Links between climate change and our security: Ed Horgan letter in Irish Independent,

Links between climate change and our security
Taoiseach Micheál Martin gave a well-crafted speech to the UN Security Council on Thursday. He carefully avoided the large elephants in the Security Council room, and these were not just Chinese, Indian and Russian elephants. An Taoiseach said: “The impact of climate change is global and our collective security is at risk.”
Nato and its allies are the largest collective security organisation on Earth. An Taoiseach and the UN Security Council have got the wrong end of the climate change stick.
Nato and its associated militarism are among the greatest polluters on the planet, even in peacetime. However, the US, Nato and their allies have been waging aggressive resource wars across the wider Middle East since the end of the Cold War, causing massive destruction and hugely contributing to climate change and causing millions of unjustified deaths.

Links between climate change and our security
Taoiseach Micheál Martin gave a well-crafted speech to the UN Security Council on Thursday. He carefully avoided the large elephants in the Security Council room, and these were not just Chinese, Indian and Russian elephants. An Taoiseach said: “The impact of climate change is global and our collective security is at risk.”
Nato and its allies are the largest collective security organisation on Earth. An Taoiseach and the UN Security Council have got the wrong end of the climate change stick.
Nato and its associated militarism are among the greatest polluters on the planet, even in peacetime. However, the US, Nato and their allies have been waging aggressive resource wars across the wider Middle East since the end of the Cold War, causing massive destruction and hugely contributing to climate change and causing millions of unjustified deaths.
He went on to say: “Around Lake Chad, the combination of conflict and the impact of climate change has led to violence between communities.” While climate change may be one of the causes of conflict there, another elephant in the room and a major cause of conflicts in Africa has been and still is French neo-colonial abuses, including the arguable misuse of UN and EU peacekeeping forces, who are intervening in civil wars or anti-colonial wars rather than genuine peacekeeping. Closer to home, the US military use of Shannon Airport has substantially contributed to the chaos and climate change in the Middle East.
Edward Horgan
Castletroy, Co Limerick