While I write this, it's 70 degrees in New York and a bunch of war criminals are getting ready to visit a petrostate to talk about "climate solutions." The climate crisis is pressing down on us, yet one of the largest contributors remains hidden from view, from measurement, and from accountability. The U.S. military-industrial complex is the #1 institutional driver of this crisis, but efforts are being made to keep its impact out of sight. As the UN Climate Convention (COP) begins today, we have a chance to highlight this overlooked contributor and expose the true costs of militarism. Those responsible for pushing our planet toward disaster must be held accountable. We need to demand transparency on the environmental costs of war.
John Podesta, who built his career defending warmongers and expanding U.S. militarism, is leading the United States delegation to COP as the war lobbyist. We cannot let Podesta strut a veneer of faux environmentalism, while deliberately ignoring the largest polluter in the world—the U.S. military. If he ignores the elephant in the room, Podesta will doom us.
The crisis is clear for those living under the boot of the U.S. Empire. The crisis has been clear for those whose homes have been destroyed by flooding in Appalachia. For my friends and neighbors in New York City, where it has been 70-80° in the first few days of November, it is terrifyingly clear that we are in crisis. The result of the U.S. election unveiled to some that no politician can protect us in this crisis. Many of our leaders who are charged with caring about the climate, are actually driving us further into this crisis full steam ahead—because they're unwilling to say aloud that their foreign policy and military build up is one of the largest contributors to climate change that the world has ever seen.
In the past year, the war on Gaza has unleashed complete devastation on the entire region, as children’s bodies are torn open by U.S.-made and funded bombs. The first two months of the genocide alone produced more emissions than 20 countries combined. As the slaughter continues, U.S. police continue to participate in a deadly tactics exchange with Israeli soldiers, followed by continued training in potential facilities like Atlanta’s Cop City, which threatens to destroy the critical Weelaunee Forest– land stolen from indigenous protectors, whose sovereign land make up 80% of the world’s biodiversity globally. Militarism is killing us in every way imaginable, and it is more clear than ever that we cannot rely on elected officials to make the necessary changes for our protection. Much less their puppeteers, who show up and use their fancy talk and sleight of hand to keep what they don't want to address hidden. Yet we can’t ignore them when they use our tax dollars to create catastrophe.
We need you to tell Podesta: WAR IS NOT GREEN!
The Biden/Harris administration produced one of the largest military budgets in history. By doing so, they produced one of the largest contributions to climate change in history. We have been in a crisis, and it will continue to escalate. Yet crisis can open doors by clarifying and exposing what we need to oppose and what we need to strengthen. This is not a silver lining but a task that becomes thrust on us for the survival of one another, whose mutual liberation we depend on. And to do so, our goals can’t be hidden. I’m ready to take on this task of survival to build a world where we all can thrive, and I’m energized to build it with you all.
Take action now by telling Podesta: to address the climate crisis, you must address the war machine!
👉And learn more:
- Check out the War Is Not Green page for webinars and additional information
- Learn about the Imperial Hypocrisy of Podesta’s U.S.-China Climate Talks
Until Liberation,
Aaron, Jodie and the entire CODEPINK team