War and genocide on Earth Day

US military aggression and imperial ambitions are leaving a trail of natural destruction – all under the guise of national security, he writes Melissa Garriga.

Damaged buildings in Gaza, December 6, 2023. (Tasnim News Agency, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0)

By Melissa Garriga
ON Earth Day Monday, prepare for the annual spectacle of American lawmakers donning their environmentalist hats and waxing poetic about their love for the planet while ignoring the devastation their actions cause.

The stark reality is that beyond their hollow promises lies a trail of destruction, fueled by military aggression and imperial ambitions, all under the guise of national security.

Take Gaza for example. The once fertile farmland now lies barren, its water sources poisoned by conflict and neglect. The grim statistics speak volumes: 97 percent of Gaza’s water is unfit for humans consumption, leading to as many as 26 percent of illnesses, especially among vulnerable children.

The decades-long Israeli settler project and ethnic cleansing of Palestine have caused irrefutable damage to the land, air and water, contributing to the climate crisis.

In fact, Israel’s murderous bombardment, which killed nearly 35,000 people, in the first two months of the current Gaza genocide campaign also caused more emissions from the earth than the annual carbon footprint of the twenty largest climate-sensitive countries in the world.

But despite these dire circumstances, US lawmakers continue to funnel weapons to Israel, perpetuating a cycle of violence and environmental degradation.

The ripple effects of militarism extend far beyond Gaza’s borders. In Ukraine, the war between Russia and Ukraine has had a huge impact the staggering $56.4 billion environmental bill, with widespread pollution of air, water and soil. Landmines and unexploded ordnance account for 30 percent of litter of the land, which poses long-term risks to both the environment and human health.

The United States’ response to all this has been to reject diplomacy and foment a long, protracted war with a continuous endless supply of weapons and military support. A war that most experts will tell you is unwinnable. The proxy war that the United States is financing not only ensures that Ukrainians will never achieve peace, but also contributes significantly to the ever-growing climate crisis.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, President Joe Biden and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin at a press event on continued support for Ukraine in January. (White House, Cameron Smith)

Then there is the US government’s desire to go to war with China. The U.S. military’s large footprint is already large in the Pacific, and with the war drums beating louder for war than ever before, the footprint is still growing.

With more than 200 bases spread across the region, the The Pentagon’s voracious energy consumption fuels greenhouse gas emissions and environmental degradation, of polluted drinking water in Okinawa to serious pollution near military installations in Guam.

Yet the US government insists that its greatest enemy is China, not the looming threat of climate destruction. The US military’s presence in the Pacific destroys natural, native ecosystems and privileges the idea of ​​environmental destruction over attempts at any form of diplomacy and cooperation with China.

All this environmental destruction and acceleration of the climate crisis is happening quietly under the veil of “national security,” while discussions about how the ecological toll of war is the most significant threat to national security are absent in DC.

While the threat of nuclear destruction and civilian casualties rightly dominates the headlines, the ecological consequences remain an under-discussed tragedy.

The Pentagon is the the largest institutional emitter of fossil fuels in the world; its insatiable appetite for conflict worsens climate change and threatens ecosystems worldwide. To make matters worse, the US government wants to finance this destruction to the US amount of almost a trillion dollars per year while poor and low-wealth communities worldwide bear the brunt of climate disasters and have little to no means to protect themselves.

At the heart of this destructive cycle lies a perverse economic incentive, making war a lucrative business at the expense of both people and the planet. The gross domestic product growth narrative masks the true costs of conflict and prioritizes financial gain over real progress in education, healthcare and biodiversity.

Instead of measures of the war economy, such as GDP, we could embrace alternative measures, such as the real progress indicator (GPI) who take into account the real toll of war on our world.

We can move from endless growth to true well-being by valuing air quality, food security and environmental sustainability.

On this Earth Day, let us reject the empty rhetoric of environmentalism without action. Let us demand accountability from our lawmakers and push for an end to the cycle of violence and ecological destruction. By prioritizing peace and sustainability we can protect our planet and protect future generations.

Melissa Garriga is the communications and media relations manager for CODEPINK. She writes about the intersection of militarism and the human costs of war.

The views expressed are solely those of the author and may or may not reflect those of the author Consortium news.

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