The recent release of the unclassified summary version of America’s National Defense Strategy makes no mention of climate change. This follows the December release of the National Security Strategy which also eliminated all mention of climate change which prompted on January 11th a letter from a bi-partisan group of 106 U.S. House Representatives asking President Trump to reconsider this omission.
Various military personnel have called out how climate change directly affects our national security:
· Rising sea levels affect our nation’s ports, coastlines and specifically our naval bases
· Areas throughout the world affected by increased droughts and floods become economically unstable which leads to an increase in conflicts, unrest and terrorism
· Extreme weather conditions have forced the U.S. military to respond to the crisis situations diverting resources from other vital tasks.
· The military itself is increasingly constrained by its reliance on fossil fuel supply lines with the greatest points of vulnerability in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Most recently, Phyllis Bayer, nominee to oversee Navy facilities, testified that the rising seas and increasing severity of weather events due to climate change are a top threat to the service.
Last November, volunteers from Berea, Villa Hills, Newport and Louisville visited Congressional offices along with 500 CCL members from across the nation. (Photo provided)
No matter your beliefs, we cannot afford to have a defense strategy that does not plan for the impacts of climate change. And now is the time to not only be planning on how to deal with the effects but to figure out ways to reduce climate change itself.
While it was in our nation’s best interest to allow or even encourage low priced fossil fuels for the building of our nation when we did not know the impacts on our atmosphere, it is now irresponsible to continue to ignore the true costs of fossil fuels. And you can be both pro-environment and pro-economy.
Citizens’ Climate Lobby thinks the best way to jumpstart the reduction of carbon emissions and search for new technologies is to fix the distortion that is currently allowing the cheap production of fossil fuels. That is a Carbon Fee and Dividend policy where a steadily rising fee is placed on fossil fuels at the source and the revenue raised by the fee is returned to U.S. Households to help offset their increase in costs.
This policy also applies a border adjustment so the solution works both domestically and internationally. Economists and climate scientists both say this is the best first step to reduce the likelihood of climate change from global warming. This policy is based on the principles of minimal government involvement, is simple to implement, and is market-friendly.
A predictably increasing carbon price will send a clear market signal which will unleash entrepreneurs and investors in the U.S. economy to address climate change.
While climate change may seem like such an overwhelming issue to tackle, there are ways each citizen can help.
You can respectfully contact your Members of Congress (Representative Massie, Senator Paul and Senator McConnell) to ask them to consider contacting President Trump about addressing climate change in our military strategies. Or write your own letter to President Trump.
If you would like to do more, consider joining Citizens’ Climate Lobby by going to the national website and signing up. Your information will be passed on to the Cincinnati or NKY Chapters which work in conjunction with each other on Greater Cincinnati issues while individually addressing issues specific to each state. Or search for other groups such as RepublicEN, a group of Republicans, Libertarians and Conservatives that believe free enterprise can deliver the innovation to solve climate change.
Find the group that best fits you.
Find your voice.
Teresa Werner lives in Villa Hills, is a mother of two and has worked for the last 31 years in the telecommunications sector. After searching for an organization that was bi-partisan, positive and respectful, and had a good solution for climate change, she joined the Citizens’ Climate Lobby in 2017.
As a grandmother of two, I thank you for bringing this MOST critical issue and a potential solution to the forefront. Climate Change is an existential threat that our children and grandchildren will face.