The aftereffects of climate change disrupt Pax Americana and subsequently challenge national security, by escalating the tensions of mass migration, increasing the likelihood for failed states and the growth of terrorism, and destroying of United States extraterritorial interests, assets needed to maintain stability. Future climate changes will affect the organization, training, equipping, and planning of U.S. national security forces. For example, military installations like “Diego Garcia, an atoll in the southern Indian Ocean that serves as a major logistics hub for U.S. and British forces in the Middle East, is only a few feet above sea level.” Making it extremely vulnerable to any sea rise. If important U.S. military bases needed to provide …show more content…
national security by both indirectly and directly putting stress on the United States ability to maintain domestic and international stability. Climate change can impair every nation’s access to food and water and deepen the strain on nations with already inadequate access to food and water. Violent weather, rising sea levels and increased storm surges can cause vast amounts of land to be lost, and infrastructure and environmental systems to be damaged or destroyed. All of that could force the uprooting of billions of people in the developing world. A mass migration of climate change refugees would begin to cross borders in search of resources, causing social, political, economic and military tensions to arise. Climate change can cause environmental conditions to deteriorate to the point that necessary resources are not available, and societies are stressed to the point of collapse. Many governments could become unable to deal with the new stresses of climate change, and when governments are ineffective, extremism can gain a foothold. Which ultimately means that while the United States will be far better equipped to deal with the direct effects climate change will have on the national security of American cities, resources, and territorial interests. The United States must prepare for the affects climate change can have on the poorest regions of the world. If climate change successfully undermines the United States ability to maintain stability, climate change could potentially provide a new opportunity for extremist ideologies to create conditions for terrorism, and that is the foremost threat to U.S. national security. Climate change will bring about new issues, and exacerbate existing tensions and conflicts. In order for the United States to protect national security they must be prepared to deal with the future stresses of the proximate causes of climate