Center for Strategic Communication

ASP’s Senior Fellow for Energy and Climate Andrew Holland was interviewed by KPCW’s “This Green Earth,” a podcast on environmental issues. He discussed the connection between climate change and national security – how climate change acts as “a threat multiplier,” that is, it makes underlying conflict worse. He discussed how climate change threatens both global and homeland security by contributing to rising sea levels, extreme weather, flood and drought. He also elaborated on how the Department of Defense is out in front on the threats that climate change poses, and how DoD is already planning and preparing to respond to climate disasters. Here is a little excerpt from the interview:

“Climate change threatens security and this has been a key area of our studies since the beginning. It threatens security because it is a threat multiplier or what we can call an “accelerant. that affects issues like food, water, energy security around the world. It’s driving migration, causing economic challenges, and causing problems around the world. And at home, we see that climate change is a significant threat to our military bases, to our homeland security, especially on natural disasters, also drought, and rising sea levels. So what we see is a link between climate and conflict around the world.”

To listen to the full podcast, click here. Andrew Holland begins speaking around the 38:00 mark.