{"id":46653,"date":"2015-09-23T20:11:06","date_gmt":"2015-09-23T20:11:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/uncategorized\/2015\/09\/23\/climate-change-is-major-threat-to-readiness-expert-says\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T03:34:00","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T03:34:00","slug":"climate-change-is-major-threat-to-readiness-expert-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/news\/your-air-force\/2015\/09\/23\/climate-change-is-major-threat-to-readiness-expert-says\/","title":{"rendered":"Climate change is major threat to readiness, expert says"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Soldiers can expect a range <span class=\"rte rte-comment\">number <\/span>\u200bof new and more complex <span class=\"rte rte-comment\">enhanced\u00a0<\/span>\u200brisks with\u00a0the\u00a0progression of climate change\u00a0<span class=\"rte rte-comment\">global warming\u00a0<\/span>\u200b\u2014\u00a0and not just getting too hot, an Army scientist said at a forum on health readiness.<br\/><br\/>Soldiers face\u00a0<span class=\"rte rte-comment\">Though they\u00a0can certainly expect <\/span>\u200bheat-related injuries, but much more than that, <span class=\"rte rte-comment\">too, he told a panel Tuesday.<\/span>\u200bArmy science adviser Dr. Steven Cersovsky<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"notes\" src=\"\/DesktopModules\/UDMW\/TextEditor\/images\/cq.png\"\/>\u00a0told a panel on Tuesday. Climate change presents a major, multi-pronged threat to the military, ranging from <span class=\"rte rte-comment\">. Issues he cited range\u00a0form\u00a0<\/span>\u200bincreased disease <span class=\"rte rte-comment\">threats\u00a0<\/span>\u200bto global instability that could push soldiers into a fight, he said.<br\/><br\/>Cersovksy is\u00a0science advisor for the Army Public Health Center at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland. He spoke at\u00a0a &#8220;Hot Topics&#8221; forum on health readiness in Arlington, Virginia,<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"notes\" src=\"\/DesktopModules\/UDMW\/TextEditor\/images\/cq.png\"\/>\u00a0presented by the Association of the U.S. Army. He described\u00a0<span class=\"rte rte-comment\">the M.D. and disease expert listed <\/span>\u200ba variety of issues raised by climate change in a panel on &#8220;Enabling Health Readiness in a Complex World.&#8221;<br\/><br\/>&#8220;We must understand what is coming and how these changes will affect our Army,&#8221; Cersovsky said, according to an Army release. &#8220;And we must begin adapting now.&#8221;<br\/><br\/>He said among the most obvious problems are\u00a0heat-related injuries, <span class=\"rte rte-comment\">which he said were <\/span>\u200balready &#8220;unacceptably high in our formations.&#8221;<br\/><br\/>More problems he expects from global warming:\u00a0heat-related injuries, poor air quality,\u00a0malaria,\u00a0respiratory illnesses,\u00a0behavioral health problems,\u00a0food shortages, scarce water and\u00a0regional instability. \u00a0<br\/><br\/>To keep soldiers safe in the future will require\u00a0<span class=\"rte rte-comment\">He called for <\/span>\u200bengineering, materiel <span class=\"rte rte-comment\">material <\/span>\u200band perhaps\u00a0<span class=\"rte rte-comment\">possibly <\/span>\u200bpharmaceutical solutions, he said.<br\/><br\/>Respiratory problems are likely to be on the rise as air quality\u00a0<span class=\"rte rte-comment\">and\u00a0in particular\u00a0more particulate matter such as dust and pollen, will decline <\/span>\u200bworsens\u00a0with climate change, dust and pollen increase and the ozone layer is degraded, Cersovsky said.<span class=\"rte rte-comment\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u2013 which would cause increases in respiratory problems.<\/span>\u200b<br\/><br\/>Diseases such as <span class=\"rte rte-comment\">like <\/span>\u200bmalaria and various water-borne illnesses may\u00a0<span class=\"rte rte-comment\">diseases could also <\/span>\u200bemerge as increased threats\u00a0in areas where more rain falls, while<span class=\"rte rte-comment\">\u00a0increases from climate change. Meanwhile,<\/span>\u200b\u00a0in other areas climate change may mean <span class=\"rte rte-comment\">see <\/span>\u200blonger and more pronounced drought, leading to food shortages.\u00a0<br\/><br\/>Water is already so scarce in some places that it is &#8220;like gold,&#8221; said another <span class=\"rte rte-comment\">Another <\/span>\u200bpanel member, Navy Capt. Scott Cota, surgeon general for Special Operations Command<span class=\"rte rte-comment\">, said that water is already &#8220;like gold&#8221; in some locations because of scarcity<\/span>\u200b.<br\/><br\/>&#8220;All these changes are likely to spur further migrations to urban centers and cause a cycle of instability, especially in regions that are already stressed,&#8221; Cersovsky said.<br\/><br\/>Desperation can feed radicalization as well as migration and social strife; all of which can result in violence and calls for military intervention.<br\/><br\/>&#8220;As a global force, we must be prepared to address the effects of climate change on our own readiness,&#8221; Cersovsky said, &#8220;as well as respond to the needs of others as they experience the negative consequences.&#8221;<br\/><br\/><strong>Climate change in &#8216;every region&#8217;<\/strong><br\/><br\/>The statements at the forum represent an advancement in the government&#8217;s\u00a0discussion of the effects of climate change.\u00a0<br\/><br\/><span class=\"rte rte-comment\">Climate change\u00a0hasn&#8217;t constantly been a substantial\u00a0concern for the Pentagon. Government concern over rising carbon dioxide levels stretches as far back as a <a href=\"http:\/\/dge.stanford.edu\/labs\/caldeiralab\/Caldeira%20downloads\/PSAC,%201965,%20Restoring%20the%20Quality%20of%20Our%20Environment.pdf\">1965 report<\/a> from the President&#8217;s Science Advisory Committee signed by President Lyndon Johnson. By <\/span>\u200bIn the 1990s, the CIA was engaged in studying environmental shifts, according to a report published by\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.mcclatchydc.com\/news\/nation-world\/world\/article24607021.html\">McClatchy<\/a>, and in 1992 it started\u00a0a program called Medea and <span class=\"rte rte-comment\">where it <\/span>\u200bshared classified environmental data\u00a0with\u00a0scientists.<br\/><br\/>But <span class=\"rte rte-comment\">eventually <\/span>\u200bthe topic\u00a0\u2014\u00a0and critics say, the science\u00a0\u2014 was <span class=\"rte rte-comment\">got <\/span>\u200bpushed into the policy\u00a0background as <span class=\"rte rte-comment\">. In particular, a Republican-held Congress and later the Bush Administration stripped <\/span>\u200bfunding was stripped from\u00a0national security elements studying impacts of climate change <span class=\"rte rte-comment\">and reassigned\u00a0government personnel involved <\/span>\u200bduring the late 1990s and early 2000s. Later, a\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.documentcloud.org\/documents\/18472-political-interference.html\">2007\u00a0investigation<\/a> by the\u00a0House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform concluded\u00a0that the administration &#8220;engaged in a systematic effort to manipulate climate change science and misled policymakers about the dangers of global warming.&#8221;<br\/><br\/><span class=\"rte rte-comment\">(It went on to say\u00a0the administration had censored scientists and extensively edited reports. It also said it\u00a0adopted adopted the American Petroleum Institute&#8217;s &#8220;Communication Action Plan&#8221;\u00a0\u2013\u00a0advocating introducing as much uncertainty into the public regarding climate change science as possible\u00a0\u2013\u00a0as its own &#8220;mission statement.&#8221;)<\/span>\u200b<br\/><br\/>More recently, <span class=\"rte rte-comment\">In more recent years, <\/span>\u200bthe Pentagon has taken the possibility of climate-based influences to national security threats\u00a0more seriously. DoD&#8217;s <span class=\"rte rte-comment\">The <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/global-warning.org\/main\/documents\/quadrennial-defense-review-2010\/\">2010 Quadrenniel<\/a>\u00a0Defense Review\u00a0Report\u00a0said: &#8220;Climate change and energy will play significant roles in shaping the future security environment &#8230; Climate change will shape the operating environment, roles and missions that we undertake.&#8221; That report pointed out\u00a0that the Global Change Research Program (composed of 13 federal agencies) reported that climate-related changes are being observed &#8220;in every region of the world.&#8221;<br\/><br\/><span class=\"rte rte-comment\">Aside from food security and water management and the potential conflicts that could arise, new shipping lanes in the Arctic Ocean could prove a particularly key issue as nations jockey for shipping lanes and resources in previously inaccessible areas. The <a href=\"http:\/\/navylive.dodlive.mil\/2013\/11\/25\/timing-the-opening-of-a-new-maritime-crossroad-the-arctic\/\">Navy<\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.navy.mil\/docs\/USN_arctic_roadmap.pdf\">and<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.uscg.mil\/seniorleadership\/DOCS\/CG_Arctic_Strategy.pdf\">Coast Guard<\/a> are planning for a more accessible\u00a0Arctic for longer parts of the year, and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/story\/military\/2015\/08\/04\/russia-bids-vast-arctic-territories-un\/31108755\/\">Russia has\u00a0moved<\/a> toward staking its Arctic claims.<\/span>\u200b<br\/><br\/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Army scientist says global warming presents dangers, from soldiers&#8217; health to global instability.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":85384,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":67,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[16,67],"tags":[],"coauthors":[802],"class_list":["post-46653","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-your-air-force"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"MEAG22QGTBF7NMED5KGRWF5NZE","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/your-army\/2015\/09\/23\/climate-change-is-major-threat-to-readiness-expert-says\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented 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