Veterans: Oil dependence, climate change are key security threats

Glenn Kunkle knows it’s no use badgering people.

Oil may be a finite resource, but it’s “still not going to disappear,” he said. Individual consumption habits are only one part of the equation he and his fellow volunteers are trying to change.

But it does annoy the U.S. Marine combat veteran of the Iraq War to see urbanites driving Hummers to convenience stores.

“I walk if I can,” said the 29-year-old Akron, Ohio resident, who makes longer trips in his 4-cylinder Jeep.

According to Mr. Kunkel and four other veterans who visited Scranton on Thursday, America’s reliance on fossil fuels – and the related consequences of climate change – pose a grave national security risk. That’s why they’ve joined dozens of volunteers aboard Operation Free’s 21-state Veterans for American Power bus tour.

Operation Free participants said the effort is non-partisan, and their focus is on individuals and local media as well as lawmakers of all stripes. And while the grassroots work is vital, they stressed the primacy of efforts to support clean energy legislation.

“Dependence on oil from unfriendly, unstable nations makes us vulnerable,” said Robin Eckstein, 32, of Appleton, Wis., another Iraq veteran.

The poverty and desperation caused by climate change will only intensify the creation of “prime recruiting (grounds) for terrorists,” she said.

The money Americans spend on foreign oil is, often literally, “putting bullets” in terrorists’ guns via wealthy supporters in oil-producing nations, added Michael Breen, a former Army captain who served in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Mr. Breen and company believe the country should invest in clean energy sources that will put more Americans to work in addition to making the country safer and reducing environmental degradation.

It’s a process they understand will be measured in decades, but they also see the need for urgent action.

“Just because we’re not in uniform doesn’t mean our service to our country is over,” Mr. Kunkel said.

Leave a Comment cancel