House Votes To Deny Climate Science And Ties Pentagon’s Hands On Climate Change
And after a brief recess, they later voted to shoot themselves in the foot and take five steps closer to their firing squad.
The part that gets to me is that this isn't even about denying climate change anymore. It's about wasting time, energy, and resources trying to ignore that the waters are closing over our heads. It doesn't matter how many studies tell us climate change exists. It doesn't matter if those studies are federally-funded or private, products of US scientists or UN. Republicans are determined to enforce the status quo, and screw species diversity or risk to disadvantaged populations or more frequent, more deadly natural disasters. None of that matters. It's all about being right.
The military, like it or not, gets the single largest chunk of our country's budget. It also conducts a lot of its own research, and is expected to be an agile, somewhat independent organization. This amendment would hamstring those advantages. What happens to a base in the South Pacific as rising sea levels destroy the land it sits on? Would Congress allow the military to evacuate, or would that constitute "implementing the U.S. Global Change Research Program National Climate Assessment"? Would they waste the equipment and supplies? Would they sacrifice those men?
The only feasible alternative, of course, would be for the military to keep right on doing what it's doing, and simply find alternative explanations for every move. They are not closing those bases in preparation for rising sea levels, they're doing it so they might relocate to a more strategically or economically advantageous location. "Palau isn't offering tax breaks anymore, off to Starbuck." Of course, this is ridiculous. It's a convoluted and backward way to maneuver around restrictions created by a group of old white men who have no idea what they're talking about. It may even be treasonous. That may be hyperbolic, but then, so are the lengths to which House Republicans will go to make a point.
We can only hope saner heads prevail in the Senate.