Climate Change and National Security with Erin Sikorsky

Climate change and its effects are increasingly recognized as important subjects of national security research and analysis. Few issues of international political economy or international security avoid some intersection with warming global temperatures, evolving environments for human habitation, and/or changing geography.

Erin Sikorsky has been studying these and related issues for decades, first within the U.S. Intelligence Community and now at the Center for Climate and Security. David Priess had a wide ranging conversation with Erin about her career in government and beyond, how intelligence officers look at climate, a method of categorizing climate risk, how NATO is tackling climate-related issues, the missed opportunity to emphasize renewables over fossil fuels after Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, the Climate Security Advisory Group, increasingly bipartisan support for climate security action, the roles of the public and Hollywood in addressing climate change, how various movies and books have examined these issues, and more.

Chatter is a production of Lawfare and Goat Rodeo. This episode was produced and edited by Cara Shillenn of Goat Rodeo. Podcast theme by David Priess, featuring music created using Groovepad.

Among the works discussed in this episode:

• Erin Sikorsky's page at the Center for Climate and Security
• The Chatter podcast episode Arctic Security and Cooperation with Marisol Maddox
• "Summer Heatwave Underscores Importance of NATO's Climate Security Focus," Center for Climate and Security website, July 21, 2022, by Erin Sikorsky
• "Climate Security Next Steps for the U.S. Government," Lawfare, May 6, 2022, by John Conger and Erin Sikorsky
• The movie Avatar
• The movie Interstellar
• The movie The Day After Tomorrow
• The movie Don't Look Up
• The book The Ministry of the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson
• The book trilogy The Broken Earth by N. K. Jemisin
• The book Under a White Sky: The Nature of the Future by Elizabeth Kolbert
• The report Groundswell, Part 2: Acting on Internal Climate Migration, by the World Bank
• John Conger's page at the Center for Climate and Security