As we’ve come to expect from this president, Obama’s Nobel Prize lecture was sophisticated and brave, as he addressed the obvious paradox of receiving a peace prize one week after ordering a major war escalation. With a solemn obligation to address such a weighty matter, it was surprising that climate issues – commonly sidelined – were brought forth:
“It is undoubtedly true that development rarely takes root without security; it is also true that security does not exist where human beings do not have access to enough food, or clean water, or the medicine and shelter they need to survive. It does not exist where children can’t aspire to a decent education or a job that supports a family. The absence of hope can rot a society from within.
And that’s why helping farmers feed their own people — or nations educate their children and care for the sick — is not mere charity. It’s also why the world must come together to confront climate change. There is little scientific dispute that if we do nothing, we will face more drought, more famine, more mass displacement — all of which will fuel more conflict for decades. For this reason, it is not merely scientists and environmental activists who call for swift and forceful action — it’s military leaders in my own country and others who understand our common security hangs in the balance.”
This oration will likely pass the test of time for a number of reasons, not the least of which is the recognition, by a wartime president, of the relationship between natural resources and global security. I recommend reading the entire lecture (found here with a short video excerpt).
Photo Credit: The Washington Post gallery
