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Why This Matters: As President Trump bleeds money from the military to build the border wall (which fortunately a federal court just put on hold), climate change — a real emergency for the military — goes unaddressed. Indeed, the military has worried aloud recently that “climate-change-related catastrophes could inflict such widespread damage on U.S. infrastructure that the military may have to commit most of its resources to disaster relief missions unprecedented in their scale,”NBC News reported. And that disaster could happen right on the very military installations upon which we would depend for that help.
But just as concerning is the fact that the military’s missions responding to the climate crisis are also growing — and not just abroad — but also at home. Last month, as The Washington Post described, two California Air National Guard helicopters flew repeatedly into the out of control wildfires and conducted a first of its kind aerial rescue of 214 people who were trapped in the Creek Fire. One other possible example — that hurricanes or flooding (such as was the case with Hurricane Sandy in 2012) could also damage a U.S. port — ports through which America receives around 80 percent of its agricultural imports and exports. If disasters like these keep mounting, the military will have to focus an increasing amount of its efforts on domestic disasters, which divert its attention from foreign threats.
by Ashira Morris, ODP Staff Writer Nearly 3 million acres of federal land could gain new protections after the House of Representatives passed a major conservation bill last Friday. The bill, called the Protecting America’s Wilderness and Public Lands Act, rolls together eight bills previously introduced. If passed in the Senate, it would: Designate 1.5 […]
New research shows that fertile, carbon-rich topsoil is completely gone from one-third of all farmland in the Midwest, severely impairing crop growth and future harvests.
Why This Matters: Experts say this “growing” problem is mostly due to over-tilling the soil and other unsustainable farming practices.
by Amy Lupica, ODP Staff Writer A new study may reveal the mystery behind violently exploding craters in the Siberian tundra. Last year, a 17th massive permafrost crater cracked open in the Russian arctic; the first was spotted in 2013, leaving scientists searching for a reason as to why it had appeared. The craters, the most recent 100 […]
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