FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Sept. 24, 2026
Media Contact: Melissa Garriga | [email protected]
CODEPINK Disrupts The Nature Conservancy at Climate Week for Failing to Address U.S. Militarism
New York City — CODEPINK disrupted a Climate Week event hosted by The Nature Conservancy, one of the world’s largest conservation organizations, demanding that big green organizations like the Nature Conservancy confront the military’s role in the climate crisis.
The action targeted the organization over its refusal to address the U.S. military’s massive carbon footprint and massive environmental degradation from U.S. military bases and U.S. driven wars and occupations.
“The U.S. military is the largest institutional polluter,” said Aaron, CODEPINK’s War Is Not Green campaign organizer, during the disruption. “It is destroying ecosystems. It is destroying fish. It is destroying the world.” They also pointed to the Pentagon’s $1.5 trillion budget and the U.S. military’s role in environmental destruction, asking why The Nature Conservancy, with a budget of over $2 billion and a mission dedicated to protecting land and water, refuses to address it.
The action took place during a Climate Week event where The Nature Conservancy was promoting its conservation agenda. CODEPINK is present this week to point out that any serious climate conversation must include the military-industrial complex, which is devastating ecosystems and accelerating global warming.
“You cannot claim to protect the land and waters while ignoring the largest institutional polluter on Earth,” Aaron explained after the disruption. “The Nature Conservancy has a $2 billion budget and a global platform. It has a responsibility to name the war machine as a driver of climate destruction. Silence is complicity.”
CODEPINK calls on The Nature Conservancy and other major environmental organizations to:
- Publicly acknowledge the U.S. military as a leading institutional polluter;
- Refuse partnerships or funding tied to the military-industrial complex;
- Use their platforms to demand cuts to the Pentagon budget and an end to wars that devastate ecosystems.
“There’s an elephant in the room that The Nature Conservancy does not want to address,” they added. “That is war.”
For more information, please contact Melissa at [email protected].
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