Posted on 05/20/2015 2:04:53 PM PDT by markomalley
President Obama in a speech on Wednesday cast climate change as a growing national security threat, accusing Republican skeptics of harming military readiness by denying its effects.
Obama argued in his address to graduates at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy that rising sea levels and higher global temperatures endanger military bases and could force personnel to respond to conflicts around the world that are fueled by their effects.
“Climate change constitutes a serious threat to global security, an immediate risk to our national security, and, make no mistake, it will impact how our military defends our country,” Obama told new Coast Guard officers at the academy’s New London, Conn., campus. “And so we need to act — and we need to act now.”
Obama has highlighted security implications of climate change in recent months to drum up more support for his efforts to invest in climate adaptation and reduce greenhouse gases, including a landmark regulation to limit carbon emissions from power plants.
Republicans in Congress, however, have stymied legislative action on climate change. The president took aim at GOP critics, saying temperatures are rising even though “some folks back in Washington” refuse to admit it.
“Denying it, or refusing to deal with it, endangers our national security and undermines the readiness of our forces,” Obama added.
He also questioned how Republicans could claim to support the military while downplaying the effects of global warming.
“Politicians who say they care about military readiness ought to care about this as well,” he said.
Obama claimed the rise of Boko Haram in Nigeria and the civil war in Syria were both fueled by instability caused by severe drought and crop losses connected to rising temperatures.
In addition to the international problems that global warming can cause, Obama argued the effects threaten military facilities and readiness.
He pointed to street flooding in Miami and Charleston, S.C., as evidence that American infrastructure, such as roads and power plants, in coastal areas is vulnerable. The same is true for military bases in places like Norfolk, Va., where flooding has also occurred, he added.
“It’s estimated that a further increase in sea level of one foot by the end of this century could cost our nation $200 billion,” Obama said.
The president touted his efforts to reduce carbon emissions through more-stringent vehicle fuel standards, new Environmental Protection Agency regulations and his pursuit of an international agreement to reduce greenhouse gases.
Refusing to act would be a “dereliction of duty,” he said.
“It will not be easy. It will require sacrifice, and the politics will be tough, but there is no other way,” he said. “This will be tough, but so often is the case, our men and women in uniform will show us the way.”
Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) criticized Obama for calling climate change a national security threat, saying it shows the president lacks a coherent strategy to deal with the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, the Syrian civil war and North Korea.
“It’s no wonder that our military personnel’s trust in their commander-in-chief is at an all time low,” the senator said in a statement. “The president’s speech at the Coast Guard Academy stating his belief that climate change poses the greatest threat to future generations is a severe disconnect from reality.”
Inhofe famously threw a snowball on the Senate floor in February to protest the administration’s climate agenda.
Or pop up a couple lawn chairs, crack a beer from the emergency supplies in the walled compound and enjoy the show. Someone has to bear witness to the ultimate mathematical result of the most holy lesser evil philosophy so that history may be carried to future generations.
I’ll join you, but you are the writer of the two of us. I can
pass you some quips though..
Cool. I figure there will be too much lesser evil for one man to take in so it works out perfectly.
We will have to prioritize though. Should we chronicle the lesser of the lesser evil like rape and slavery or the slightly greater lesser evil like decapitation and wood chipper executions?
I mean we COULD help but since that would interfere with so many worked so intentionally with their voting patterns here to bring about, we should probably honor their vision for America and only chronicle the events because ...
It’s a lesser evil.
I goota go with slightly greater lesser evil, as rape & slavery is so....yesterday.
actually the communist in the White House is a threat to our national security
But it’s over so fast. I mean if you kill someone like that, there’s not a lot to learn that we could pass on to the survivors’ future generations.
Now if we documented the rape and slavery, we could give many examples to those future generations as to what happens when a people abandon freedom for comfort and abandon security for the thrill of WINNING! with people that tell them they will work with a Muslim President.
I would imagine that we could get a couple months of data before the muslims then advance to the greater lesser evil and shred the useful idiots in a wood chipper as history shows they do. Or behead them. Or throw them off buildings. Or bury them alive with their kids. Or gas them. Or burn them alive. Or drown them. Or ‘press’ them under heavy objects.
But that’s what lesser evil historically ends in. Greater evil. Every single time. I find it hard to weep for those that bring things on themselves.
...says the Marxist, Mooslim, Kenyan, Steaming Pant Load Sissy Boy that is decimating our military, our nuclear deterrent, our ability and will to defend ourselves against real enemies.
None of which he could do or could have ever done without the GOP supporting him.
Obama is a muslim POS and as evil as there ever was. But he did not act alone and this isn’t a Dem only operation.
OK!! Everybody pay attention!
Lesson for today:
1. The sun is 1,300,000 times as big as the earth.
2. The sun is a ball of fire that controls the climates of all its planets.
3. The earth is one of the sun’s planets.
4. The earth is a speck in comparison to the size of the sun.
5. Inhabitants of the earth are less than specks.
Study Question: How do less-than-specks in congress plan to control the sun?
Bonus question:
How do you fix a problem by electing the very people most responsible for empowering it?
Is that grounds enough for his removal?
The people responsible for continuing the man-made climate-change lie should be arrested. All grant money, used to perpetuate the lie, should be returned to the U.S. taxpayers.
0bama needs a shot of Thorazine.
100% agreement here.
Theres even an ammendment addressing incapicitation.
Too bad lesser evils elected the people that would have to enact it. And they are the ones supporting Barry FULLY.
Have we had a more stupid, ignorant-ass president in our history? Buckwheat is a 50 IQ slug.
agree...wrong audience-—lol. CG not LIV
Obama must be desperate for a sound byte this week.
..would like to see a video
Anyone who encourages illegal immigration across our borders has no clue what national security actually means. And our military needs to gear up for the expanding Russian and Chinese military buildup. Those are Russian nuclear bombers probing our air space. Not climate change leprechauns.
“But that’s what lesser evil historically ends in. Greater evil. Every single time”
EVERY time. Give evil an inch, and it goes a mile.
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