the entire piece at The National Interest.

Tags: climate change, syrian war, neil bhatiya, barack obama, national interest, islamic state