Tournament: UCO | Round:  | Opponent:  | Judge: 

Warming

Exhaustion of all resources inev-only SPS can meet energy needs

Snead ’9 (Mike, senior member of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) a past chair of the AIAA’s Space Logistics Technical Committee, and the founder and president of the Spacefaring Institute LLC, "The Vital Need for America to Develop Space Solar Power," The Space Review, May 4, 2009,)

The threat of energy scarcity is quite real and should not be ignored by the 

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, reasonableness dictates that the serious engineering development of SSP be started now. 

The Scenario is warming

Its real and anthropogenic

-different warrants 

Prothero 12 (M.A., M.Phil., and Ph.D. degrees in geological sciences from Columbia University, and a B.A. in geology and biology from the University of California, Riverside, Professor of Geology at Occidental College in Los Angeles, and Lecturer in Geobiology at the California Institute of Technology, "How We Know Global Warming is Real and Human Caused"  Skeptic. Altadena: 2012. Vol. 17, Iss. 2; pg. 14, 10 pgs, proquest) HDG 

How do we know that global warming is real and primarily human caused? There 

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Florida, and most of the world’s river deltas) would be drowned. 

CO2 causes warming-newest study confirms

Spotts 12 (Pete, staff writer, April 5, 2012, "Ice age study delivers blow to global-warming skeptics" http:www.csmonitor.com/Environment/2012/0405/Ice-age-study-delivers-blow-to-global-warming-skeptics?utm_source=feedburner%26utm_medium=feed%26utm_campaign=Feed%3A+feeds%2Fenvironment+%28Christian+Science+Monitor+|+Environment%29-http://www.csmonitor.com/Environment/2012/0405/Ice-age-study-delivers-blow-to-global-warming-skeptics?utm_source=feedburner%26utm_medium=feed%26utm_campaign=Feed%3A+feeds%2Fenvironment+%28Christian+Science+Monitor+|+Environment%29) 

Rising levels of carbon dioxide drove much of the global warming that thawed Earth at 

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comparable to the one scientists today see as the most-likely value. 

Scientific Consensus goes aff

EDF 11 (Environmental Defense Fund, leading national nonprofit organization representing more than 700,000 members.  Citing Science and the IPCC, as well as other multinational climate organizations, "Scientific Consensus on the Basic Facts of Global Warming," http:www.edf.org/climate/scientific-consensus-http://www.edf.org/climate/scientific-consensus)** 

The most respected scientific bodies have stated unequivocally that global warming is occurring, and 

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warming is real. The time to start working on solutions is now.

Avoiding 450 PPM is key

Hansen ’9 

(Climate Scientist at the Goddard Institute for Space Studies at NASA and professor in the department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Columbia University, received the Carl-Gustaf Rossby Research Medal which is the highest award for atmospheric research of the American Meteorological Society, Time Magazine’s Top 100 Most influential People, Member of the National Academy of Sciences, PhD in Physics and Astronomy at the University of Iowa (John, "Storms of our grandchildren", pages 158-160,) 

Now let us turn to the question of why atmospheric carbon dioxide changed during the 

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per square meter, restoring the planet’s energy balance, to first approximation.

The impacts

First is Ocean Acidification

There is a new consensus that warming will destroy the Oceans in ways that haven’t been seen for 300 million years

Hance 12

Jeremy Hance¶ mongabay.com    2,600 scientists: climate change killing the world’s coral reefs¶ ¶ July 10, 2012¶ http://news.mongabay.com/2012/0710-hance-coral-reefs-climate-statment.html

In an unprecedented show of concern, 2,600 (and rising) of 

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the world to act on climate change—but it is closing rapidly." 

Extinction—emission reductions are critical to preventing this

Romm 2009

 (Joe, a Fellow at American Progress and is the editor of Climate Progress, which New York Times columnist Tom Friedman called "the indispensable blog" and Time magazine named one of the 25 "Best Blogs of 2010.″ In 2009, Rolling Stone put Romm ~%2388 on its list of 100 "people who are reinventing America." Time named him a "Hero of the Environment″ and "The Web’s most influential climate-change blogger." Romm was acting assistant secretary of energy for energy efficiency and renewable energy in 1997, where he oversaw %241 billion in R%26D, demonstration, and deployment of low-carbon technology. He is a Senior Fellow at American Progress and holds a Ph.D. in physics from MIT, "Imagine a World without Fish: Deadly ocean acidification — hard to deny, harder to geo-engineer, but not hard to stop — is subject of documentary ," http://thinkprogress.org/romm/2009/09/02/204589/a-sea-change-imagine-a-world-without-fish-ocean-acidification-film/,)

Global warming is "capable of wrecking the marine ecosystem and depriving future generations of 

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that life "" the time to start slashing carbon dioxide emissions is now.

Second is hydrogen sulfide poisoning 

Warming induces hydrogen sulfide poisoning. This destroys the ozone and causes extinction.

Ward 2010 

(Peter, PhD, professor of Biology and Earth and Space Sciences at the University of Washington, paleontologist and NASA astrobiologist, Fellow at the California Academy of Sciences, The Flooded Earth: Our Future in a World Without Ice Caps, June 29, 2010,)

In the rest of this chapter I will support a contention that within several millennia 

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that a new generation will quickly decide to open their ears and listen.

And, SPS becomes competitive with coal

Gomez et al 09 (Raul, Evelyn Panier, Xin Sun and Cornelius Zund

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the Aerospace MBA Toulouse Business School – France, July 20, 2009)

According to the International Energy Agency, the burning of fossil fuel currently accounts for 

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heat and other forms of energy which also end up in the biosphere. 

Solves warming and avoids tipping points

Hansen 9 - Director of Nasa’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies

James Hansen, Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences @ Columbia University and Ph.D. in Physics  from the University of Iowa),  "Coal-fired power stations are death factories. Close them," The Observer, Sunday 15 February 2009,  pg. http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/feb/15/james-hansen-power-plants-coal

A year ago, I wrote to Gordon Brown asking him to place a moratorium 

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number that would be committed to extinction if carbon dioxide rose another 100 ppm

Limiting electricity emissions is key

Duane 10 – Professor of Environmental Studies

Timothy Duane, Associate Professor of Environmental Studies, University of California, Santa Cruz, 2010, "Greening the Grid: Implementing Climate Change Policy Through Energy Efficiency, Renewable Portfolio Standards, and Strategic Transmission System Investments," 34 Vt. L. Rev. 711, Lexis

Understanding the existing institutional framework is therefore essential both in design and implementation of climate 

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effect if the electricity is produced through coal rather than renewable power sources. 

Plan

The Department of Defense should procure electricity produced in the United States from space based solar power 

Solvency

DoD as anchor tenant is the only way to get the private sector on board

NSSO 7

(October 2007, National Security Space Office, "Space-Based Solar Power As an Opportunity for Strategic Security," www.nss.org/settlement/ssp/.../final-sbsp-interim-assessment-release-01.pdf-http://www.nss.org/settlement/ssp/.../final-sbsp-interim-assessment-release-01.pdf )

FINDING: The SBSP Study Group found that industry has stated that the ~%231 

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as the NextView acquisition approach pioneered by the National GeoSpatial‐imaging Agency. 

Aff is a pre-requisite to their private sector spillover—it’s the only way to make it cost-competitive

Betancourt 10

(Kiatar Betancourt, Online Journal of Space Communication, "Legal Challenges Facing Solar Power Satellites", http:spacejournal.ohio.edu/issue16/betancourt.html-http://spacejournal.ohio.edu/issue16/betancourt.html   , FS)

Military Interest: The U.S. military was spending over %241 per 

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SBSP to the public sector as the costs of SBSP lower over time. 

Procurement changes the entire economic equation for SPS

Space Frontier Foundation 7

(October 2007 Space Frontier Foundation, "Space-Based Solar Power (SBSP): Meeting Humanity’s Energy, National Security, Environmental and Economic Development Needs", http:www.scribd.com/doc/8766486/SpaceBased-Solar-Power-SBSP-Meeting-Humanitys-Energy-National-Security-Environmental-and-Economic-Development-Needs-http://www.scribd.com/doc/8766486/SpaceBased-Solar-Power-SBSP-Meeting-Humanitys-Energy-National-Security-Environmental-and-Economic-Development-Needs   , FS)

In other words, if space-based solar power existed today it would be 

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per kilowatt hour for large amounts of power, is a major step forward

Starting now means we have a grid up in time to prevent runaway warming.

Schubert 10 

(Peter, received his doctorate in electrical and computer engineering from Purdue University on 

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of Space Communication, Winter 2010)*modified for gender, denoted by brackets

The Energy Information Agency (EIA) of the US predicts that in the time 

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wars, climate disasters, or economic collapse can be averted or ameliorated.

Heg

US will continue to pursue hegemony inevitably—it’s only a question of whether those actions will be successful

Shalmon and Horowitz 9 - * Senior Analyst at Lincoln Group * assistant professor of Political Science at The University of Pennsylvania

(Dan, Senior Analyst at Lincoln Group, LLC, Mike, assistant professor of Political Science at The University of Pennsylvania, as well as an FPRI scholar, Orbis, Spring)

It is important to recognize at the outset two key points about United States strategy 

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/asymmetric threats are inevitable given America’s role in the global order.24 

US military is vulnerable to power loss

Asmus 11

Peter Asmus is an analyst at Pike Research specializing in renewable energy¶ The Promise (and Perils) of the Government Microgrid¶ http:featured.matternetwork.com/2011/2/promise-perils-government-microgrid.cfm-http://featured.matternetwork.com/2011/2/promise-perils-government-microgrid.cfm

Government funding has played a key role in launching the microgrid market, especially at 

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and new renewable energy resources into the generation mix at the military base.

Grid breakdowns crushes US military operations

Stockton 11

Paul Stockton 11, assistant secretary of defense for Homeland Defense and Americas’ Security Affairs, "Ten Years After 9/11: Challenges for the Decade to Come", http://www.hsaj.org/?fullarticle=7.2.11. 

The cyber threat to the DIB is only part of a much larger challenge to 

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power system over which it does not – and never will – exercise control

Grid breakdowns cause nuclear war

Andres and Breetz 11

Richard Andres, Professor of National Security Strategy at the National War College and a Senior Fellow and Energy and Environmental Security and Policy Chair in the Center for Strategic Research, Institute for National Strategic Studies, at the National Defense University, and Hanna Breetz, doctoral candidate in the Department of Political Science at The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Small Nuclear Reactorsfor Military Installations:Capabilities, Costs, andTechnological Implications, www.ndu.edu/press/lib/pdf/StrForum/SF-262.pdf

The DOD interest in small reactors derives largely ¶ from problems with base and logistics 

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, may not share this fear or be deterred ¶ by this possibility.¶ 

SPS solves the grid

Ramos 0 *Kim Ramos is a U.S. Air Force Major the paper is a thesis submitted for the AIR COMMAND AND STAFF COLL MAXWELL Air Force Base ~"Solar Power Constellations: Implications for the United States Air Force," April, http:handle.dtic.mil/100.2/ADA394928-http://handle.dtic.mil/100.2/ADA394928~~

Terrestrially solar power satellites enable information superiority technologies such as the unmanned aerial vehicle. 

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satellite also enables base independence from the local power grid in times of emergencies

It also solves energy security and resource wars

NSSO 8 *National Space Security Office of the USFG ~Space-Based Solar Power Study Group, Ad Astra, "Strategic Importance" Spring 2008, pg. 28, http:www.nss.org/adastra/AdAstra-SBSP-2008.pdf-http://www.nss.org/adastra/AdAstra-SBSP-2008.pdf~~

Like all species in a closed ecosystem, human civilization flourishes in times of new 

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DoD is the largest single consumer of petroleum in the U.S. 

Resource shortages cause global conflict

Nordas and Gleditsch 9 -*MA in Politics, Professor of Political Science

Ragnhild, Nils, 2009, "IPCC and the climate-conflict nexus," http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/documents/IPRI_IPCCClimateConflictNexus.pdf

IPCC (2001) points out that ’much has been written about the potential 

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and resources problems will affect regional and international security’ (p. 107).  

Decline destabilizes all global hotspots

Russian aggression, Taiwan war, Korea war, Afghanistan war, Indo-Pak war, Pakistan war, Central Asia War, Israel war/strikes, Allied Prolif

Brzezinski ’12 - Professor of Foreign Policy at SAIS 

Zbigniew, PhD in government, scholar at CSIS, former National Security Advisor, "8 Geopolitically Endangered Species," Foreign Policy Jan/Feb ’12, www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/01/03/8_geopolitically_endangered_species?page=full AD 9/16/12

With the decline of America’s global preeminence, weaker countries will be more susceptible to 

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extremism; a worldwide energy crisis; vulnerability of America’s Persian Gulf allies.

Any of these would escalate into great power wars—American retrenchment collapse current restraints

Zhang and Shi 11 – *Yuhan Zhang is a researcher at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Currently on leave from Graduate School in Economic and Political Development, Lin Shi, MA from Columbia in International Affairs, also serves as an independent consultant for the Eurasia Group and a consultant for the World Bank

America’s decline: A harbinger of conflict and rivalry, http://www.eastasiaforum.org/2011/01/22/americas-decline-a-harbinger-of-conflict-and-rivalry/

This does not necessarily mean that the US is in systemic decline, but it 

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forecast in a future that will inevitably be devoid of unrivalled US primacy.

We control uniqueness—all forms of violence declined in the era of U.S. leadership

Fettweis 11—political science professor @ Tulane 

Christopher, Professor of Political Science @ Tulane, Dangerous Times?: The International Politics of Great Power Peace, pg. 85-86

The evidence supports the latter. Major wars tend to be rather memorable, so 

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that the rules by which international politics are run may indeed he changing.