The Nevada Independent: Why transitioning off fossil fuels strengthens our national security
By Lee Gunn
Fourteen years ago, during the George W. Bush administration, the CNA Military Advisory Board — a group of retired three- and four-star flag and general officers from the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps that studies pressing issues of the day to assess their impact — released our first report on the national security threats from climate change. Representing three dozen of our nation’s most senior military leaders, the board concluded “climate change acts as a threat multiplier for instability in some of the most volatile regions of the world.” We also determined that less demand for fossil fuels like diesel and jet fuel would make our combat forces more effective and less vulnerable in the battlespace. Too few U.S. leaders heeded those warnings and recommendations in the intervening years, but now that seems to be changing.