Letters to the Editor: Putin’s oil-funded war shows climate security is national security

To the editor: Most people know or have felt the effects of a warming climate. But until now, the relationship between climate change and national security has not been a significant concern. (“One way to combat Russia? Move faster on clean energy,” Feb. 26)

The U.S. military has long registered warnings to national security as a result of climate change. With Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine, the world now understands these warnings too.

When Putin’s invasion of Ukraine seemed imminent, President Biden warned that war would have energy and economic consequences here. Both have now become reality. Energy, which is mostly supplied by fossil fuels that pollute the atmosphere, is tightly related to the environment and the climate.

We are now paying the price for the war at the pump and elsewhere. Have you filled up your car’s gas tank lately?

It’s time for a clean energy future without supply interruptions halfway around the world. National security is energy and global climate security.

Curt Abdouch, Laguna Woods

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To the editor: Sammy Roth’s article on curbing Russia’s influence by building up clean energy is fine as far as it goes, but it ignores a glaring problem.

Americans waste huge amounts of energy, and weaning ourselves off oil will be incredibly costly unless we stop wasting electricity. In fact, California energy agencies predict that the state’s electric capacity will need to triple for us to get off fossil fuels.

So, unless the state steps up its energy efficiency game (by focusing on everything from insulation to smart technology), simply building more and more remote solar and wind projects will require ever more transmission lines. And even though actually generating solar and wind energy is cheap, transporting those electrons from desert solar farms and offshore turbines to our homes is expensive.

We’d better start giving energy efficiency our full attention, or the “renewable revolution” will be a rude shock to all our pocketbooks.

Joan Taylor, Palm Springs

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To the editor: Nowhere in the article is it mentioned that France has cut way back on fossil fuel consumption for electricity because it derives about 70% of its power from nuclear energy.

That country went nuclear years ago to avoid the unpredictability of oil and natural gas prices and supply.

Martin Mach, Venice