There's a danger to leaving the military to address the threats from climate change.
Excerpt of article
There's an even broader danger to leaving the military to address the threats from climate change. "The problem with leaving it to military, is that they are trained to deal with threats. So their solutions to climate crises tend to frame the victims of climate change as threats," says Nick Buxton, co-editor of The Secure and the Dispossessed, a collection of academic articles exploring how the military and corporations are responding to climate change. Just look at how the US, EU, and other western democracies have responded to Syria's refugee crisis. And refugees don't always live overseas—Buxton points to how many New Orleans residents experienced violations of their personal liberties in the chaos following Hurricane Katrina.
Buxton says continuing to ignore these climate catastrophes until they boil over could lead to ecological apartheid. Societies with resources will protect themselves from those without. "The US will not be most vulnerable, it has resources, but how other nations are defended and protected will have implications for us," he says. Again, look at Syrian refugee crisis: It was one of the major issues that drove UK voters to vote for Brexit, and threatens to further fracture the EU.
In the backdrop of the climate security roundtable, the US House of Representatives was debating the National Defense Appropriations Act, which authorizes the military's annual budget. In it is an amendment that recognizes climate change as a threat to national security. Every panelist mentioned this amendment as a favorable step towards greater security. Buxton, however, points out that this is a short sighted, and inconsistent goal, as it only addresses the threats, and not the causes of climate change. "I can understand, given nature of Republican party, why Democrats believe this is only avenue for advancing the conversation on climate change in Washington, but it has a lot of dangers," he says. "If you’ve only got a hammer as your tool, then everything in your shed starts to look like a nail."
See full article at https://www.wired.com/story/how-climate-change-denial-threatens-national-security/
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