The Path Of Most Resistance Would Oppose Wars, Too

Image from petition "Will you stand for peace?" directed at the organizers of the April 29 People's Climate March

What's wrong with this picture? It speaks a thousand unnecessary words about why war and militarism are the most clear and present threat to environmental health. 

It would be hard to think of a more effective engine of climate change than the billowing smoke of the thousands of fires caused by weapons in the oil and gas rich regions of our planet.

My friend Jenny Gray posted some wisdom today that I've lost in the flood of information; essentially, she vowed to follow the path of most resistance. I inferred her nod to the notion that the path of least resistance often leads to people supporting policies that are deadly to the planet and its life forms. For instance, men in offices blandly signing death warrants for names on a list.

The path of least resistance these days is masquerading as the path of most resistance. (Because, the demagogue with bad hair!!!) However, if you bear in mind that the way most propaganda works is not by telling lies but by directing our attention away from glaring truths, the mask falls away.

The organization World Beyond War is circulating this critique of the so-called "People's Climate March" slated for April 29 in Washington DC. Among the claims on the march organizers' web site:

There are nine points to the People’s Climate platform that were developed over the last year. They are:

• Directly and rapidly reduce greenhouse gas and toxic pollution to successfully combat climate change and improve public health

• Mandate a transition to an equitable and sustainable New Energy and Economic Future that limits the temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels

• Provide a Just Transition for communities and workers negatively impacted by the shift to a New Energy and Economic Future that includes targeted economic opportunity and provides stable income, health care, and education

• Demand that every job pays a wage of at least $15 an hour, protects workers, and provides a good standard of living, pathways out of poverty, and a right to organize

• Ensure that investments are targeted to create pathways for low-income people and people of color to access good jobs and improve the lives of communities of color, indigenous peoples, low-income people, small farmers, women, and workers.

• Make bold investments in the resilience of states, cities, tribes, and communities that are threatened by climate change; including massive investments in infrastructure systems from water, transportation, and solid waste to the electrical grid and safe, green building and increasing energy efficiency that will also create millions of jobs in the public and private sector

• Reinvest in a domestic industrial base that drives towards an equitable and sustainable New Energy and Economic Future, and fight back against the corporate trade-induced global race to the bottom

• Market- and policy-based mechanisms must protect human rights and critical, native ecosystems and reduce pollution at source

Sounds good, right? Except that there's no mention of the #1 driver of carbon pollution and climate change: the military.

If you can't smell the Democratic Party bullshit at this point, you may have a head cold interfering with your olfactory organ.

Why won't people who claim to be concerned about the environment -- for instance, 350.org -- come out against wars? Probably because their political allies have taken and continue to take massive donations from the corporations who profit from building climate wrecking weapons of mass destruction.

Wars begun before the current regime took the White House will continue to get uglier, and new wars may even get nuclear. 

When will the misinformed people in the U.S. mount significant resistance to militarism as a way of life? After it's already too late?

You can join me in signing the petition to the People's Climate March organizers here, though it is unlikely they will listen as their ears are plugged up with corporate donations. But if another person sees that you signed and is led to ask a crucial question about the link between militarism and climate change, your communication will have worked.

You can also join the Natural Guard campaign by signing the pledge here. Be a communication worker and help bring news of the path of real resistance to people befuddled by corporate media messaging.

Add your name to join the Natural Guard effort from wherever you are!

I pledge to speak out about the effects of militarism on our environment, because the commons we all share that sustain life are valuable to me. 

In discussions about security and safety, I will remind others of the need to count in the cost in pollution and fuel consumption of waging wars all around the planet.

In discussions about acting soon to protect our loved ones from the effects of climate chaos, I will remind others of the need to examine the role of the Pentagon and its many contractors in contributing to planetary warming.

Lisa Savage, Solon, ME

Mark Roman, Solon, ME

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Wade Fulmer

Curtis Cole

Bob Dale

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natasha mayers

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Will Thomas, Auburn, NH

Wendy Thomas, Auburn, NH

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Juyeon Rhee, Tenafly, NJ

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Michael Cutting, Portland, ME

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Gail Scott, Portland, ME

Jessica Moore, Portland, ME

Dusan Bjelic, Portland, ME

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Dianne Burns

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Selma Sternlieb, Brunswick, Me

Dixie Searway

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Richard Brown Lethem

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