End Pentagon Climate Crimes! Say Veterans Arrested In DC

Before deciding to reduce my own emissions by taking action closer to home, I used to join Veterans for Peace members risking arrest in Washington DC to protest U.S. wars. VFP members' motivation this week was an issue I've been focused on for years, and one that is finally getting some traction in the corporate press: the climate impact of the U.S. military. So I'm a bit sad that I wasn't there with them.

I appreciate this group's efforts to get our warmongering government to recognize that we're in a climate emergency and act accordingly. VFP members also called attention to other dangerous enivronmental impacts of military pollution, from toxic burn pits to leaking jet fuel into the groundwater in Hawai'i.

Here's the press release from their action in DC.

Military Veterans Arrested Demanding Presidential & Congressional Action on Climate Crisis

 

WASHINGTON, D.C.- On Wednesday, August 3rd, seven military veterans and supporters were arrested near the U.S. Capitol Building. Members of Veterans For Peace, an organization of over 120 military veteran chapters worldwide, gathered at the foot of the Capitol demanding more robust action on addressing the climate crisis.

Veterans For Peace demands that the President and Congress:

• Stop the U.S.-driven wars and all military weapons sales, shipments and support to nation states engaged in open armed conflict.

• Require the U.S. military release a full report on their greenhouse gas emissions. The United States military does not publicly and regularly report its overall fuel consumption or greenhouse gas emissions—despite requirements laid out in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2021. DoD is estimated to emit more CO2 than over 120 separate countries.

• Declare a Climate Emergency NOW–and use all the resulting Presidential powers including stopping the granting of new resource extraction permits and leases, e.g., drilling on public lands and pipeline construction, and strengthening of standards including air quality and methane emissions.

• Cut the Pentagon Budget- Military spending should be reduced by at least $200 billion annually, freeing up $2 trillion or more over the next decade for domestic and human needs priorities. With those spending cuts, the Pentagon's budget would remain more than enough to keep America safe at a level well above our nation's post-World War II historical average.

• Prioritize investing in communities in the U.S. impacted by the military and climate change and in the Global South including paying the U.S.' climate debt.

• Prioritize diplomacy over the threat of military force, beginning with negotiations for a global Climate Emergency Treaty and the renegotiation of lapsed nuclear arms treaties between U.S. and Russia.

"The military has done next to nothing to reduce their carbon footprint, either ignoring the climate mandate completely or just focusing on creating more advanced weapons systems that can continue to operate under worsening climate conditions. From the burn pits to nuclear waste to water contamination in Hawai'i, the U.S. military is responsible for an unprecedented amount of climate disasters. It is past time for Congress and the President to hold the U.S. military accountable for their catastrophic effects on the planet." -Garett Reppenhagen, Executive Director of Veterans For Peace, U.S. Army, Cavalry/Scout Sniper, OIF Veteran.

"I chose to risk arrest today because as a Marine who served in Afghanistan and Iraq, I saw firsthand the devastation that the military has wrought on countries around the globe, including just 48 hours ago when the U.S. military issued yet another drone strike on Afghanistan. The U.S. spends unprecedented amounts of money on an ever-expanding U.S. military, using veterans like me as pawns in their justifications for more money. We need to be reducing U.S. militarism and redirecting that money towards climate solutions like renewable energy and resources that meet human needs." -Chris Velazquez, OIF/OEF Veteran, 2004-2010

Interviews available upon request

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 For Photos of the Event

"As a retired research geologist I fear the climate crisis. As a veteran, I know our military fuels this crisis and they have no accountability for their actions. It is too late for more talk, we need immediate action." -Jim Rine, U.S. Army, 1970-73

"As a lifelong resident of Hampton Roads, Virginia, which has the largest naval institution in the world, I've seen the domestic environmental harm the military causes in my own backyard. From the dumping of jet fuel into wetlands in Virginia Beach to the contamination of our waterways from shipyards, it's important to recognize all impacts of incessant militarism and say no to the military's war on the climate." T.J. Thompson, U.S. Navy, 1998-2004, deployed to South America, Mediterranean Cruise and the invasion of Iraq

"It is totally irresponsible for our government to spend billions of dollars funding wars abroad that accelerate the climate crisis while people are suffering at home without housing or food." -Jeff Parente, U.S. Marine Corps, 2006-2014, OIF Veteran

"The money needed to avoid the worst results of climate change, as well as many other social issues that lack adequate funding, is the wasteful and bloated military budget. Not only that, the U.S. military is the greatest contributor to mounting ecological catastrophe." -Joshua Farris, U.S. Army, 2000-2004, OIF veteran

"We've passed the point of return for our climate and our world. I am here because I know that we must do everything we can to mitigate the worst of what is to come. We must not sit back in apathy and hopelessness. The time to act is NOW." -Stephanie Atkinson, U.S. Army Reserve, 1984-1990

"As a veteran I have seen first hand the waste of the U.S. military. I have also watched Congress say that they care about veterans and active duty members of the military as an excuse to enrich lobbyists and military contractors, while defunding any military benefits. Since leaving the military I have become a land conservation advocate and I believe I have a responsibility to speak out against U.S. militarism and the pollution that the military creates." -Mike Marion, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 1988-90, Panama

"One of the ways I atone for my actions when I was in the military in Iraq, before I knew any better, was to work towards a better world.  I want future generations to have a chance to live in a world that is not on fire."  -Jules Vaquera, U.S. Air Force, OIF Veteran, 2000-2006

Contact: 314-899-4515, press@veteransforpeace.org

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Check out VFP's Climate and Militarism Project which is doing great work educating and resisting. 

Andrea Brower, Kaua'i Climate Forum On Military & Climate: 'This Is A Radically Underdiscussed Topic'

The Kaua'i Climate Forum invited me to present at their monthly zoom meeting on how the U.S. military contributes to climate chaos. Their January 12 forum included three outstanding climate and militarism activists based in Hawaii: Ann Wright of Veterans for Peace, Koohan Paik-Mander of Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space, and Kip Goodwin of Sierra Club. Here's the full recording:

Another Cost of War: The Military's Impact On The Climate Crisis forum

Like many zoom recordings, the first few minutes are spent waiting for attendees to enter the room, so I suggest you skip the first 4 minutes to get to Andrea's introduction of the sponsoring organizations, the topic, and the speakers. My 20 minute presentation with slides starts at the 10:45 point.

If you are short on time you can see just my recorded presentation here (the time difference between Maine and Hawaii made me beg off on presenting live way past my bedtime).

However, you will miss a lot if you don't hear the shorter presentations that follow mine. I've transcribed some excerpts from their remarks.

Andrea Brower, moderator, Gonzaga University adjunct faculty, Sociology & Environmental Studies:

This is a radically underdiscussed topic...we really can't talk about the climate crisis without discussing the U.S. military...Hawaii is where the U.S. military is arguably the biggest polluter, and Red Hill is just one example of many.

Ann Wright, retired Colonel U.S. Army & U.S. State Dept, organizer with Veterans for Peace:

"Most of the time we think of military pollution interms of what we've seen in wars...Iraq oil fields that were blown up...Iraq & Afghanistan burning pits...now dealing with the health problems that were caused...just as in the Vietnam war the health problems that were caused by Agent Orange...a legacy that the Vietnamese are still dealing with

Right here at Red Hill...we have 93,000 people most of them on military base housing...who are dealing with not having potable water...we are dealing with parts of the climate chaos, with how the repositories of fuel that the military says they have to have for national security... What is national security? Do you have n.s. when you're killing your own people with the materials that you're using for what you say in n.s.? our HI congressional delegation has picked upt hose terms. Congressman Kahele "the fuel insecurity is really n.s. & we've got to resolve this issue of having jet fuel 100 ft abo ve the main aquifer of Oahu."

Right here we're dealing with the tangible effects of military pollution

Marine Corps Osprey go out on training missions and they now are buzzing Molokai ...protests because these planes come in so low, shaking the windows...if you look at how much fuel they're using...the training and preparations are killing our enviro, killing our climate. something that well all here in the haw islands HI's congressional delegation which typically loves everything military gets huge amounts of their campaign funds from military-related industries. Well finally we have one time when our entire delegation has said no to the military & we need to keep after them to say no to the military which has been used to getting just as a matter of fact."

 

Laurel Brier, retired social worker & lead organizer for the Kaua'i Climate Forum: 

"[military emissions are] the whale in the room...there's no greening war

Bill McKibben's not talking about it, Greta's not talking about it" 

 

Koohan Paik-Mander, journalist & board member, Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space:

"Spread the truth! The media is complicit, the Democrats are complicit...all we have is ourselves."

Kip Goodwin, peace and justice activist with Sierra Club & Democratic Party Environmental Caucus:

"Homeland Defense Radar Hawaii (HDRH) to be built [in one of two locations in Hawaii]...would have one purpose: to detect the launch of a intercontinental ballistic missile from North Korea ...this radar has lost support among DOD strategy planners ...because hypersonic missiles can evade the radar...the HDRH has been zeroed out of the last two defense auth bills in favor of a network of satellite detection systems... 

What's keeping the HDRH alive is procurements won by our congressional delegation...one thing Republicans and Democrats in Washington can agree on is voting more funding to the Pentagon than it even asks for...the military would invest $1 billion of our taxpayer structures in a tsunami-zone..sea level is expected to rise at that location 3 feet by the end of the century. The military's answer to that is to put the radar complex on a platform 27 acres...that would require 80,000 truckloads of concrete and in-fill...disrupting daily life and commerce for a year or more...

The background for all this is the headlong rush into a nuclear arms race.

Opinion polls show that the treaty... that makes ownership of a nuclear weapon illegal under international law signed by 86 countries has overwhelming support worldwide. But nuclear weapons state the U.S., influenced by the weapons industry, lacks the political will to pursue treaties to place limits on nuclear warheads and missiles. There can be no greater harm than a nuclear exchange."

My favorite comment during the discussion period came near the end.

Young antiwar activist SL:

"Whenever I hear people talking about climate change, especially young people, we're not very good at

making the connection to militarism around the globe, and connecting domestic capitalist failures to imperialist aggression abroad.

I'm curious because many of you have been working the space where climate change and antiwar efforts overlap, what do you think we can do as young activists to bring those two conversations together more and work together in organizing?

 

Ann Wright: 

"Have meetings and talk about the two subjects together. Have some good graphics that show the two subjects together...Host the dialog!" 

My comment: that could look like sharing this blog post, these presentations, and/or the research they were based on.

Or maybe you'd like to apply for this job newly created by the Conflict & Environment Observatory.

Vacancy: Campaigner (military and #ClimateChange)
Location: #HebdenBridge, UK, hybrid/remote.
Salary: £30,000. Hours: Full time – 37.5 hours. Contract: Until Dec 2023. Closing date: 18 Feb 2022. You must be eligible to work in the UK. 

More info: https://ceobs.org/vacancies

New Video By Military Emissions Researchers Reveals Truth About What's Driving #ClimateCrisis

Excited to share this newly published short video introducing many people to facts that have been hidden for far too long: 

the world's militaries, especially the U.S. military, are major contributors to climate crisis.

Climate change and the military: tracking their carbon emissions features researchers from the U.S. and UK discussing what they have found and also how difficult it was to find this information. (My note: by design.)

Why not share this video with your elected officials, friends, and family?

Are Military And Space Programs Victims Of Climate Crisis Or Perpetrators?

Pentagon Planet by Anthony Freda

I'm back from a blogging break during National Novel Writing Month aka nanowrimo in November. I met the challenge of writing a 50,000 word first draft in 30 days; the jury is still out on whether or not it was time well-spent. If you're interested in being a reader who will provide feedback on Comfy Underpants (working title) depicting the effects on children of grinding poverty in late stage capitalism, leave a comment.

During November I collaborated on a few COP 26 related projects, including a virtual presentation for the People's Summit on behalf of the Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space. I teamed up with Koohan Paik-Mander (GN board member in Hawaii) and Veterans for Peace members in the US (president Adrienne Kinne) and UK (David Collins) plus sponsoring organization the Institute for Policy Studies (Ashik Siddique) to present on US Militarism, Space Tech & Climate Crisis: the role of militarism in climate justice.

My presentation in the 90 minute webinar focused on Information Control and Perception Management Around Climate Impact of Space Programs.

To prepare I learned more about the parallels between US military programs and space programs, and their interconnection. For the TL,DW crowd (too long, didn't watch) I'll summarize my key points:

• The role of military in driving climate crisis has been hidden successfully up to now, but COP 26 was a turning point for climate activists if not for national governments.

• The role of space programs in harming climate is similarly hidden.

• Space programs are portrayed as non-military in nature despite the fact that NASA develops technology which is then used by the military.

• Focus on space programs' climate harms is confined in the press to private space programs.

• Both the military and space programs are portrayed as victims of climate crisis in the corporate press and in their own communications to the public.

Koohan's presentation on the militarization of the ocean around Hawaii including space and with disastrous effects on marine life was powerful and new information for many.

In the runup to COP 26, Peace Action Maine invited David Swanson of World Beyond War and Janet Weil of VFP's Climate Crisis & Militarism Project to speak on How the Pentagon Fuels Climate Crisis. 

I did the intro giving the context of the upcoming climate summit in Glasgow and what it might mean for our work, and PAM board member Devon Grayson-Wallace facilitated.

(Link here if embedded video does not work for you.)

COP 26 was a dismal failure in terms of halting runaway climate crisis.

 The non-binding agreements reached would, even if observed in full (highly unlikely), not keep carbon and other greenhouse gas emissions at safe levels. 

Greta Thunberg mocked the empty promises of elected officials (I can't bring myself to call them leaders): "Net zero, blah blah blah. Climate neutral, blah blah blah."

Images source: World Peace Ever TV

Youth and indigenous climate activists staged numerous actions to draw attention to the urgency of the crisis while world leaders went through the motions of taking meaningful action. Wealthy countries will continue to pollute with others bearing the brunt of the dire effects. What else is new?

Here's a simple direct action you can take right now. Pledge to connect the dots between our real security needs around climate and the enormous military emissions elephant in the room.

Source: research by Prof. Neta Crawford for the Costs of War project

Gaming The Algorithms To Break Through With A #PentagonClimateCrime Dance

I don't pretend to understand platforms like Tik Tok, but I sure enjoy seeing what creative young people do with them. 

A recent crazy dance video raises the alarm about the very same threats to life on the planet that I'm always on about: U.S. military occupation of land, air, and sea plus climate and other environmental devastation that go with it. 

See what a boring sentence that was? Instead, who wouldn't rather watch a zany interpretive dance?

Two things happening here: she's grabbing your attention while also avoiding algorithms that would otherwise suppress this video.

Tiktokers also resort to misspelling words on captions, not using captions, playing music & a wide variety of tactics for this stuff.

— L. Sahara McGirt (@DarthSagaswag) October 12, 2021

There were many comments on this Twitter thread, most of them dissing the dance and/or the dancer. I loved both, but at my age I have only a dim understanding of youth culture. So, I consulted an expert.

My three year old granddaughter, who loves dance and hates that bombs get dropped on people's heads, responded: "It's really long."

Thus speaks the youngest generation, who we hope will inherit a liveable planet. 

I'll be reporting on plans for a People's Summit panel on the climate harms of militarized space programs during COP26 in Glasgow at this Peace Action Maine webinar on October 30. Register here.

Manufacturing Consent For Endless War On Climate: Report From Warship Christening

The late Carl Levin looks like a nice guy, doesn't he? When corporate press are fawning over his daughters helping to "christen" a warship named after him, they are helping to manufacture consent for endless war. As chair of the Armed Services Committee, Senator Levin shepherded billions of dollars in spending on war and weapons. The blood of millions of civilians including children is on his hands, but you'd never know it from this bland corporate messaging at General Dynamics Bath Iron Works shipyard in Maine.

The banner displays a special crest dedicated to his accomplishments, including imagery that evokes the Great Lakes, which Levin fought to protect as senator from Michigan.

Ironically, the USS Levin will simply continue to contribute to the negative impacts of climate change on the Great Lakes.

All photos by Martha Spiess

The system of lakes have seen increasingly lower water levels and reduced ice cover due to elevated temperatures, and this has had a negative impact on Michigan’s economy. 

What's to celebrate?

When we gathered in Bath on October 2, I spoke about how consent for endless war and endless weapons programs gets manufactured.

Here is a video of our program with an index to the speakers, thanks to Martha Spiess of Peace Action Maine:

Their warship remembered the late Carl Levin, but our protest remembered the late Peter Woodruff. A BIW worker who organized for conversion at the shipyard, Peter was a steady presence outside the gates after his retirement due to neurological injuries from inhaling metal particles for many years. He is sorely missed -- a gentle, kind man and tireless organizer with the wisdom to oppose warmongering as a jobs program.

INDEX for video

02:   Bruce Gagnon, Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space
16:   Rosalie Paul, Peaceworks of Greater Brunswick

22:  Dud Hendrick, Maine Veterans for Peace

30:  Mare Honan, ordained UCC minister

34:  Bill Bliss, ordained UCC minister
38:  Mary Beth Sullivan, social work supervisor
45:  Lisa Savage, Maine Natural Guard

56:  Nancy Galland, Conversion Campaign
59:  Closing

What to do?

Sign up to learn more about the climate impacts of militarism and militarized space programs later this month. 

https://peaceactionme.org/events/how-the-pentagon-fuels-climate.html

Value Change For Survival: Dud Hendrick

Dud Hendrick of Veterans for Peace spoke at the "christening" of the warship USS Levin October 2 at General Dynamics/Bath Iron Works. Inside the gates were both Maine's senators, plus Rep. Chellie Pingree, and Gov. Janet Mills, full of praise for building yet another warship to hasten climate crisis.

 

Here is what Dud told us:

 

 

Value Change for Survival

 

This past June, I had the privilege of a life-time, having the opportunity to sit with and interview the renowned Onondaga faith-keeper, Oren Lyons.  The now 91 year-old chief spoke of values. 

 

Values. 

 

 As you may know, the Onondaga people are one of the six tribes of the Iroquois nation (Mohawk, Seneca, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and the Tuscarora).  Values—we learned a great deal that is relevant to our presence here today.  Chief Lyons informed us that in the Iroquois Nation decision-making philosophy/governance is based on the well-being of the seventh generation into the future.  

 

Unquestionably, there would be no more warships built here if such wisdom were governing the planning process of our dominant culture.  It can arguably be posed that the values of the dominant culture have brought us unfettered militarism, depletion of resources, climate crisis, and, in general, a fouling of our planet, Mother Earth, as the Onondaga call it.

 

Chief Lyons also spoke of his work with the Global Forum of Spiritual and Parliamentary Leaders on Human Survival convened back in the ‘80s and ‘90s.   Over 1000 prominent world leaders representing over 83 countries, to include the Dalai Lama, Bishop Tutu, Mother Teresa, Mikhail Gorbachev, and VP Al Gore convened annually for several years, pledging to work against the, “perils of armaments, for balancing resources, and for a fundamentally changed and better world.”  

 

Chief Lyons was given a standing ovation on the closing when he read a letter Chief Seattle had written to President Franklin Pierce in 1855 saying, “the white man’s hunger for land would eat the earth bare and leave only desert.  Continue to soil your bed and one night you will suffocate in your own waste.”  At the conclusion of their deliberations, the collective wisdom was summarized by their closing statement to the leaders of the world: Value Change for Survival. 

 

Consider the inanity of our military spending.  The U.S. annual military budget is approaching $800 billion!  More than the next 10 nations’ spending combined.  China spends less than a third, Russia, just over $60 billion, Iran--$15 billion and, get this, the bogie man, North Korea, at $4 billion, lower than the New York City police department!!!  General Dynamic’s CEO, Phebe Novakovic, receives a compensation package is in the $19 million range!

 

We know the politicians are in the pockets of General Dynamics and we know what is expected of them in return.  Just as General Dynamics, Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Raytheon, and their brethren determine what major media allow us to read and hear and we are ill-informed for it.  And then there are those 800 U.S. military bases on foreign lands---most, if not all, contributing to the fouling of the planet in ways so familiar to the neighbors of the over 600 superfund sites associated with domestic bases, as acknowledged by the Department of Defense.

 

The military is the single entity that contributes most to the climate crisis and the assault on Mother Earth, our home.

 

This picture altogether is outrageous. It’s all so appalling as to defy belief. 

 

Bath Iron Works and its ilk will either change willingly or change will ultimately be forced upon it.  Those of us who live to see that day when wisdom and sanity and concern for the 7th generation rules will celebrate. 

 

Value Change for Survival!  

 

May the will of the people ultimately force the value change or Mother Earth will.

 

 

Our elected officials pretend they don't know that by investing in warships they are sponsoring a crappy jobs program, in terms of how many jobs are generated. Research shows that investing in other industries and economic sectors would actually generate many more jobs. 

All these politicians know about this research. 

 

But General Dynamics donates to their election campaigns so they keep doubling down on hurtling toward our doom as a species.

Luke Sekera-Flanders: Reconsider What It Means To Be A Patriot

 

Luke Sekera-Flanders, photo by Ellen Davidson

Growing up in a rural town and through attending public school, I was often exposed to military propaganda.

From kindergarten through 5th grade, each class would have to put on a patriotic performance for the school, whether singing songs like “Proud To Be An American,” making skits depicting war, or listing reasons why America was the greatest country in the world - mainly its military. At my high school, and at all sorts of community events, myself and other young teenagers were presented an enticing image of what military service could offer us: financial benefits, community, and purpose.

But as I learned through my own research, there is far greater reason to be opposed to militarism and the military-industrial complex. For one, investing in war as deeply as the U.S. has robs us of so many opportunities to pursue a healthier, safer future. Changes in our climate and environmental destruction pose an ever increasing threat to human health and safety, and the U.S. military is a leading contributor to this emerging crisis that is rarely addressed. According to a 2019 study, the military emits more greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere than 140 countries. 

my photo

The Blue Angels and shows like it serve as a recruiting tool and a flex of America’s air power, which has been consistently used to devastate civilians across the world as recently as last weekend, when a drone strike on a supposed ISIS target in Afghanistan killed 10 civilians, including 8 children. And because of the marriage between government and corporations, U.S. foreign policy, including decisions to go to war, are dictated by economic interests - and corporations who profit from war are happy to risk military and civilian lives for profit.

Imagine if we invested so much as a fraction of our swelling “defense” budget toward proactively mitigating the coming effects of climate change, such as water insecurity. As of 2014, there were 39,000 different sites in the U.S., including multiple waterways, that were severely contaminated because of environmental disregard by the military. The military supposedly exists for our security - and yet the threat of a coming water crisis has been practically ignored. Climate scientists warn that as climate change worsens, droughts will become more frequent and more severe, even in regions that had seen abundance of water. Water is the cornerstone of all life on earth, so as water scarcity worsens, it will take the forefront of geopolitical issues as the century progresses. A couple years ago, the World Economic Forum confirmed this, placing the probability of future wars being fought over water sources at 95%.

photo by Nickie Sekera

We need to invest in public water infrastructure now, so that corporations don't have their hand on the tap nor the excuse to drag us into an overseas war over water.

While corporate media and the mainstream of environmentalism insist that the solution to climate change can be achieved with consumer choices and electing milquetoast reformers, the real culprits go without any accountability.

Imperialism is costly in all respects.

It detracts from what could be invested in healthcare, education, environmental protection and social services. It subjugates, traumatizes, exploits, and robs self determination from people across the world, for little more than political utility and economic gain for corporations.

photo by Peter Woodruff

Its drain on resources and massive pollution condemns future generations to a future of resource scarcity.

We need to end the military-industrial complex, and reconsider what it means to be a patriot. 

-- Luke Sekera Flanders, Community Water Justice

All banners by the Artists' Rapid Response Team of the Maine Union of Visual Artists.