PRESIDENT Barack Obama warned in a speech on Wednesday, May 21, that the threat from global warming poses a national risk rivaling that of terrorism, and should be seen as a top security priority.
In a commencement address for new graduates at the US Coast Guard Academy, the President declared that “confronting climate change is now a key pillar of American global leadership” which should top the national agenda beyond his administration.
“Even as we meet threats like terrorism, we cannot, and we must not, ignore a peril that can affect generations,” Obama said in the commencement speech in New London, Conn. “The best scientists in the world know that climate change is happening.”
“Our analysts in the intelligence community know climate change is happening. Our military leaders, generals and admirals, active duty and retired know it’s happening. Our homeland security professionals know it is happening, and our Coast Guard knows it’s happening,” he said.
The President also took aim at political opponents in Washington “who refuse to admit that climate change is real,” saying the science against them is “indisputable.”
“The levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere are now higher than they have been in 800,000 years,” Obama added. “The world’s glaciers are melting, pouring new water into the ocean. Over the past century, the world sea level rose by about eight inches…By the end of this century, it’s predicted to rise another one to four feet.”
The newest corps of Coast Guard cadets the President was addressing will likely be affected by this climate change, in terms of how they train and the tasks they must complete, by the rise in ocean levels.
Obama warned that a one-foot rise in sea levels could cost the US as much as $200 billion.
The Pentagon is also taking the matter very seriously. According to White House officials, the headquarters of the US Department of Defense is assessing the vulnerability of more than 7,000 bases, installations and other facilities to climate change.
The military is also studying the impact of the National Guard being deployed to deal with the aftermath of extreme weather, such as major hurricanes and earthquakes.
In the final stretch of his presidency, Obama is ringing a louder alarm about environmental issues, taking advantage of speeches and public events to issue fresh warning on the subject.
In a speech in Florida last month, he highlighted the economic benefits of protecting the environment on local businesses and industry, hoping to undercut arguments that carbon reductions result in hampered growth.
Administration officials say the President’s “drumbeat” on the environment will extend through a summer of environmental rule-making to a major climate change summit in Paris at the end of the year. (With reports from AFP, Yahoo News)
(LA Weekend May 23-26, 2015 Sec. A pg.6)
