# Pay low costs for greenhouse gasses today or pay in human lives later

*Published:* 2009-08-11
*Author:* Jim Marston

![](http://www.edf.org/content_images/AmFlagMilitary-sm.jpg)The United States Military is perhaps the most advanced scientific entity in the world, and can tout advances such as the internet, “smart” armor using nanotechnology and sophisticated “war game” computer simulations to develop strategic plans.

The military has used scientific theories throughout history to ensure a strong sense of national security in a world filled with international upheaval. They have used the theory of gravity to develop bullet trajectories and the science of aeronautics to land a man on the Moon. So it should be some comfort to Texans that our Senators have historically deferred to the military on such issues as the preeminent experts in keeping our nation and resources secure.

All the more reason that it seems strange that Texas’ Senators Hutchison and Cornyn are trying to play political football with an issue that both our public and our nation’s best military minds see as a grave threat to our national security.

[We now know ](http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/09/science/earth/09climate.html?pagewanted=1&tntemail0=y&_r=2&emc=tnt)that the climate change and the national security threats arising from it have been a focus of National Defense University and military intelligence analysts for years. They find that the costs of inaction will be serious, and not just in terms of direct impacts to our farmland and coastline.

A report from the National Intelligence Council states that climate change poses serious threats to our military bases, relationships with other governments, and that these threats will lead to “strained readiness posture and decreased strategic depth for combat operations.”

Even under such warnings directly from our military experts, Senators Hutchison and Cornyn are putting their political ambitions ahead of protecting national security by opposing immediate action on climate change.

“We will pay for this one way or another,” [said Gen. Anthony C. Zinni](http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/09/science/earth/09climate.html?pagewanted=2&tntemail0=y&_r=4&emc=tnt), a retired Marine and former head of Central Command in a recent military advisory board report on energy and climate for CNA, a private group that does research for the Navy. “We will pay to reduce greenhouse gas emissions today . . . or we will pay the price later in military terms,” he warned. “And that will involve human lives.”

I thought our Senators claimed to be supportive of the men and women in uniform.