Dr. Randall Cuthbert
Associate Professor of Emergency & Disaster Management at American Public University
The month was April 1991. My team of Air Force engineers had deployed to Desert Shield some months earlier. Once Kuwait was recaptured, a small group of us—me, as a captain, leading the group–went to Kuwait City to set up ‘civilization’ for those that were on the front line making the mission happen.
We established water, showers, air conditioning, and functional latrines and then went on our way. It was something that none of us probably ever forgot. Just how life changing that assignment was would not become apparent until much later.
I–as guided by my deficient personality–ignored the ‘do not enter—you will be blown to pieces’ signs and walked out amongst the oil well fires that the Iraqis had left behind. The fires roared like jet engines, and the ground vibrated as if a permanent earthquake was ongoing. The smoke turned the noon sky black—before, during, and after our stay. I still can sense the vibrations to this day.
Later, as we were preparing to redeploy back home, one of my troops asked me: “I heard that the oil well fires have ruined the ecology of the world. Have the fires ruined the world?” I gave the answer that they were pretty small fires in a pretty big world. That naive answer is much different than the answer I would give today.
Today, of course, we have an additional 25 years of climate science that shows clearly that the general slow cooling trend of the climate that had prevailed for the past 11,000 years has been violently altered beginning around the start of the 20th century and converted into a trend of very fast global warming. We now know that the burning of fossil fuels, including the oil well fires, have been the primary contributors to that change of direction.
So what does this have to do with your career? Two things, actually:
First, you have a choice of careers to pursue; you can choose to pursue a career that contributes to the problem or a career that helps solve the problem. Humankind will most likely need you and educated people everywhere to choose to help solve the problem.
Second, most people today do not know that global warming is impacting their lives in some way each and every day. That means YOU, with the knowledge or the ability to acquire the knowledge that global warming is happening, can have a competitive advantage over those who do not in acquiring and implementing your job in your chosen profession.
Knowledge of climate change offers you the opportunity to be good and do good works at the same time. And, make no mistake, this is not something to be taken lightly–the DoD, all military branches, federal civil service, and private industry across the spectrum are all planning with dedication and urgency to prepare for what’s coming at us. They understand that accommodating climate change is a matter of national security and economic survival, just as climate scientists understand that accommodation is a matter of societal survival.
Join those who wish to become part of the solution. It’s the most honorable decision you’ll make today.
Onward & upward!
About the Author: Dr. Cuthbert designed and teaches EDMG 665—Climate Change Adaptation. He welcomes comments and suggestions for topics to explore in this forum. He can be reached at randall.cuthbert@mycampus.apus.edu
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