As an associate member (non-veteran) of Veterans For Peace (VFP) Sonoma County, I’ve had that message on a bumper sticker on my car for many years. VFP and I want people to recognize the connection. And we want them to work to do something about it.

The first Earth Day was celebrated fifty-five years ago on April 22nd, 1970. During the intervening years, despite greater awareness, the climate crisis has deepened. In large measure, that is because major corporations – fossil fuel companies, plastics manufacturers, Big Ag, and more – have spent lavishly on propaganda to the public and on “legal bribes” to politicians of every stripe.

The work to reverse this has been an uphill slog.

One aspect of this struggle gets very little attention: the effects of militarism on the climate, with the greatest polluter being the U.S. military. Veterans For Peace has been working to change that through its Climate Crisis and Militarism Project. The Project’s mission is “to be part of the worldwide movement to mitigate the climate crisis and promote peace and justice (climate, racial and economic).” Its members are educators and activists who “focus on US militarism’s damage to the climate: its vast and largely unreported greenhouse gas emissions; its role as military protection for oil corporations; its squandering of trillions needed for addressing climate and people’s needs; its promotion of war – a human, climate, and environmental disaster.”

During the Biden administration, the Project (joined by 68 other organizations) wrote to John Kerry, Biden’s Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, and asked, “How do we ask millions of people to die as a result of a climate catastrophe fueled by endless war and militarism?” To thwart that catastrophe, several requests were made. 

They asked for the inclusion of military emissions in all reports on Greenhouse Gas (GHG). During negotiations for the Kyoto Protocol, the US had demanded that military emissions not be included in any data. Then the US refused to ratify the Protocol anyway.

Essentially, what the Project requested was a broad program for peace: reduction of the military’s footprint around the world; closing its bases and bringing the troops home; the end to drone warfare; rejection of nuclear modernization; and defunding of the Space Force.

The Project asked for bilateral agreements between the US and Russia and the US and China “to prohibit financial institutions from funding future fossil fuel investments, cease military exercises in the South China Sea, keep the Arctic safe from extractive exploration and weapons systems, and to create people-to-people ‘climate protector’ delegations to exchange knowledge, build friendships, and undertake joint projects to promote biodiversity and renewable energy” and so much more.

They concluded their requests by saying, “We cannot afford to ignore the elephant in the room or remain in denial.

“As we witness extreme weather events, from flash floods to wildfires to freezing temperatures, we are reminded of the urgency of reducing our greenhouse gas emissions. To ensure a carbon-free future in a sustainable world, we must redefine global security as climate security and recognize that war and war preparations will only make us less secure.”

The response has been little more than crickets and the prospects under a Trump administration are infinitely more dismal.

Clearly, we must speak with a louder voice.

To educate yourself on the subject, VFP has created a list of resources – books, articles, films, and webinars – which can be found on the Project’s website. You will find actions to take, ways to be involved, downloadable resources and more. Most important, with this information in hand, you can recruit people to the cause (instead of the Army!) and contact your representatives.

On this Earth Day and every day, when you think of the many worthy environmental organizations you know and love, add Veterans For Peace Climate Crisis and Militarism Project to your list of resources and advocates. And if you’re a veteran or, like me, a veteran of the Peace Movement, consider joining local VFP Chapter #71 by contacting its president, Fred Ptucha, at 707-494-2086 or me.

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