Is the United States military keeping something from us? That’s the question put forth in a recent Forbes article siting the significance of an agreement made last Wednesday between between President Obama and President Xi Jinping in China. You can read the “U.S.-China Joint Announcement on Climate Change” on the White House website where they list 8 key points to be addressed and negotiated at the 2015 United Nation’s global climate summit in Paris, France.

The Brookings Institute reports,

Under the agreement, the United States intends to achieve an economy-wide target of reducing its emissions by 26 percent to 28 percent in 2025, as compared to 2005. China intends to peak carbon emissions by 2030, and also intends to have a 20 percent share of non-fossil fuels in primary energy consumption by 2030.

You can find other stats on the White House ‘fact sheet’.

The Forbes article claims,

Every branch of the United States Military is worried about climate change. They have been since well before it became controversial.

And, continues to lay out the reason we should be following the military’s lead on Climate Change,

The Center for Naval Analysis has had its Military Advisory Board examining the national security implications of climate change for many years. Lead by Army General Paul Kern, the Military Advisory Board is a group of 16 retired flag-level officers from all branches of the Service.

This is not a group normally considered to be liberal activists and fear-mongers.

The military advisory board published a report this year called, National Security and the Accelerating Risks of Climate Change.

In the report, the committee states,

“The potential security ramifications of global climate change should be serving as catalysts for cooperation and change. Instead, climate change impacts are already accelerating instability in vulnerable areas of the world and are serving as catalysts for conflict.”

They advisory board believes Global warming is a, “salient national security concern for our nation”.

If the United States military is this concerned, why is the topic so polarizing to the citizenry?