Lt. General Richard Zilmer is not a climate scientist, but he knows how to prepare for a risky situation — and climate change, he says, is looming.
“Energy is a national security issue,” Zilmer said. “This is not just an issue that will go away tomorrow.”
Zilmer and Michele Combs, chairwoman of Young Conservatives for Energy Reform, a grassroots group advocating for renewable energy, met with North Carolina political, community and business leaders in Raleigh last week about energy reform.
“We’re trying to show young people and young Republicans, young professionals out there that this issue should not be a partisan issue,” Combs said. “This issue should be an American issue.”
Combs said climate change has national security and economic concerns that have not been emphasized in the environmental discussion. She said she tries to focus on clean air, energy independence and homegrown energy — making the environmental issue one with patriotic significance.
“For so many years, this has been a left-leaning, liberal issue,” she said. “I think it has had the wrong messengers in the past.”
Where Combs' focus is in the political realm, Zilmer’s is in national security.
Zilmer is a member of the Military Advisory Board, a think tank at the Center for Naval Analyses, a federally-funded research and development center. The board has produced two reports, one earlier this month and one in 2007, on climate change.
While climate change is not a direct cause of military conflict, Zilmer said, it is a threat multiplier to stressors that already exist, such as unemployment and food and water scarcity.
“Climate change suddenly plays a part in that puzzle,” he said.
Below is an interactive from NASA's Climate Resources.
View from the Hill is a political blog by Daily Tar Heel staff writers. Any opinion expressed in it does not represent the Daily Tar Heel. Email the blog coordinator at dthviewfromthehill@gmail.com.
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