Climate Change as a National Security Issue with Sherri Goodman

Air Dates: September 9-15, 2024

The impact of climate change on the world around us is there for everyone to see—from stronger and more frequent storms to the loss of Arctic Sea ice.  But Sherri Goodman says the threat isn’t just to crops or the polar bears, but to American national security.

Sherri Goodman, Senior Fellow at the Wilson Center’s Environmental Change and Security Program and Polar Institute, and Secretary General of the International Military Council on Climate & Security, is credited with educating a generation of US military and government officials about the nexus between climate change and national security, using her famous coinage, “threat multiplier,” to fundamentally reshape the national discourse on the topic. Sherri serves as Vice Chair of the Secretary of State’s International Security Advisory Board and on the EXIM Bank’s Council on Climate. A former first Deputy Undersecretary of Defense (Environmental Security) and staff member on the Senate Armed Services Committee, Goodman has founded, led, or advised nearly a dozen research organizations on environmental and energy matters, national security, and public policy.

On this episode of “Story in the Public Square,” Goodman discusses the idea of climate change as a national security issue, a movement she has led for decades.  She said, “as climate change advances, our Earth system is being destabilized, and in security, we’re all about ensuring stability.”  She added, “now we have a destabilizing force in our natural systems, as temperatures get hotter, sea levels rise, we have more extreme weather events. So that changing in the climate acts to amplify, or what we say multiply, all the other threats we face, such as strategic competition with Russia and China, terrorism, weapons of mass destruction, and the list goes on.”

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