ACTION ALERT:
Tax Day Protest Against Oil Wars and All Wars
Veterans for Peace, Extinction Rebellion et al
NEW YORK (April 14, 2022) — No Wars, No Warming: Fund Our Future! The climate and peace movements come together! Join us for a rally and short march to demand that our tax money stop being used to fund endless war and environmental destruction.
The Pentagon is the number one institutional consumer of oil on the planet. In order to maintain it’s 800+ military bases around the world, the Pentagon alone produces more fossil fuel emissions than 140 other countries, combined!
How Militarism and Wars Promote Climate Change
The climate crisis can only be halted if we confront the neglected role of the US military in driving global warming.
US military actions warm the planet, and its gigantic budget drains funding that is needed for developing and implementing new green technologies and Jobs.
Who is the world’s largest institutional consumer of fossil fuels and producer of greenhouse gas? None other than the US military.
- In 2019 the US spent $741 billion on its military, More than the next seven countries combined (and that includes Russia and China).
- the US has the world’s largest air force and navy.
- the US maintains 800+ bases with 200,000 soldiers
in 170 countries. - For decades the US has fought wars and occupied countries to assure access to oil.
Critics say there is no money to transition quickly from fossil fuels to clean, renewable energy. We say: “We’ve got the money. We’re just spending it on the wrong things.”
60% of federal discretionary spending goes to the military, leaving just 40% for everything else.
The coronavirus pandemic has shown with shocking clarity how desperately the US needs universal health Care and a well-functioning public health system. And we need much more money for education, housing, transportation and for new green technologies and new good-paying green jobs that will reduce global warming.
Here’s One Way to Look at It:
If the military budget were cut by 10% for one year, that would save New York State taxpayers $6.24 billion that could then pay for:
• 5.14 million households with solar electricity for 1 Year, or 16.25 million households with wind power for 1 Year, or
• 84,240 Clean energy Jobs Created for 1 Year, or
• 61,115 elementary school teachers for 1 Year, or
2.07 million Kids from low-income Families receive healthcare for 1 Year, or
• 1.13 million adults from low-income Families receive healthcare for 1 Year
It’s not only the money. US wars leave toxic waste, deforestation and desertification in their wake.
Wind and solar farms, recycling, composting, and electric cars can’t prevent this environmental degradation.
Only a change in US foreign policy can reverse the damage from US wars.
Climate Change Promotes Wars
Climate change is a “threat multiplier” because it:
• Leads to food and water shortages.
• Raises energy prices.
• Disrupts global supply chains.
• Contributes significantly to political instability, and civil conflict, as in Syria and Mali.
The Defense Department Sees Climate Change
As a Threat to US Security
- Rising sea levels, hurricanes, and wildfires threaten US military bases at home and abroad just as they threaten coastal cities around the globe.
•as the number of extreme weather events increases, the US military must engage in more disaster relief — stretching combat-readiness thin in the view of military leaders.
• even the department of defense recognizes that climate change is real and is a threat to US security.
Climate Crisis and Militarism Increase
Inequality and Erode the Social Safety Net
Across the world heat waves and droughts impact the poorest the hardest.
In 2018, war and climate change created 25.9 million refugees.
According to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, “climate, environmental degradation and natural disasters increasingly interact with the drivers of refugee movements.”
The response to migration from the US and some other nations is to militarize border enforcement.
Poor People Suffer Most
From Environmental Degradation
extracting and burning oil, natural gas and coal devastates the surrounding land, air and water. Nearby communities have much higher rates of respiratory problems like asthma.
They are disproportionately communities of color.
Across the global South people living in low-lying areas are hit hardest by super storms and rising sea levels. but the global north is not spared. Think New Orleans, NYC, Puerto Rico.
What We Need: Passage of a Green New Deal
- Cut greenhouse gas emissions 40-60% by 2030 and net zero by 2050.
• 100% renewable electricity by 2030.
• Create millions of good, high-wage jobs.
• Invest in the infrastructure and industry of the United States. - Secure for all people of the United States clean air and water, climate and community resiliency, healthy food, access to nature; and a sustainable environment.
vPromote justice and equity for all peoples and all communities.
• Reduce the activities and funding of the military.
The Money Is There … If We ShIft Our PrIoritIes
Critics say the GND costs too much. But the costs of inaction are greater.
Climate change has decreased biodiversity, destroyed many natural habitats and forced wild animals and humans into close contact, contributing to outbreaks of diseases like Zika, ebola and COVID-19.
Without a Green New Deal, the US real national income could drop 10.5% between now and 2090.
If global emissions continue at the current rate, global economic output would drop 7.2% by 2099. If the Paris Accord goals are met, the drop would be only 1.1%.
WHO estimates that, if climate changed is not tackled, there could be 250,000 excess deaths globally per year between 2030-2050.
The US Must Rejoin the Paris Climate Agreement
The COVID-19 pandemic may have given us a preview of the world-wide havoc that the increasingly common “natural” disasters can cause. but eventually the spread of this disease will be contained, many will recover from infection, and vaccines will prevent this contagion. Not so our planet. Climate change, which has been going on for decades, is about to reach the point where it cannot be reversed. We are runnIng out of tIme to act.
What We Can Do
• Rejoin the Paris Climate agreement.
• Cut military spending.
• Pass a green new deal.
• Join a peace, environmental, or social justice organization — acknowledge that peace, equality and climate are part of the same struggle.
