Environmentalists Unite: War Fuels the Climate Crisis!

We are writing as organizers, climate organizations, anti-war organizations, and allied communities deeply concerned for the continued existence of people and ecosystems throughout the world. 

We recognize that:

1. The United States military is the #1 institutional polluter in the world. The Pentagon uses 4.6 billion gallons of fuel annually.
   
   This accounts for approximately 77-80% of all US government energy consumption. If the U.S. military were its own country, it would rank as the 47th largest greenhouse gas emitter in the world. 
2. U.S. military bases around the world have caused significant harm to drinking water and ecosystems crucial for planetary biodiversity, natural cycles, agricultural practices, and simply health and safety. 
   
   The US has around 800 military bases around the world. Over the last several decades, in increasing escalation with China, the US has continued to build up more and more presence and funding for military operations in the Asia Pacific. Many of these bases trample on Indigenous territory, the sovereignty of nations, and release harmful chemicals into the waters and soils such as Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS.  

The conflicts, wars, and occupations that the U.S. has partaken in and funded have led to extreme degradation of the natural systems that our earth relies on. In its first two months alone, the genocide in Gaza released more emissions than 20 countries combined. The complete degradation of every aspect of Gaza’s environment will make life extremely difficult to sustain for generations to come. The war in Ukraine has emitted more than 119 million tons of carbon dioxide and destroyed hundreds of thousands of acres of forest. Both the continued escalation in the Southwest Asia & North Africa (SWANA) region and the war in Ukraine risk the use of nuclear weapons, which would threaten complete planetary destruction –  it is a terrifying sign that we are even having conversations about the possible use of these weapons. 

Many terrifying environmental crises from within the U.S. that we consistently address in climate spaces, from the January 2025 LA Fires to the devastating flooding in Appalachia caused by Hurricane Helene, are only exacerbated by decades of war-making from the world’s largest institutional polluter. Every local catastrophe is a part of the global war economy.  

The 29th annual UN Climate Conference, more commonly known as COP 29 (the most recent COP at the time of writing this letter), was broadly recognized as an utter failure when it comes to addressing reality. While the Global South faces the daily consequences of the climate catastrophe, at COP, the powerful from the Global North shirked their responsibility to fund climate reparations, despite being the main fuelers of climate change. The task of taking on the climate crisis requires environmental activists, organizations, and institutions to lift up the significance of one of the world's largest threats to our planet: war and militarism. When summits dedicated to addressing climate make no mention of it, the existential seriousness of the climate crisis is not being addressed. 

We, the undersigned, amidst our diverse array of tactics, are united in bringing attention to the significance of militarism & war as one of the largest contributors to environmental degradation and the climate crisis. The war economy is simply catastrophic for the reciprocal relationships between people and our natural environment. 

We therefore reject militarism, war, occupation, genocide, and degradation. Instead, we choose our continued global existence: we choose peace, sovereignty, diplomacy, and liberation! 

Signed,