The Pentagon on Monday released an alarming new war plan to combat climate change, saying it will “likely lead” to food and water shortages, pandemic disease and overall destruction.
The report features color photos of fires, floods, storm damage, swimming turtles and arid land.
One photo shows sailors and Marines, with the caption, “range training in the Middle East in 2009 under dry conditions.”
It says the Pentagon, with climate change in mind, is reviewing all combatant commanders contingency plans and ongoing operations. These include Central Command, which is fighting wars against Islamic extremists in Afghanistan and Iraq, and Pacific Command, which is keeping China in check.
In the “2014 Climate Change Adaptation Roadmap,” Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel predicts troops will be called on more often for disaster relief “in the face of more frequent and more intense natural disasters.”
Mr. Hagel predicts a sea-level rise of 1.5 feet in the Hampton Roads, Va., area, home to a number of large military bases, ports and facilities.
Mr. Hagel also says “scientist are converging toward consensus on future climate projections.”
Skeptics of man-made climate change say global warming has ceased for over a decade. They point to the latest United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. It reported that it failed to find sufficient evidence that there are any more storms, droughts or flooding today than decades ago. Hurricane activity in the United States is at historic lows.
Skeptics, including hundreds of scientists, say alarming predictions of temperature rises and Arctic disappearances failed to materialized.
The Pentagon report says, “The third National Climate Assessment notes that certain types of weather events have become more frequent and/or intense, including heat waves, heavy downpours, and, in some regions, floods and droughts. Sea levels are rising, oceans are become more acidic, and glaciers and arctic sea ice are melting. Scientist predict that these changes will continue and even increase in frequency or duration over the next 100 years.”
Large parts of the report deal with assessments being done to see how climate change affects military readiness, the supply chain and installations.
Pro-military groups say enlisting the military to fight changes in weather waste money that could go for weapons and training.
“Clearly, the military has been drafted into a war on climate change,” wrote James Jay Carafano of the Heritage Foundation. ” The White House is forcing the armed forces to spend scarce dollars on ’green energy’ programs, whether they make sense or not. … The administration even ordered construction of a ’green energy line’ through the White Sands Missile Range, even though defense officials warned it might disrupt vital operations at one the military’s most important test and training facilities.”
A paper this month from the Global Warming Policy Foundation in Great Britain said, “There is little evidence of a link between floods and carbon dioxide levels. For example, a study of flood levels in the USA found that no strong evidence of a link.”
• Rowan Scarborough can be reached at rscarborough@washingtontimes.com.
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