Basinger letter: Climate change

From the Defense Department website comes this quote:

“Among the future trends that will impact our national security is climate change. Rising global temperatures, changing precipitation patterns, climbing sea levels, and more extreme weather events will intensify the challenges of global instability, hunger, poverty and conflict. They will likely lead to food and water shortages, pandemic disease, disputes over refugees and resources, and destruction by natural disasters in regions across the globe. In our defense strategy, we refer to climate change as a “threat multiplier” because it has the potential to exacerbate many of the challenges we are dealing with today — from infectious disease to terrorism. We are already beginning to see some of these impacts.”

A new report by Nextgen Climate America shows that a rapid transition to a low-carbon economy will create one million new jobs and save Americans over $5 billion dollars on their energy bills by 2030. Legislation such as the Shultz-Becker plan, which puts fees on carbon-based fuels, will speed this transition. Government doesn’t grow because the money is returned to consumers to make free economic choices. We must act now to preserve a secure America with a strong and competitive economy.

This story was originally published November 25, 2015 at 3:14 PM with the headline "Basinger letter: Climate change."