The Military Takes on Climate Change Deniers

摘要

The idea that climate change poses serious risks to U.S. national security, long contested in conservative circles, is now an integral part of Pentagon planning. On Oct. 13, Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel made it official with the release of the Pentagon's 2014 Climate Change Adaptation Roadmap, a 16-page document that lays out the effects of extreme weather events and rising temperatures on military training, operations, acquisitions, and infrastructure. Two previous editions, issued in 2012 and 2013, treated climate change as a future threat, but this year's cast it as a reality that must be dealt with quickly. "Climate change will affect the Department of Defense's ability to defend the Nation and poses immediate risks," the document begins.