XPost: ba.politics, dc.media, soc.penpals   
   XPost: alt.burningman   
   From: awiseman@obrag.org   
      
   Who needs the facist US military anyway?   
      
   The US Military: Protecting Our Freedom While Destroying Our   
   Planet   
      
   By John Lawrence / San Diego Free Press   
      
   The impact of the US military on climate change is enormous due   
   to its excessive consumption of fuel oil. The US must spread its   
   influence across the oil producing parts of the world in order   
   to protect its supply of oil.   
      
   The US military consumes huge amounts of oil so that it may   
   preserve strategic access to oil in order to get the oil it   
   needs to preserve strategic access to oil and so on in a never   
   ending loop. Insatiable militarism is the single greatest   
   institutional contributor to the growing natural disasters   
   intensified by global climate change.   
      
   The US military is the largest single consumer of energy in the   
   world. If it were a country, the Department of Defense (DoD)   
   would rank 34th in the world in average daily oil use, coming in   
   just behind Iraq and just ahead of Sweden.   
      
   Within the DoD, the US Air Force is the largest oil consumer.   
   Not only does the military consume a lot of oil, they pay   
   outrageous prices for it. The Pentagon pays an average of $400   
   to put a gallon of fuel into a combat vehicle or aircraft in   
   Afghanistan. The DoD uses 4.6 billion US gallons of   
   fuelannually, an average of 12.6 million gallons of fuel per day.   
      
   Electricity usage by the military, which accounts for even more   
   greenhouse gas emissions, is also gargantuan. In FY 2006, the   
   DoD used almost 30,000 gigawatt hours of electricity at a cost   
   of almost $2.2 billion. The DoD’s electricity use would supply   
   enough electricity to power more than 2.6 million average   
   American homes.   
      
   In fiscal year 2012, the DoD consumed about a billion gigawatt   
   hours of site delivered energy at a cost of 20.4 billion   
   dollars. While consuming that amount of energy, DoD emitted 70   
   million metric tons of CO2. And yet, total DoD energy use and   
   costs are even higher simply because the energy use and costs   
   arising from the contractors to support military operations both   
   domestically and abroad are not included in DoD’s data.   
      
   blueangelrefuelMilitary fuel is more polluting because of the   
   fuel type used for aviation. CO2 emissions from jet fuel per   
   gallon are triple those from diesel and oil. Also, aircraft   
   exhaust has unique polluting effects that contribute in an even   
   greater way to global warming. Among other things jet exhaust   
   includes nitrous oxide, sulfur dioxide, soot and water vapor all   
   of which exacerbate the warming effect of the CO2 exhaust   
   emissions. And the noise pollution of continuous stop and go   
   landings at Miramar Marine Corps Air Station in San Diego is   
   horrific. Residents of nearby Tierra Santa can hardly step   
   outside their door without being bombarded by it. The same holds   
   true for other military air fields across the country.   
      
   Even though the DoD is the largest institutional user of   
   petroleum products and energy, the Pentagon has a blanket   
   exemption in all international climate agreements. We are hiding   
   our heads in the sand not to include the military when we talk   
   about climate change. Yet the Kyoto treaty had a loophole big   
   enough to drive a tank through, according to the report A   
   Climate of War – the War in Iraq and Global Warming. After the   
   United States demanded and won exemptions and concessions on the   
   effects of the military on climate change, George W. Bush pulled   
   the United States out of the Kyoto Protocol as one of the first   
   acts of his presidency, alleging it would straitjacket the US   
   economy with too costly greenhouse gas emissions controls.   
      
   According to The Military Assault on Global Climate:   
      
   … [M]ilitarism is the most oil-exhaustive activity on the   
   planet, growing more so with faster, bigger, more fuel-guzzling   
   planes, tanks and naval vessels employed in more intensive air   
   and ground wars. At the outset of the Iraq war in March 2003,   
   the Army estimated it would need more than 40 million gallons of   
   gasoline for three weeks of combat, exceeding the total quantity   
   used by all Allied forces in the four years of World War 1.   
   Among the Army’s armamentarium were 2,000 staunch M-1 Abrams   
   tanks fired up for the war and burning 250 gallons of fuel per   
   hour.   
      
   The US Air Force (USAF) is the single largest consumer of jet   
   fuel in the world. Fathom, if you can, the astronomical fuel   
   usage of USAF fighter planes: the F-4 Phantom Fighter burns more   
   than 1,600 gallons of jet fuel per hour and peaks at 14,400   
   gallons per hour at supersonic speeds. The B-52 Stratocruiser,   
   with eight jet engines, guzzles 500 gallons per minute; ten   
   minutes of flight uses as much fuel as the average driver does   
   in one year of driving! A quarter of the world’s jet fuel feeds   
   the USAF fleet of flying killing machines; in 2006, they   
   consumed as much fuel as US planes did during the Second World   
   War (1941-1945) – an astounding 2.6 billion gallons.   
      
   Coincident with these environmental tragedies which intensify   
   global warming is the ongoing tradeoff in the US federal budget   
   between militarized defense and genuine human and environmental   
   security. The United States contributes more than 30 percent of   
   global warming gases to the atmosphere, generated by five   
   percent of the world’s population. At the same time funding for   
   education, energy, environment, social services, housing and new   
   job creation, taken together, is less than the military budget.   
   Former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich has called the military   
   budget a taxpayer-supported jobs program and argues for   
   reprioritizing federal spending on jobs in green energy,   
   education and infrastructure – the real national security.   
      
   Pentagon-building-jpgThere is a dangerous feedback loop between   
   war and global warming. Not only is climate change likely to   
   increase conflict, particularly over access to natural   
   resources, but war, in turn, is already accelerating global   
   warming while simultaneously draining our economy of money   
   needed for clean energy.   
      
   The increased propensity for war and conflict brought about by   
   global warming is being exploited by the military-industrial   
   complex which is planning on how to profit from it. Defense   
   contractors are looking at climate change as a growth and profit   
   opportunity due to the potential conflicts produced by food and   
   water shortages. They are salivating over the potential profits   
   to be made leading to increased stock market performance and,   
   therefore, higher CEO compensation.   
      
   Defense contractors are setting their sights on a narrow minded   
   militarist approach. Indeed, the very companies most responsible   
   for climate change are set to make a killing from its   
   intensification. Just the opposite of the militaristic response   
   to climate change is what is needed, one leading to a meaningful   
   transformation in social relations, cooperation and diplomacy.   
   What the planet needs is increased cooperation among all peoples   
   since we all share the same planet, and we will all suffer the   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
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    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)