Ohio "Meeting of Minds" on National Security, Climate Change
Mary Kuhlman, Managing Editor
Monday, March 1, 2010
COLUMBUS, Ohio - It's a meeting of the minds, as leading Ohio clean-energy experts join national leaders and researchers in Columbus and Cleveland this week to discuss the link between climate change and national security.
According to The Pew Project on National Security, Energy and Climate, the devastating consequences for humans of climate change can include increased droughts or flooding. And when there is a humanitarian disaster or increased instability overseas, former U.S.senator John Warner (R-Va) says the U.S. military is the first to step up.
"If a president decides we're going to go and provide humanitarian assistance, it very often is the young men and women in uniform who fly the airplanes, sail the ships and bring the trucks - and very often, the medical and food supplies."
The military is putting greater focus on planning for the consequences of climate change, Warner says, by becoming more energy-efficient and depending less on foreign fuel sources.
Fighting climate change goes beyond protecting the environment or the military; a move toward a clean energy economy can create solid jobs, Warner adds.
"Jobs really are the axle around which the economy of the state of Ohio revolves. It traditionally has been one of America's principal manufacturing states."
Warner speaks at forums in Columbus on Tuesday and in Cleveland on Wednesday. Local researchers also will be on hand to describe Ohio's role in reducing climate threats, as well as opportunities for clean-energy industries.
More information is available at www.pewclimatesecurity.org.
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