Former U.S. Coast Guard Commandant, retired Admiral Robert Papp Jr., has just been appointed as the U.S. Special Representative for the Arctic Region. Given the rapid physical and political changes in the Arctic, this is an important new position.
Recently, Admiral Papp discussed dealing with climate change in what he called “the world of consequence management.” His full quote:
I am not a scientist. I can read what scientists say, but I’m in the world of consequence management. My first turn in Alaska was 39 years ago, and during the summertime we had to break ice to get up to the Bering Strait and to get to Kotzebue. Thirty-five years later, going up there as commandant, we flew into Kotzebue at the same time of year; I could not see ice anywhere. So it is clear to me there are changes happening, but I have to deal with the consequences of that.
You can also find another great interview with Admiral Papp after the Coast Guard released its Arctic Strategy in May 2013.
Viewed from the trenches of the Pacific Northwest. Port Townsend, WA. I am a retired boat builder. Two kids, both better than average tax payers and contributors to society, and 2 grandkids.
I have a vested interested in a livable future for them and a fiduciary responsibility for you and yours as a human benign. Coroprations have yet learned to play nice with others.
The only “just war” is a war of the survival of humanity and Earth’s Life Support systems. Both under threat by our privatized profits, socialized lose paradigm and the ability of the few to profit from the pollution and exploitation of the commons. A “We All Win War,” WAWW, can, and in fact, must be fought on all fronts with the mantra of minimal death and maximum good to all life, starting with the poorest of the poor or closest to extinction receiving the most attention. If the military oath to protect the Nation and its people from threats both foreign and domestic has credence then the military ethic must transform itself from a killing machine to a sustainable greening machine. (Who would not want to serve?)
Justify those $600+ billion $$$ we give you each year. Do something for your country. You got grand kids don’t you?
There is precedence here as well.. One only need go back to the CCC days. Large unemployment. The Nation reeling from the economic disruption of the 20s. Lack of skilled work force in changing economies. Crumbling infrastructure. Concentration of wealth in the hands of the few. Need I go on?
CCC addressed all that in one “green” effort. The same could address the transformation to the Green Awakening Economy. People can be employed learning and building needed skills. Vast green energy infrastructure could be built using the inexpensive labor of the unemployed. Health care and skill base of the population transformed to the Nation’s and World’s advantage.
We can do that and again become a leader, but more importantly an allies in the “We All Win War” with the rest of the world.
“War becomes perpetual when used as a rational for peace,” Norman Solomon. “Peace becomes perpetual when used as a rational for survival.” Yours truly.
Captain Leif Knutsen, ret.