{"id":2088,"date":"2011-05-04T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2011-05-04T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2011\/05\/a-real-national-strategy-jim-dwyer.html"},"modified":"2011-05-04T08:00:00","modified_gmt":"2011-05-04T12:00:00","slug":"a-real-national-strategy-jim-dwyer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2011\/05\/a-real-national-strategy-jim-dwyer.html","title":{"rendered":"A real national strategy —Jim Dwyer"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/a>
\nWhat say we make a real national security strategy,
\none based on energy independence and a sustainable economy?<\/p>\n

\nJim Dwyer write 3 May 2011 in the NY Times,
\n
\nA National Security Strategy That Doesn\u2019t Focus on Threats<\/a><\/p>\n

\n“Poorly fitted air conditioners cost New York City 130 to 180 million
\ndollars a year in extra energy consumption,” one of the strategists,
\nCapt. Wayne Porter of the Navy, said Tuesday. “They generate 370,525
\nextra tons of carbon dioxide.”<\/p>\n

\nSuppose, he says, you fixed them. And then you got the 40 states
\nthat waste the most electricity to match the 10 most efficient. The
\nlikely benefits are no surprise \u2014 less foreign oil, cost savings,
\njob creation, decreased pollution.<\/p>\n

\nNow follow that thread to
\n
\n“A National Strategic Narrative,”<\/a>
\na paper
\nwritten by Captain Porter and Col. Mark Mykleby of the Marines, which
\ncalls on the United States to see that it cannot continue to engage the
\nworld primarily with military force, but must do so as a nation powered
\nby the strength of its educational system, social policies, international
\ndevelopment and diplomacy, and its commitment to sustainable practices
\nin energy and agriculture.<\/p>\n

\n“We must recognize that security means more than defense,” they
\nwrite. After ending the 20th century as the world\u2019s most powerful
\ncountry, “we failed to recognize that dominance, like fossil fuel,
\nis not a sustainable form of energy.”\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\nAn army without an economy defends nothing.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\nA sustainable economy doesn’t need much of an army.<\/p>\n

\nSure, everybody is talking about the demise of Osama bin Laden.
\nBut remember:<\/p>\n

\n“When Saddam Hussein was discovered in his spider hole, everyone
\nthought, ‘Hallelujah, the war is over,’ and it was really just
\nbeginning,” Colonel Mykleby said Tuesday by phone from his home in
\nSouth Carolina. “The big, bad daddies, taking them out \u2014 it’s not
\nthe answer. It\u2019s part of it. The job is not done yet. There are still
\nbad guys are out there, and it\u2019s going to be part of the fabric of our
\nworld. This is a critical moment to talk about a narrative that isn\u2019t
\njust focused on threats.”<\/p>\n

\nIn their paper, the officers argue that the United States has to move
\nfrom “containment” \u2014 the foreign policy established after World
\nWar II to limit the expansion and influence of the Soviet Union \u2014 to
\nwhat they call “sustainment” or sustainability.<\/p>\n

\nThe first priority, they write, should be “intellectual capital and
\na sustainable infrastructure of education, health and social services
\nto provide for the continuing development and growth of America’s
\nyouth.” They go on to say that the country’s security may require
\n“a hard look at the distribution of our treasure,” arguing that the
\nhistoric focus on defense and protectionism has meant the neglect of
\ninternational development and diplomacy. And with technology piercing
\nthe isolation of nations, they write that the United States has a stake
\nin helping countries held down by illiteracy and poverty.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Want to decrease worldwide exploitation of resources and pollution?
\nIncrease literacy and decrease poverty.
\nMany studies show that’s the path to lower population
\nand less resource use.<\/p>\n

\nGlobal security begins at home,
\nwith education and a sustainable economy.
\nWe already know how to deploy solar and wind energy.
\nLet’s get on with it.<\/p>\n

\n-jsq<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What say we make a real national security strategy, one based on energy independence and a sustainable economy? Jim Dwyer write 3 May 2011 in the NY Times, A National Security Strategy That Doesn\u2019t Focus on Threats “Poorly fitted air conditioners cost New York City 130 to 180 million dollars a year in extra energy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[97,14,15,264,265,16,41,570,21,22,32,23,73,24,36],"tags":[931,1031,8731,8714,1714,4614,2117,8716],"class_list":["post-2088","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-activism","category-economy","category-education","category-energy-conservation","category-energy-efficiency","category-environment","category-health-care","category-military","category-planning","category-politics","category-pollution","category-renewable-energy","category-safety","category-solar","category-wind","tag-conservation","tag-efficiency","tag-safety","tag-solar","tag-strategy","tag-strength","tag-sustainable","tag-wind"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2088","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2088"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2088\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2088"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2088"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2088"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}