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US Military Could Collapse Within 20 Years Due to Climate Change

posted by Fnord666 on Sunday October 27 2019, @11:07PM   
from the or-not dept.

coolgopher writes:

A story notes that

[...] according to a new U.S. Army report, Americans could face a horrifically grim future from climate change involving blackouts, disease, thirst, starvation and war. The study found that the US military itself might also collapse. This could all happen over the next two decades, the report notes.

[...] The report paints a frightening portrait of a country falling apart over the next 20 years due to the impacts of climate change on "natural systems such as oceans, lakes, rivers, ground water, reefs, and forests.

Current infrastructure in the US, the report says, is woefully underprepared: "Most of the critical infrastructures identified by the Department of Homeland Security are not built to withstand these altered conditions."

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Original Submission

• Army collapse... really... Army collapse... really... (Score: 3, Informative) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Monday October 28 2019, @02:14PM (1 child)

  by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us (6553) on Monday October 28 2019, @02:14PM (#912797) Journal

  I skimmed the report TFA cites very quickly. I do not see anywhere it suggests the Army would collapse. It does say that the way the Army operates, especially in peacetime, might be affected significantly by climate change in how it operates and types and places of missions and where they would be undertaken. It does say the DoD and the Army is generally unprepared to address climate change, not in the least because there is nobody being held accountable for it. This isn't just in fighting climate change, to the contrary the report is more focused on how the mission of the Army may change based on climate change.

  But collapse? No.

  That said, there are some cool Star Trek references in the conclusion, along with this gem of a quote that can serve well beyond the subject matter as well:

  Three maxims can help us avoid dangerous failures of recognition, and speed learning when unexpected things happen.
  1.
  Everything we believe about the world is provisional – “serving for the time being.” Adding the words “so far” to assertions about reality reminds us of this.
  2.
  Unjustified certainty is very costly. The greater your certainty that you are right when you are wrong, the longer it will take you to recognize and incorporate new data into your system of belief, and to change your mind. General Douglas MacArthur was a confident man, and this confidence usually served him well, such as when he undertook the risky landings at Incheon in the Korean War. Yet MacArthur’s confidence betrayed him when China entered the war. He was certain that this would not happen, and MacArthur’s certainty delayed his recognition of a key change, exposing forces under his command to terrible risk. Confidence in your beliefs is valuable only insofar as it results in different choices (e.g., I choose A or B). Beyond that point, confidence has increasing costs.
  3.
  Pay special attention to data that is unlikely in light of your current beliefs; it has much more information per unit, all else equal. In this sense, information content is measured as the potential to change how you think about the world. Infor47
  mation that is probable in light of your beliefs will have minimal effects on your understanding. Improbable information, if incorporated, will change it.

  --
  This sig for rent.

  Starting Score:	1		point
  Moderation		+1
  Informative=1, Total=1
  Extra 'Informative' Modifier		0
  Karma-Bonus Modifier		+1
  Total Score:		3

• Re:Army collapse... really... (Score: 0, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 28 2019, @04:24PM

  by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 28 2019, @04:24PM (#912874)

  Well at least only the title was clickbait and they didn't editorialize the report itself.

  It did make for some amusing pearl clutching posts by the resident old folks.

  Parent