Energy Independence IS Homeland Security
By Cylvia Hayes,
3EStrategies
Our massive rate of energy consumption is putting our nation at risk. Americans comprise only 5% of the world population, yet we consume 25% of the world’s oil. Our entire country, including Alaska (and the Arctic Wildlife Refuge) contains only 2% of the world’s oil reserves. Currently we are importing 60% of our oil.
Our national debt is nearing $9 trillion and China is the chief funder. China recently became the world’s second largest importer of oil right behind the U.S.
James Woolsey, director of the CIA, under the Clinton Administration, from 1993 to 1995, has become an outspoken advocate of energy independence, one of the first security hawks to champion the environmental benefits of shifting away from fossil fuels.
In addition to our crippling dependency on oil, Americans are responsible for 30% of all greenhouse gas emissions. Our unwillingness participate in international efforts to curb global warming has reduced our credibility in the international community.
And now, U.S. military leaders have identified global warming itself as a serious national security threat. Eleven retired generals and admirals issued a report that climate change is a threat multiplier, causing greater instability in Asia, Africa and the Middle East. They project climate change will lead to bloody conflicts over water and other essential resources, create massive refugee migrations and involve the U.S. military in enormous relief and peacekeeping efforts.
The military leaders pointed out that climate change is already having on impact on the crises of Somalia and Darfur, worsening the instability and making it harder for embattled refugees to find water. More Africans are fleeing to Europe.
In these days in which Americans cannot take a 4 ounce tube of toothpaste onto an airplane due to national security risk, doesn’t it seem prudent to take proactive action to avoid the terror that will come from our unchecked consumption of oil?
