planted city

US Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus’ no nonsense response to the argument that renewable energy sources (e.g. solar, wind, geothermal) are (currently) more expensive than non-renewable energy (e.g. oil, coal, natural gas). I found the quote in the recent Climate Progress article, ‘The U.S. Military Takes on Global Warming’.

(Photo credit: Pew Environment)

Writer David Orr explaining the relationship between sustainability and resilience in his article, ‘Sustainability as National Security’.  

(Image source: Green Flow) 

~ A quote from the recently translated Peak Oil analysis written by the German Military (via ASPO). You can read a summary of the report over at Energy Bulletin.

(Image credit: Johns Hopkins Public Health)

~ Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, warning national militaries that climate related food shortages, water stress, and weather damage threaten to increase poverty, overwhelm the capacity of governments to meet the basic needs of their people, and contribute to the emergence, spread and longevity of conflict. 

A section of UK Foreign Secretary William Hague’s remarkable speech, ‘The Diplomacy of Climate Change’, presented to the Council on Foreign Relations in New York in 2010.

(Image credit: ABC News)

From the Vancouver Sun:

Critical energy and water shortages combined with climate change could provoke wars within the next 15 years, warns a newly-released analysis by the Department of National Defence.

“Global reserves of crude oil could become problematic by 2025,” wrote Maj. John Sheahan in a draft version of the report, Army 2040: First Look. “This implies that (barring the discovery of significant new reserves, and barring the adequate adoption of substitute fossil fuels or alternative fuel and energy sources) critical energy shortages will develop in the time frame of (and perhaps prior to) 2025.”

The report noted that alternative fuels and energy may not be enough to respond to rising demand for energy that is forcing oil production to reach its capacity — a threat commonly referred to as “peak oil.”

“There can be little doubt that unrestricted access to reliable energy supplies is a global strategic issue, one for which, recently, numerous nations have been willing to fight, and have indeed done so,” said the report, released to Postmedia News through an Access to Information request. “Thus the trend that envisions depletion of fossil fuels such as crude oil in coming decades may also contribute to international tensions if not violent conflict.”

Sheahan is part of a Canadian team of analysts led by Lt.-Col. Michael Rostek, who are researching long-term planning scenarios for the military. Members of the team said earlier this spring that they had submitted their analysis to senior military officials who are still reviewing the work.

The analysis also warns that, even under conservative estimates, up to 60 countries could fall into a category of water scarcity or stress by 2050, making the natural resource “a key source of power” or a “basis for future conflict.”

The draft report said that despite some “vigorous debates” about the pace, cause, magnitude and impacts of global warming, there “can be no further debate that global climate change is occurring.” It would turn the phenomenon into a “shock” and not just a driver of change, the report said.

Crop failures resulting in mass migrations and starvation, along with rising sea levels from melting ice caps and other factors, would be among the impacts.

“These sorts of changes could lead to impacts resulting in the abandonment of large urban and cropland areas, further aggravating a broad range of existing resource scarcities,” said the report.

Governments from around the world reached a consensus in 2007, based on an international assessment of peer-reviewed science, that there was a 90 per cent probability that human activity is responsible for causing climate change observed over the past century.

Check out the rest of the article here. It is also worth noting that other governments and militaries are expressing similar thinking.

(Photo credit: Vancouver Sun)

From Metro Vancouver: 

On June 25th, 2011, have your voice heard during a candid conversation on the future of our region and the impact of five global uncertainties – Energy, Food, Climate Change, Dematerialization, Security - that are profoundly shaping our lives.

Click here to watch the event on Livestream starting at 9 AM PDT and you can also follow it on Twitter using #MVSC11. Check out the program agenda here.

From Business Green:

Energy and Climate Change Secretary Chris Huhne yesterday agreed to develop an ‘Oil Shock Response Plan’, following a meeting with the UK Industry Taskforce on Peak Oil and Energy Security (ITPOES).

The group, which was formed by Arup, B&Q, Buro Happold, Solarcentury, SSE, Stagecoach and Virgin, and campaigns for greater awareness of the economic threat presented by dwindling oil supplies, said that the meeting had proved “constructive” and had helped to advance the energy security dialogue.

Specifically, Huhne agreed that DECC and ITPOES would work together on peak oil threat assessment and contingency planning.

Details on the collaboration are yet to be agreed, but the group is expected to be tasked with modeling some of the impacts that could result if, as growing number of experts fear, global oil supplies peak within the next five years.

Members of the taskforce said they would also explore steps that would need to be taken now to protect the UK economy “if we knew that the oil price would soar to $250 in 2014”.

Check out the rest of the article here.