Addicted To Militarism Means Addicted To Climate Change #PentagonClimateCrime

It would be extremely challenging to quantify the Pentagon's lifetime carbon footprint. But it is a number worth reckoning.

We are approaching the 70th anniversary of the shameful bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki with the planet's first nuclear weapons. Of course radioactive pollution is the kind of harm to the environment and living beings that we think of in connection with these events.  But I also wonder, how much did those bombs and all the others dropped since then contribute to climate change? 

The Pentagon does not want you to know.

Nagasaki, Japan   August 8, 1945 

Ukawa village, Japan

Meanwhile, friends are in Japan right now supporting local residents who object to having U.S. military bases ruin their coastline and livelihood. Ukawa village has mounted a spirited resistance to having a missile "defense" site aimed at China located on their land. 

Besides CO2 emissions, the Pentagon also blankets the planet in noise pollution.  As reported by Bruce Gagnon:

A historic Buddhist temple was our first stop which is now virtually surrounded by the military base barbed wire fences.  We were told that the public now largely avoids the once popular temple because of the extreme noise coming from the generators providing power to the radar. 

CO2 price tag for all the generators used by the Pentagon? Probably part of the overall carbon emitted from burning 90,000,000 barrels worth of petroleum fuel each year i.e. approximately 38,700,000 metric tons in 2013.

Warmer oceans and other waterways are bad for many species. This week brought news that Sockeye Salmon are dying in droves as they try to spawn in water that is the wrong temperature. About half have died this season, and wildlife experts predict as many as 80% will ultimately perish.

Tomorrow I'll blog about the many, many ways that my fellow Americans rationalize their inability to reckon the Pentagon's impact on catastrophic climate change.