Does climate change provoke terrorism? An old feud rekindles
Jean Chemnick, E&E reporter
Published: Tuesday, November 17, 2015
Last week’s deadly attacks on Paris have reignited the debate over whether climate change is a distraction from legitimate security threats like terrorism, or a contributor to them.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) lit the match during Saturday’s Democratic presidential debate, which was overshadowed by the previous night’s assault on the French capital by Islamic State Group operatives. Climate change, the presidential contender said, is “absolutely” the largest single largest threat to U.S. security.
“In fact, climate change is directly related to the growth of terrorism,” he added.
His words drew immediate pushback from Republicans, conservative bloggers and even former Obama campaign adviser David Axelrod, who said the Vermont senator had been “a little tin-eared”
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Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), who chairs the Senate Appropriations subcommittee responsible for funding the Defense Department and who does not believe that warming is human-induced, has long complained that too much of DOE’s budget is frittered away on programs to boost energy efficiency or alternative fuels — which he says have little to do with the military’s mission.
“And I think people need to understand that there’s a price we’re paying for all these agendas that have been rejected by Congress,” he said. Inhofe estimates that during Obama’s first five years in office, the DOD spent $120 billion on what he calls “the environmental agenda.”
Marc Morano, a former Inhofe aide who now runs the skeptics blog Climate Depot, disputed any link between climate change and national security.
“These claims amount to nothing more than ideological grandstanding to say whatever they can to make ‘global warming’ an urgent priority,” he said. “In the wake of the terror attacks in Paris, claiming that attempting to ‘solve’ global warming is even more urgent, is baseless and absurd.
“No one seriously believes that the Middle East was a peaceful place when carbon dioxide was below 350 parts per million,” he added, referring to the ratio of carbon dioxide molecules that scientists say is safe.
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Morano’s full comment on man-made climate change national security claims:
“The terror tragedy that occurred in Paris last week has generated a whole new round of claims that “global warming” either creates terrorism or worsens the problem. Sanders, Kerry, EPA chief McCarthy, President Obama and others have been claiming the so-called’ climate national security linkage, but the facts, politics and studies do not support their claims.These claims amount to nothing more ideological grandstanding to say whatever they can to make ‘global warming’ an urgent priority. In the wake of the terror attacks in Paris, claiming that attempting to ‘solve’ global warming is even more urgent, is baseless and absurd. No one seriously believes that the Middle East was a peaceful place when carbon dioxide was below 350ppm.
Peer-reviewed studies and analyses demolish these claims. It is in vogue to say that the Syrian drought allegedly caused by mankind was responsible for the creation of ISIS. But that is a very controversial notion as a 2014 study showed “The humanitarian crisis of the late 2000s largely predated the drought period.“Other studies and data reveal that there is no trends in drought over the past 60 years, thus pinning blame on mankind for causing a Syrian drought is rank speculation at best. See: Nature paper: Global droughts unchanged in 60 years: ‘Worldwide drought is about the same now as it was in 1950′
Other studies completely contradict the claim that ‘global warming’ is making terrorism worse. Studies reveal the main cause of civil wars are political, not environmental. And studies have found that it is cooler periods that coincide with more wars, not warmer.”
See:
Flashback: Debunked: the ‘climate change causes wars’ myth –Peer-reviewed paper ‘thoroughly eviscerates’ climate war claims — ‘The primary causes of civil war are political, not environmental’
Flashback: ‘A total takedown’ of myth by the Center for Strategic and International Studies — ‘Since the dawn of civilization, warmer eras have meant fewer wars
