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Weekly Wisdom: Vice Admiral Truly on the Thin Blue Line
At the end of every week, we’ll be posting words of wisdom from the climate-security field. Today, we have an old gem from Vice Admiral Richard H. Truly, USN (Ret.), Former NASA Administrator, Shuttle Astronaut and the first Commander of the Naval Space Command:
One of the things that struck me on my first day in space is that there is no blue sky. It’s something that every human lives with on Earth, but when you’re in space, you don’t see it. It looks like there’s nothing between you and the surface of the earth. And out beyond that, it looks like midnight, with only deep black and stars.
But when you look at the earth’s horizon, you see an incredibly beautiful, but very, very thin line. You can see a tiny rainbow of color. That thin line is our atmosphere. And the real fragility of our atmosphere is that there’s so little of it.
Quote found in: CNA, National Security and the Threat of Climate Change. (2007).
Rats, Hawks and Fighter Jets: Climate and National Security in the American West
The drought in California is taking its toll on farmers throughout the region, but the fallow fields are also having an unexpected impact on Naval flight exercises. Here & Now reports that pilots at Lemoore Naval Air Station in California, one of the west’s largest Naval bases, have found that fallow fields increase the prevalence of avian predators like red tailed hawks, and increase the likelihood of bird strikes. (more…)
Rear Admiral Titley on Climate Challenges to Naval Operations Near and Far
U.S. naval installations are built at sea level. Sea level rise, therefore, leads to an increasing set of complications for these installations. You don’t have to look further than Norfolk, Virginia to see this reality playing out.
Sea level rise also potentially adds another level of stress to already intense weather events like Typhoon Haiyan. Data from the World Meteorological Organization shows that this is an especially problematic situation in the Philippines: “One tidal gauge at Legaspi in the Philippines showed a rise of 35 cms (14 inches) in average sea levels from 1950-2010, against a global average of 10 cms.” (more…)
Our Interview with Moyers and Co: Syria, Drought, Climate and Security
The Center for Climate and Security’s Co-Founder and Director, Francesco Femia, was recently interviewed by Moyers & Company’s John Light. In the interview, Femia discusses the links between the drought, climate change and the lead-up to unrest in Syria. The interview draws heavily from the Center’s 2012 report, Syria: Climate Change, Drought and Social Unrest and the 2013 report, The Arab Spring and Climate Change. (more…)