My name is annie, I am with Extinction Rebellion Portland, a climate justice group.
I am here today [August 31, 2024] because our national obsession with war and violence is endangering all of us. Our government’s prioritization of the military capitalist complex and the profits of defense contractors undermines our health and safety and any attempts to slow down climate change.
We all need fresh air and clean water to survive. We need normal weather cycles so farmers can grow our food. But climate change is slowly and inexorably making all that impossible, beginning in the Global South.
We all know that climate change is caused by the extraction and burning of fossil fuels. But what many don’t know is that the military, in particular the US military, is one of the biggest consumers of fossil fuels in the world.
The US military desperately needs fossil fuels because it has 750 military bases around the world and hundreds in the US. Even during so-called peace, our huge military constantly burns fossil fuels and contributes to climate change just running its day-to-day operations. The military uses millions of gallons of fossil fuels for its continuous movement of people and stuff,
stuff like food, medical gear, toilet paper, and of course, bombs and guns.
And it gets worse. When the military participates in war propaganda like this air show, the fuel consumption skyrockets. One military jet in an airshow uses 1600 gallons of fuel. ONE jet. In addition to burning fuel, this excessive fossil fuel consumption & propaganda encourages using violence and destruction to deal with international problems (rather than using tools like diplomacy, cooperation, communication, and development.)
Militarism is BAD for the environment and for humanity.
As it kills people, supporting dictators and allowing genocide, the US military not only uses huge amounts of fossil fuels, it also destroys ecosystems,
leaving behind plastic and chemical pollution, as well as dead trees, dead soil, and dead animals.
While “protecting democracy,” (also known as protecting capitalism) the US military emits more greenhouse gases than any other institution in the world – more than some countries!– thus directly causing and worsening climate change.
This military and fossil fuel-caused climate change leads to droughts, floods, extreme temperatures,
soil sal-in-ization (which means salty dirt that isn’t good for growing plants),
landslides, fires, and other negative impacts
that are already destroying the urban economies of the global south.
More and more Black, Brown, and Latino people, especially farmers, are fleeing un-inhabitable land, often crossing the imaginary lines that define countries, thus heightening international stress. In the US we are seeing more and more extreme weather and wild temperature fluctuations as well as more hostility towards immigrants.
We are here to let our government know that we want to eliminate the need for militaries, bombs and fossil fuels. We reject the military capitalist complex. We want practices and policies that are sustainable and restorative, not destructive and deadly. We want our taxes invested in social services, housing, regenerative farming, education, renewable energy, healthcare, and other programs that make life safe, equitable and enjoyable for all, not just here in the US, but around the world. Please keep speaking up for a world where we take care of each other and share our resources.
We must be louder than the roar of the fighter jets.
