One of the catch-phrases President Obama didn’t use in his much parsed Oval Office speech on Tuesday was energy security. He did, however, make a glancing, split-second reference when discussing the costs associated with a transition from fossil fuels to a clean energy economy (emphasis added): And there are some who believe that we can’t…Continue Reading…
The issue of climate security, which a number of experts discussed on this thread, is gaining prominence in U.S. policy and political circles. But as I wrote in this story last November, “a sense of urgency has been building in military and intelligence circles around the world” too. Climate security has also leaped to the…Continue Reading…
UPDATE: Be sure to check out the comment thread, where a number of top environmental security experts weigh in. I bet you you think this is going to be a continuation of last week’s discussion. Nah. This week, I’ll be talking to scholars and experts who study the linkages between climate change, energy, and security….Continue Reading…
Experts who are grappling honestly with the national security/climate change nexus will wince when they see this post by the Wonk Room’s Brad Johnson. It’s the kind of blatant political exploitation of recent headlines that some scholars warned about when the climate security meme was picked up prominently by mainstream media last summer. Johnson, doing…Continue Reading…
Now this initiative bears watching, because it gets beyond the fuzzy climate change cause-and-effect rhetoric. If adaptation is going to be done right in Africa–or anywhere–then this approach strikes me as a really smart way to go about it: “It is not enough to say that Ethiopia is vulnerable,” says Joshua Busby, an assistant professor…Continue Reading…
Via the International Institute for Strategic Studies, this is a pretty interesting take on the recent Bin Laden/climate change episode: Late last week, Osama Bin Laden came out with a new audiotape accusing the US for causing climate change. He says: “Speaking about climate change is not a matter of intellectual luxury – the phenomenon is…Continue Reading…
Looks like Marc Morano is steering clear of the U.S. military’s acceptance of climate change. You won’t find any big, bold headlines on Climate Depot about how the Pentagon is planning for a warmer world: Climate change will affect DoD in two broad ways. First, climate change will shape the operating environment, roles, and missions…Continue Reading…
That’s the title of a new story on “climate security” that I wrote for Nature Reports: Climate Change, published today. Climate security has become more than a convenient frame for politicians looking to win support for cap and trade legislation. It’s a real concern that military brass around the world are trying to get a…Continue Reading…