A Call to Action: Peace and Climate Activists Link Arms |
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by Marcy Winograd
In the past, the US has ensured UN climate agreements exempt participating countries from reporting the greenhouse gas emissions of their militaries, and so a key demand of Veterans for Peace's Climate Crisis and Militarism Project, CODEPINK and World Beyond War is to stop excluding military emissions from international climate accords.
Veterans for Peace met last spring with staffers for Climate Envoy, John Kerry, to present requests, articulated in a letter signed by peace and justice organizations, as well as Progressive Democrats of America, Greenpeace USA, 350.org, and local chapters of Extinction Rebellion. The letter reads, "We ask that you use your public platform to consistently point out the role that US militarism and the Pentagon play in exacerbating the climate crisis, and push to greatly reduce the military’s reach around the world, to bring our troops home, end drone warfare, close hundreds of overseas bases, stop endless wars, reject nuclear modernization and defund the Space Force — to end the squandering of financial, material and human resources, and minimize the Pentagon’s carbon bootprint . . . promote bilateral accords between the US and Russia, and the US and China, to prohibit financial institutions from funding future fossil fuel investments, cease military exercises in the South China Sea, and keep the Arctic safe from extractive exploration and weapons systems.”
Consequently, it came as good news when, in the midst of the Pentagon's dangerous, "Pivot to Asia," and on the heels of the Biden climate summit in April 2021, the US-China Joint Statement Addressing the Climate Crisis was issued to strengthen implementation of the Paris Agreement.
To shine a light on the relationship between climate and militarism, Veterans for Peace is asking organizations, both peace and environmental, to endorse a proposed congressional resolution calling on the Pentagon to track and report the greenhouse gas emissions of all its military operations.
Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-CA) is interested in introducing the resolution once it has garnered broad support from a coalition of both peace and environmental organizations. Organizations can endorse the resolution at
https://www.veteransforpeace.org/take-action/climatecrisis/endorsement
Consequently, this is an urgent call to action: a call to environmental activists and anti-war activists, to link arms as we combat one of the greatest existential threats of our time: the climate crisis. It is well past time to break out of our respective silos to declare the Pentagon is killing us, and the planet, and to urge those in our orbits of influence to support efforts in both the peace and climate justice movements; in other words, to marry these movements. This means anti-war activists need to participate in climate organizations, circulate their petitions, show up to testify at council meetings, and to push the issue of militarism within the organization; this means climate activists need to start talking about the climate impacts of war and war preparedness, both the GHG emissions resulting from flying thousands of troops across the globe to occupy foreign lands on bases that disrupt ecosystems, as well as the opportunity costs of wasting more money on weapons and a war economy, rather than investing in renewable energy and worker training for the new green economy.
To be successful in reducing militarism and thwarting climate catastrophe, we need to build a broad coalition. Let’s make this a united front.
Marcy Winograd is the Coordinator of CODEPINK Congress, a member of Veterans for Peace's Climate- Militarism Working Group and Co-Chair of the End Wars and Occupations Team of Progressive Democrats of America. Contact her at [email protected]. Follow her on twitter @MarcyWinograd
In the past, the US has ensured UN climate agreements exempt participating countries from reporting the greenhouse gas emissions of their militaries, and so a key demand of Veterans for Peace's Climate Crisis and Militarism Project, CODEPINK and World Beyond War is to stop excluding military emissions from international climate accords.
Veterans for Peace met last spring with staffers for Climate Envoy, John Kerry, to present requests, articulated in a letter signed by peace and justice organizations, as well as Progressive Democrats of America, Greenpeace USA, 350.org, and local chapters of Extinction Rebellion. The letter reads, "We ask that you use your public platform to consistently point out the role that US militarism and the Pentagon play in exacerbating the climate crisis, and push to greatly reduce the military’s reach around the world, to bring our troops home, end drone warfare, close hundreds of overseas bases, stop endless wars, reject nuclear modernization and defund the Space Force — to end the squandering of financial, material and human resources, and minimize the Pentagon’s carbon bootprint . . . promote bilateral accords between the US and Russia, and the US and China, to prohibit financial institutions from funding future fossil fuel investments, cease military exercises in the South China Sea, and keep the Arctic safe from extractive exploration and weapons systems.”
Consequently, it came as good news when, in the midst of the Pentagon's dangerous, "Pivot to Asia," and on the heels of the Biden climate summit in April 2021, the US-China Joint Statement Addressing the Climate Crisis was issued to strengthen implementation of the Paris Agreement.
To shine a light on the relationship between climate and militarism, Veterans for Peace is asking organizations, both peace and environmental, to endorse a proposed congressional resolution calling on the Pentagon to track and report the greenhouse gas emissions of all its military operations.
Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-CA) is interested in introducing the resolution once it has garnered broad support from a coalition of both peace and environmental organizations. Organizations can endorse the resolution at
https://www.veteransforpeace.org/take-action/climatecrisis/endorsement
Consequently, this is an urgent call to action: a call to environmental activists and anti-war activists, to link arms as we combat one of the greatest existential threats of our time: the climate crisis. It is well past time to break out of our respective silos to declare the Pentagon is killing us, and the planet, and to urge those in our orbits of influence to support efforts in both the peace and climate justice movements; in other words, to marry these movements. This means anti-war activists need to participate in climate organizations, circulate their petitions, show up to testify at council meetings, and to push the issue of militarism within the organization; this means climate activists need to start talking about the climate impacts of war and war preparedness, both the GHG emissions resulting from flying thousands of troops across the globe to occupy foreign lands on bases that disrupt ecosystems, as well as the opportunity costs of wasting more money on weapons and a war economy, rather than investing in renewable energy and worker training for the new green economy.
To be successful in reducing militarism and thwarting climate catastrophe, we need to build a broad coalition. Let’s make this a united front.
Marcy Winograd is the Coordinator of CODEPINK Congress, a member of Veterans for Peace's Climate- Militarism Working Group and Co-Chair of the End Wars and Occupations Team of Progressive Democrats of America. Contact her at [email protected]. Follow her on twitter @MarcyWinograd