COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY IAN JOHNSTON IN THE
INDEPENDENT
'I agree that the
effects of a changing climate — such as increased maritime access to the
Arctic, rising sea levels, desertification, among others — impact our security
situation'
This, actually, is not news.
The Pentagon issued official reports on this matter years
ago. At any rate, it is kind of stating the obvious when you are discussing
things like shorelines or temperatures or precipitation.
Perhaps, Gen. Mattis was in a high position there then.
The issue has never been, I would like to remind Independent
editors, whether there is climate change or not.
There is, and always has been climate change. Tacitus, two
thousand years ago, wrote of North Africa as "the granary of Rome."
The issue is whether the particular change we think we see
today is caused by human acts.
That is quite a different matter, almost always glossed over
by enthusiasts. And it has not been scientifically proved.
And there is an even greater, less certain issue, and that
is whether what we think we see can be, in any way, affected by our society's
deliberate acts.
