Too Hot To Handle: Climate Change, Geopolitics, and U.S. National Security in 2025

Loading...
Thumbnail Image

Date

2007

Project Advisor

Layne, Christopher

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Client

Abstract

Looking ahead to 2025, what policies should future US administrations consider as appropriate responses to climate change, and what level of commitment should be devoted to addressing global climate change by the US government? To answer the key question, the project addressed the following secondary issues: Based on the best scientific evidence currently available, what will the most likely manifestations of global climate change be by 2025? This includes aggregate changes (surface temperatures, rising sea levels) as well as discrete changes (drought, flooding, disease, storms, heat waves). With respect to the latter, what are the probabilities that such events will be more (or less severe) than they are today? Based on the answers to the above, how politically salient will the issue of responding to global climate change be in 2025 (globally, by geographic region/location, by coalitions of similarly situated countries)? What low-probability, but potentially catastrophic events, may occur and how should these be taken into account by US policy? Responding to global climate change could be costly financially. However, there also could be positive spin-offs from addressing the consequences of global climate change. What may these positive spin-offs be (new technologies, energy independence, health, multilateral leadership, reputation gains)?

Description

Keywords

Citation