Rhode Island Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse recently told people gathered in New York City that global warming “denial” hurts U.S. soldiers in the field and that the “main problem” with the military is its reluctance to join the climate crusade.
“The problem has been that the uniformed military has been reluctant to put its voice into ‚Äì or its image into this fight,” Whitehouse said, according to a YouTube video posted Thursday.
“But, it’s hard to put a panel of people in uniform in front of the Environmental and Public Works Committee and say, you know, I’m a general, I’m an Admiral, I’m the head of the Marine Corps, we’re telling you,” said Whitehouse, who sits on the Senate committee in question.
Whitehouse also claimed Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus is starting to evaluate commanders based on their knowledge of how global warming will impact the bases they command.
“What the Navy has done that’s been really interesting, Ray Mabus said he’s starting to actually evaluate his ‚Äì you know, the military lives by evaluation ‚Äì they’re starting to evaluate their base commanders on how well they communicate the risk of climate change about the base,” Whitehouse said.
“So, if you’re the base commander of Norfolk, or of Naval Station Newport, or of ‚Äì what is it, Cherry Creek Marine Air Station in North Carolina ‚Äì you are suddenly have on your checklist of what you’re evaluated on how well you’ve communicated what the risk of climate change is,” he said.
