The climate crisis threatens our very existence! We collaborate with the People’s Climate Movement/NY to work for environmental justice. We emphasize the connection between war and the environment.
Statement
We Need a Green New Deal Which Redirects Funds from the Military to Green Technologies and Green Jobs
The climate crisis can only be dealt with if we confront the U.S. military’s role in driving global warming. That critical role has been largely ignored in discussions of global warming. U.S. military actions warm the planet, and the Pentagon’s gigantic budget drains funding that is needed for developing and implementing new green technologies, and a just transition off of fossil fuels.
The U.S. military is the world’s largest institutional consumer of fossil fuels and producer of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas. U.S. wars leave toxic waste, deforestation, and desertification in their wake. Wind and solar farms, recycling, composting, and electric cars are vitally important, but alone they can’t prevent environmental degradation. Only a change in U.S. foreign policy can stop the damage and destruction caused by U.S. wars.
Climate change itself promotes conflict and sometimes war. It produces floods, superstorms and drought that lead to food and water shortages, raises energy prices, disrupts global supply chains, and contributes to political instability and civil conflict.
The climate crisis and militarism increase inequality and erode the social safety net. Poor people suffer the most from the resulting environmental degradation and pollution.
Critics say there is no money to transition quickly from fossil fuels to clean, renewable energy, but we know we have the money. We’re just spending it on the wrong things.
In 2019 the U.S. spent $741 billion on its military, more than the next seven countries combined. Sixty percent of the 2020 discretionary budget goes to the military, leaving just 40% for everything else. To stop global warming from getting worse, we need to spend much more money for developing and implementing new green technologies and creating green jobs.
The COVID-19 pandemic offers a preview of the havoc that a “natural” disaster can cause. It shows how desperately the U.S. needs universal health care and a well-functioning public health system, and so much more. While we will eventually recover from COVID-19, climate change is about to reach the point where massive destruction will be caused. We are running out of time to act!
We urgently need to pass a Green New Deal — one that calls for reducing the activities and funding of the U.S. military.
- We call on our Congressional Representatives and Senators to:
- Cut military spending drastically.
- Pass a Green New Deal.
- Increase spending for research and implementation of energy efficiency, renewable energy, clean transportation and other technologies that can help ensure a just transition.
To find out about our current Climate Action Campaign, what we were are doing and our latest petition: Address The Climate Emergency By Redirecting Funds From The Military To A Green Economy
Join Us!
We invite you to work on our Climate Action Campaign. Email us to find out our meeting schedule.
BFP’s Climate Action Group has created a brochure that ties in the cost of war and how it affects the climate. You can download the brochure here.
