This month, I’ve been in awe of Cuba. One of the worst storms in the Caribbean’s history hit the eastern side of the island, and it has reported zero deaths. I watched as the Cuban community responded thoroughly and efficiently to the emergency: almost one million Cubans were successfully evacuated, neighbors were supporting one another, and shelters were prepped ahead of time.

Despite the suffocating blockade that limits its ability to adequately meet many of its people’s needs, Cuba shows what can be created in a society that resists the war economy and imperialism – when a society brings multiple sectors together, and recognizes that environmental policy can’t be separated from political, social, and housing policy, it becomes much less overwhelming to prepare for climate crisis. 

If we can apply the same philosophy in the belly of the beast – not just in preparation for increasing climate catastrophe, but in our organizing against it and in our policy, budgeting, and finance – we can also save lives. In moments of “natural” disaster, we need to connect the dots to the U.S.’s global military build-up over the past two decades, and in the Caribbean during the past two months. Above all, it is clearer than ever that we must unite the environmental and anti-war movements.

Send a letter to the Sierra Club Board of Directors. The stakes are clearer than ever!

To be clear, the situation is overwhelming. Frankly, it’s terrifying. I’ve been scrolling on social media for the past few days, seeing all the issues accumulating. For one, there’s the increasing militarization of the Caribbean in escalation against Venezuela, part of a New Cold War with China. We’re also seeing Israel break the “ceasefire” in Palestine daily, as well as massacres in Sudan carried out by the RSF, backed by the UAE, with weapons supplied by the U.S. And now, a Category 5 hurricane caused immense destruction to Jamaica, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and Cuba’s infrastructure. Many of these countries have been destabilized by U.S. interference throughout the past few decades. If we treat any of these issues separately, they become infinitely more overwhelming. But if understood together within the context of U.S. militarism and the profiteers who benefit from all of this, it becomes much easier to respond. 

We recently delivered a letter to Sierra Club leadership, signed by many of you, inviting one of the largest and oldest U.S. environmental organizations to join the anti-war movement. Despite the U.S. military’s status as the #1 institutional polluter in the world, the necessity of war in continuing to enrich oil profiteers, and the hundreds of bases globally, the Sierra Club still has yet to discuss the cost of war. You can watch the video here, which was dropped off at their national headquarters in Oakland, California. They still haven’t met with us, but we aren’t giving up. We began with reaching out to the Sierra Club in our Elephant in the Room campaign for a reason: many of their chapters are already doing this work, and many of the staff are on the same page. As one of the oldest and most influential environmental organizations in the country, they have the potential to bring together organizing sectors and make a massive impact in the fight for the people and planet.

Write to their board about the possibilities of a unified front!

We are seeing change, both in the climate movement at large and within the Sierra Club. CODEPINK has been supporting screenings across the country of Abby Martin and Mike Prysner’s new film, Earth’s Greatest Enemy – a must-watch for anyone in the belly of the beast. The documentary captures the unfathomable ecological impacts of U.S. imperialism across the globe. Each of the Pentagon’s 800+ bases across 80 countries has its own story of poison, pollution, waste dumping, jet fuel leakages, occupations, and invasions. The film gives us a tiny snapshot of some of these cases, each as devastating as the last. By the end of the film, viewers are left with no question that the Pentagon and U.S. imperialism are truly the biggest threat to our collective existence. It is a critical organizing tool that pulls at every emotional heartstring. I’ve been so moved to see the various organizations endorsing each stop on the tour, including chapters of the Sunrise Movement, Extinction Rebellion, and the Sierra Club. We’ve put together a toolkit on how to bring more environmental organizations into a united front through these screenings, which you can access here, along with a list of upcoming screenings that we’ll be attending as CODEPINK.

This is just the tip of the iceberg, indicative of much larger changes in the climate movement represented in recent climate marches, campaigns, and our open letter signed by over 100 organizations. With the beginning of the 30th annual UN climate conference, commonly referred to as COP, it is absolutely crucial to ensure that militarism is not forgotten. Because the stakes are clear. Martin and Prysner illustrate this in Earth’s Greatest Enemy: war isn’t just boots on the ground or bombs in the air, it’s also the war waged on bodies, bloodlines, and generations. And it’s the “natural disasters,” whether fires, flooding, or hurricanes, that carry these decades prior with them. As devastating as it all is, seeing the film this past weekend actually made me optimistic. I had conversations with so many people who were transformed by the experience. We can fight for our future if we have the clarity to do so.

Bring this message to the Sierra Club board of directors.

👉 For more:

• Read our review of Earth’s Greatest Enemy by myself and our co-director, Danaka! 
• Check out our toolkit and upcoming Earth’s Greatest Enemy Screenings!
• Donate to Hurricane Melissa relief efforts in the Caribbean.
• Check out the War Is Not Green webpage to learn more.
• Join our bi-weekly War Is Not Green working group! 
• Sign up to organize and engage locally!

Until Liberation,

Aaron, Jodie, and the entire CODEPINK team

P.S. Rock the resistance—grab your CODEPINK gear here!

Giving Tuesday is coming on Dec 2 — all gifts are being matched! Donate today to double your impact, and help us continue our bold and irresistible peace movement in 2026!