The climate movement needs to unite with the anti-war movement. In recent months, this has become clearer than ever: demilitarization has become one of the movement’s demands at international days of action and at COP 30.Â
Local actions and events — from film screenings of projects like Earth’s Greatest Enemy, which expose the devastating impact of the U.S. military on the Earth, to protests against a possibly catastrophic, oil-driven war on Venezuela — have all gathered endorsements from environmental organizations. We’ve seen around 120 organizations sign onto CODEPINK’s open letter, Environmentalists Unite: War Fuels the Climate Crisis, including the executive board of the union representing major climate NGOs like the Sierra Club and 350. At COP 30, protestors demanding demilitarization, indigenous sovereignty, and climate reparations were brutalized by a militarized police and security presence guarding the convention’s fossil fuel lobbyists.Â
Inside Climate News, a Pulitzer Prize-winning climate outlet with over four million readers annually, has reported on these intersections in the past. Yet this year, ICN’s recent reporting on COP 30 did not report on the relationship between militarism and the climate crisis. As the U.S. escalates in Latin America and the Caribbean and considers a new trillion-dollar Pentagon budget, climate outlets need to connect the dots and tell the full story.
We, the undersigned, are writing to you because we care about the planet and about honest journalism. The climate crisis poses an existential threat to us all — and reporting on it is critically important. Thank you for taking on that task, and for your reporting on the intersections of the climate crisis and militarism specifically.Â
The climate crisis is a massive issue that must be understood in its entirety; it is essential to cover all bases, report on all connections that are made, and tell the story of organizers around the world who understand that demilitarization is a necessity for the planet’s survival. The U.S. military and allied forces are the army of the fossil fuel lobby, used to continue extracting and extracting. The U.S. military is the largest institutional polluter in the world, yet it is exempt from tracking at the UNCCC due in large part to U.S. lobbying. And, of course, each of the U.S.’s 800+ military bases has destroyed local habitats and poisoned local communities.
Inside Climate News has reported on the lack of inclusion of military emissions at COP in the past. It has also reported on the ecocide in Gaza. Yet this year’s reporting on COP makes little mention of any of this or of the demands of protesters.Â
As the U.S. government threatens war on Venezuela so that it can gain access to the world’s largest oil reserves and to vast rare earth minerals, it is also preparing to green-light more than one trillion dollars for the Pentagon. Considering that every policy move toward war is a move for the fossil fuel industry, climate news outlets should be all over this.
Meanwhile, every policy move toward peace is a move for the planet. More than ever, we need to recognize this in our movements and break down movement silos. Inside Climate News has the power to do so. We urge you to report on these urgent stories now and in the future.Â