The War Machine

What's Going On?

While the White House continues bending over backwards to muzzle reports on climate breakdown (this week they unsuccessfully tried to stop State Department analyst Dr. Rod Schoonover from discussing it in a congressional testimony), the US military is doing its own thing. They've taken the security implications of a rapidly changing climate into account for over a decade, view it as a serious threat, and are preparing accordingly.

How Does Climate Change Affect National Security?

Here's a few concrete examples.

Climate change will increase the frequency of drought, which causes mass migrations, as crops fail and water becomes scarce. The Syrian migrant crisis (which many countries are still struggling to deal with) was triggered by the drought-induced civil war that began in 2011. And in America we're all aware of the tensions immigration can cause... It doesn't take much for conflict over resources to occur in extreme conditions. This past week people have been killed in India as they fight for access to water during the extreme heat wave. As the Arctic sea ice continues to melt, new trade routes and resources are becoming available. Call it 21st century imperialism or a truly "cold" war — but the US, Russia, and China are all rushing to seize control of an area that could become a source of global hostility. Tons of naval bases are threatened by an increase in major storms and sea level rise.

For a broader look, take a gander at the list below from Schoonover's report. There are many reasons for the military's concern. But there's also an interesting twist to all this climate-induced anxiety.

Source: Hearing on The National Security Implications of Climate Change

What's The Twist?

In a fascinating case of doublethink, the US Department of Defense (in the course of spending half the federal budget) uses more oil than any other institution in the world, generating more carbon emissions than the entire countries of Sweden and Denmark.

The military has stayed coy about their petroleum use for a long time, but a new study from Neta Crawford (published by Brown University’s Costs of War Project) drops some numbers on the Pentagon's emissions. Since 2001, the DOD has pumped out 1.2 billion metric tons of greenhouse gases — the biggest chunk coming from the War on Terror.

Source: Watson Institute Costs of War Project, Brown University

Why Do They Need So Much Fuel?

Humvees and stealth bombers aren't exactly the most fuel-efficient vehicles. Aircraft fuel use is commonly measured in gallons per mile. As Crawford says, "The war machine is thirsty..."

Source: Watson Institute Costs of War Project, Brown University

So They're Freaked Out By Climate Change But Burning Oil Like Crazy...

Yeah. Former Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis has called oil dependence the military's Achille's heel, and said the US needs to "be unleashed from the tether of fuel." Crawford makes a convincing case that this is both viable and necessary.

She says, “There’s an irony and tension between being so concerned about the risks of climate change for operations and installations and conflicts, yet being one of the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases. It’s as if two and two don’t make four here. If one sees a problem in the future, one would try to prevent it. But instead of trying to prevent it, the U.S. acts as if climate change conflicts are inevitable. Nothing about the worst outcomes is inevitable, we can still prevent them.”

Makes Sense To Me.

In addition, the report doesn't include other forms of pollution or the destruction inherent in war. Like how military action in Iraq has turned the country to desert and destroyed its agricultural industry (while chemical burn pits there poisoned soldiers), how the Navy has dumped hundreds of thousands of known dangerous environmental "stressors" in the Pacific Northwest ocean, and how 3/4 of all Superfund sites (where environmental emergencies get federal grants for cleanup) are abandoned military sites.

But hey, at least they're trying to plant trees with bullets!