I came across an interesting article today about climate change and the military forces of the world. Climate change doesn't just affect military forces but everybody and this is where new challenges for militants and citizens of this world lies. Floods and droughts will inevitably change the face of the planet as well as increase the number of challenges the weather will throw at us. It is said that 200 million people will become climate change refuges by the middle of this century.
As we are the species that introduced global warming to the rest of the life on this planet we are charged with reducing the effects of climate change. As our planet warms the oceans of the earth will rise. Floods are the most likely challenge people will face as the planet continues to warm. But there is hope yet, there is dozens of things that you and I can do to reduce our environmental foot print. Although we all can do something to try and avert the dangers of global warming, governments should start making plans to deal with the rising number of people displaced by natural disasters and conflicts that will arise from the after effects of floods and famine.
Policies for coping with change due to natural disasters should be forming as you read this posting. When hurricane Katrina hit the southern coast of the United States officials found themselves unprepared to deal with the number of people that were displaced from the hurricane. Granted there are quite a few hurricanes every year, as the planet warms oceans will become warmer giving hurricanes more fuel increasing their strength. We all need to make changes to our lives in order to reduce the impact we have on the natural world.
When all of these changes take place military forces are going to be called upon to aid those who are directly affected. It is imperative that the use of force to get people to comply is minimal. There will be a lot of people who would be affected by a rise in sea levels, even if the rise is only 1 metre there could be drastic changes to landscapes around the world. there could be new inland lakes forming and new bays that used be above sea level formed. When people get displaced by climate change, Eco-terrorist could step up their extremist protests and displace even more people.
The main point that I got out of the article was that we have to make small changes now and plan for the worst. Climate change doesn't just affect North America, it affects everybody. Some scientist predict that the average global temperature could increase by 1.8 to 4 degrees over the course of this century. Even a 1 degree increase could melt enough of the polar ice caps to change the map. If I've learned anything from my history classes in school, it's that change does not come easy so we must be prepared for facing the new challenges that our reckless abandon on pollution will bring about. The attitude that 'I'll be dead before these dangers face us' has to change considering that the average life span of humans has increased and is increasing with new medical knowledge.
Our generation will face different challenges than those of previous generations. Climate change is one of the biggest challenges facing our generation. I'm going to finish this post with a question; what are the challenges that are a direct result of climate change?
Inspiration: Armed forces face strain of climate change-report
Image source: Meta Sphere
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