Peace Action – 2008-01-05 01:19:35
http://www.peace-action.org/pub/eNewsletter/december/oilconsumption.htm
(December 7, 2007) — At Peace Action we believe that war is not a suitable response to conflict. The unfortunate truth is most in Washington do not subscribe to this proposition. Our culture of militarism and consumption has cost millions of lives in war and is a keystone issue in the fight against global warming.
The military is one of the largest single contributors of CO2 emissions from the U.S. The 133 million barrels of oil used by the military in 2005 is equivalent to the total oil consumption of Sweden. More than costing billions in tax payer dollars, this overwhelming consumption is not sustainable.
The U.S. alone consumed 7.6 billion barrels of oil in 2004. U.S. consumption for 2025 is estimated to exceed 9 billion barrels. The Association for Study of Peak Oil & Gas argues the peak annual oil production will occur within the next few years, with global demand overcoming production soon after.
Western Asia holds 65% of global oil reserves. As prices and demand rise, control of this contentious area, and its natural resources, is the real reason Bush went to war.
We’ve seen this in action over the past 20 years in the first Iraq war, the recent threats of war with Iran, and U.S. military aid to states like Saudi Arabia. Now, under a false connection between Iraq and the ‘war on terror’, the Bush family has once again tried to justify their oil grab to the American people.
The facts speak for themselves. Through corporately constructed oil laws and the designation of a puppet government Bush and his cronies at Exxon (Chevron, Texaco, ect.) have ensured they will make billions from our out of control consumption of oil.
Peace Action has spent the past 5 years speaking out against this occupation for oil and we’ve made major inroads into preventing another war with Iran. Now we take this issue further by challenging the American public to connect our oil consumption to our militaristic global hegemony.
We must curb our dependency on oil and invest in sustainable, environmentally friendly alternatives if we can ever hope for peace.
AMPLIFYING THE CONNECTION
BETWEEN CLIMATE CHANGE AND PEACE
(December 2007) — Peace Action works to create a unified call to link environmental issues with war through grassroots action and in the highest levels of international governance.
The Peace Action International Committee is a recognized NGO representative at the United Nations. We have 8 representatives that meet with UN officials in committee and in the General Assembly. At the NGO conference last September, entitled Climate Change: How it Impacts Us All”, our own Chuck Hitchcock served as Co-Chair at the mid-day conference. The result of this conference was a declaration of NGO action to impede climate change over the next year. Of the 8,000 representatives attending this conference over 1,750 NGOs from over 62 countries signed onto this declaration.
Judy Lerner, a Peace Action Education Fund Board Member, was a panelist at a mid-day meeting dealing with the Culture of Peace. She spoke of the recent ‘No War No Warming” movement and how peace groups are organizing against climate change.
The Student Peace Action Network (SPAN) has been the most active arm of our network in No War No Warming. Jonathan Williams, SPAN coordinator, was an integral part of the planning process for October 22nd regional demonstrations as well as individual actions of civil disobedience in Washington, DC. That day he took action with hundreds of other activists who risked injury and arrest to bring attention to this important issue.
A significant aspect of “No War No Warming” was training. SPAN invests in the future of peace activism by providing resources and training to young activists all over the country. Joining with the environmental, religious, and human rights communities in this coordinated action allowed SPAN to amplify the voice of youth to a new level.
Peace Action is committed to working with diverse groups of activists because we believe the consequences of war infect all aspects of our global community. Climate change is a pivotal topic in our message of peace recognizing that we cannot combat climate change until we address militarism.
