Perhaps you have heard of this effort, perhaps you have not.
Allow me to offer this to start:
Operation FREE is combating a serious threat to our nation's safety: our over-reliance on fossil fuels and the major security problems caused by climate change.
The solution, to create cheap, domestic, renewable energy, is simple, but requires us to put aside politics and work together.
As Veterans and National Security leaders from around the country, we deeply understand the spirit of Americans rising to meet a national challenge. That's why we're asking you to join Operation FREE today:
F – Freedom from Fossil Fuel Dependence
R – Right to Affordable, Clean Energy
E - Economic Growth
E – Environmental Security and Renewal
Who is behind this, and what are they doing, and why should you consider joining? For that you will have to continue to read below the fold.
This is a joint effort by Veterans and National Security Groups, headed by someone who should be familiar to this community, Jon Powers, who was at Netroots Nation in Austin, helping pack care packages for the troops.
There are four key organizations coming together for this effort, some of which are also quite familiar to many here. Allow me to again quote from the literature I was sent (with my substituting hyperlinks for the websties of the group in lieu of the simple bolding of their names in the original):
The Truman National Security Project
The Truman National Security Project is a national security leadership institute, the nation's only organization that recruits, trains, and positions a new generation of progressives across America to lead on national security. Our mission is to provide the skills, knowledge, and network to create an influential force of leaders across the country who advance strong progressive national security policy.
The National Security Initiative
The National Security Initiative undertakes principal national security challenges confronting the United States. Working with an ideologically diverse group of distinguished experts, the initiative endeavors to create bipartisan strategies for national security in today’s rapidly evolving threat environment.
VoteVets.org
VoteVets.org Action Fund’s goal as a public policy advocate is to strengthen the U.S. government’s commitment to issues that affect the safety and well-being of the men and women in the U.S. Armed Forces—both those serving today, and those who have recently fulfilled their terms. VoteVets.org Action Fund is committed to raising concerns regarding the state of the military’s preparedness as well as the services available to today’s Veterans.
VetPAC
In light of the urgent and critical issues now confronting our Nation, those who have served in the Armed Forces have a special obligation to make their voices heard; at times by speaking to the American public singularly as veterans, at other times by making their voices heard in conjunction with the efforts of similarly concerned organizations and like-minded citizens. VETPAC will work to assure that the veterans’ voice is heard throughout campaign cycles, at the national, state and local levels.
Most of us here know the serious implications of unchecked climate change. But it is often hard to sell it to people here on the basis, say, of islands in the Indian Ocean sinking below the waves, or even of the loss of the ice pack necessary for the continued existence of the magnificent polar bear.
But if people understand that this is a real issue of national security, many more are willing to pay attention.
We can start with this simple fact - how many of our deaths since 09/11/2001 are a direct result of our dependence upon foreign sources of energy? After all, from the standpoint of many both within and without the Bush administration, the first key factor was the proven oil reserves in Iraq. A second factor is that taking over Iraq would give us a base to project power eastward and southward, over areas with massive amounts of oil and gas. And for those who were unaware, we had representatives of the Taliban in the US as some sought to negotiate a deal for a pipeline across Afghanistan to the South (Pakistan) as a means of getting the natural gas found in the "stans" of the former USSR to market without being subject to the pressures of the Russians, currently a dominant player in world energy markets - ask people in Europe of the near stranglehold the Russians have upon the gas supplies they need.
That is one aspect of national security - the lives and resources it is costing us to protect access to sources of non-renewable energy.
But there is more. The resultant climate change seriously threatens this nation in many ways. Changing of climate patterns could turn current areas quite productive agriculturally into barren and unproductive regions. The crops upon which we depend not only for our food but increasingly for energy, and which are one of the major exports of this nation, might be seriously diminished as the changes of the climates would make current levels of production unsustainable.
And of course, unchecked climate change would wreak havoc on our coastal areas, as water levels rise from the melt of Arctic ice in particular. Think how many of our major cities would be in jeopardy of flooding: Boston, New York, Charleston, the entire Hampton Roads area, Miami, San Francisco, Seattle, just to name a few.
Further, the vast infusion of large amounts of fresh water into the ocean will potentially cause major changes in ocean currents which are an important part of many things - storm generation, habitability of otherwise relatively far north places like the British isles.
And serious changes in climates will inevitably lead to conflicts - wars if you will - over resources. Not just over oil, but food and water as well.
It is not just scientists who are worried. Allow me to quote further from the material I was sent so that you can see who else grasps the national security implications of climate change:
From the CNA Reports, "National Security and The Threat of Climate Change" and "Powering America’s Defense"
Admiral T. Joseph Lopez, Commander-in-Chief, U.S. Naval Forces Europe and Allied Forces, Southern Europe:
"Climate change will provide the conditions that will extend the war on terror"
General Anthony Zinni, Former Commander-in-Chief U.S. Central Command:
"We will pay for this one way or another. We will pay to reduce greenhouse has emissions today, and we’ll have to take an economic hit of some kind. Or we will pay the price later in military terms. And that will involve human lives. There will be a human toll. There is no way out of this that does not have real costs."
General Gordon Sullivan Former U.S. Army Chief of Staff:
"Climate change is occurring at a much faster pace than the scientists previously thought it could.... Military professionals are accustomed to making decisions during times of uncertainty... Even if you don’t have complete information, you still need to take action. Waiting for 100 percent certainty during a crisis can be disastrous... The US has the responsibility to lead [on global climate change]. If we don’t make changes, then others won’t."
General Robert Magnus, Former Assistant Commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps:
"The more instability increase, the more pressure there will be to use our military. That’s the issue with climate change.
Vice Admiral Dennis McGinn, Former Deputy Chief, Naval Warfare Requirements and Programs:
"We have less than ten years to change our fossil fuel dependency course in significant ways. Our nation’s security depends on the swift, serious, and thoughtful response to the inter-linked challenges of energy security and climate change."
The effort has both a short-term and a long-term focus. Short term, clearly the emphasis is on passing and getting into law ACES, the American Clean Energy and Security Act. Over the longer period of time, the effort is on what they call Project FREE - about which you can read here, from which the material I received offered the following:
We need to invent our way out of the energy mess, and soon. But it's not the first time we've faced a seemingly impossible technological challenge. In 1962, John F. Kennedy set the daunting goal of sending a man to the moon and returning him safely to Earth within a decade.
The current administration should implement Project FREE, a massive national program, like the Apollo Space Program or Manhattan Project, to innovate the next generation of carbon-emission-free energy based on hydrogen, fusion, or other technologies.
The ultimate goal is to take Americans "off the grid" in the next 15 years; to end our dependence on centralized energy in favor of power sources generated at the point of consumption-the car, home, business, or factory-thereby liberating us from the limiting factors introduced by long-distance transmission and its regulatory roadblocks.
Project FREE must be a national program driven by the president, created with cabinet-level authority, endowed with $30 to $40 billion in funding per year, and, like the Federal Reserve, independent of partisan machinations. It should be established with powers akin to those granted high-priority wartime programs, so as to remove all clearance and cooperation impediments that might otherwise slow its progress. But it should be temporary, as permanent bureaucracies tend to become special interests, intent on prolonging their own existence rather than on getting the job completed. The legislation creating the project must mandate its dismantling either upon fulfillment of its commission or after fifteen years have passed, whichever comes first.
Forty billion dollars may sound expensive.
Project FREE is not about incremental technology, like improving the 100-plus-year-old coal, gas, and oil platforms we use today. It's about innovations that can free us of oil dependence and conflict, restore the environment by eliminating carbon emissions, make energy cheap and plentiful, and provide an incredible growth and job engine for the American economy. The United States has an intrinsic innovation advantage over the rest of the world, and we must not squander the opportunity to lead and own the most important inventions in energy.
This is an ongoing campaign. I was contacted and asked if I could help in any way, by one of the project team, Matt Oberhoffner. Here, in slightly edited form, is the current project team, all from the Truman National Security Project (I have omitted the phone numbers and changed the emails to be non-readable by a bot):
Campaign Manager:
Michael Moschella
Michael at trumanproject dot org
Campaign Directors:
Representative Alex Cornell Du Houx
alex at trumanproject dot org
(Washington DC, Maine)
Brendan Flynn
Brendan at trumanproject dot org
860-303-0938
(Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, West Virginia)
Matt Oberhoffner
matto at trumanproject dot org
(Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, New Hampshire)
James Whitaker
james at trumanproject dot org
(Missouri, Louisiana, Arkansas, Florida)
Lauren Wolfe
lauren at trumanproject dot org
(Montana, South Dakota, North Dakota, Colorado, Nebraska, Michigan)
If you don't see your state, you can contact Michael.
Why should we care? Why do they care? Let me quote one more time:
We need to get America running on clean energy.
(from The Third Way report "Get America Running on Clean Energy")
Clean energy reduces our dependence on oil.
Oil ties our hands in foreign policy, funds terrorists, and entangles America with hostile regimes.
Our Federal government is considering legislation that promotes clean energy incentives, and people need to understand why this helps our security.
Getting energy that is CLEAN, DOMESTIC, CHEAP, and SAFE is going to take some real work, so we need to start now.
It’s our patriotic duty to do everything we can to keep our nation safe and secure: clean energy is one of those efforts.
I am in the midst of teacher prep week. I cannot get directly involved right now - I simply lack the time. I promised Matt that I would help to get the message out.
The Truman National Security Institute offers training, for example in their national security bootcamps. They are a progressive organization, one whose efforts overlap with the values of many who consider themselves progressives. So do those of the groups with whom they are working on this effort.
Explore the links. Contact the person responsible for your state, or Michael if you do not see your state listed.
And hopefully this diary has served some purpose?
Remember, I tend to end my diaries with a one word hope. That word applies here, so that we not see many more die in battles over resources becoming scarce because of climate change.
Peace.