The Elephant in the Room: The U.S. Military is One of the World's Largest Sources of C02

[Joanne98]

For OpEdNews: George Washington - Writer

Sara Flounders writes:

By every measure, the Pentagon is the largest institutional user of petroleum products and energy in general. Yet the Pentagon has a blanket exemption in all international climate agreements.


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The Feb. 17, 2007, Energy Bulletin detailed the oil consumption just for the Pentagon's aircraft, ships, ground vehicles and facilities that made it the single-largest oil consumer in the world.

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Even according to rankings in the 2006 CIA World Factbook, only 35 countries (out of 210 in the world) consume more oil per day than the Pentagon.

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This information is not readily available ... because military emissions abroad are exempt from national reporting requirements under U.S. law and the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change" ...


Bryan Farrell in his new book, "The Green Zone: The Environmental Costs of Militarism," says that "the greatest single assault on the environment, on all of us around the globe, comes from one agency ... the Armed Forces of the United States."


Just how did the Pentagon come to be exempt from climate agreements? At the time of the Kyoto Accords negotiations, the U.S. demanded as a provision of signing that all of its military operations worldwide and all operations it participates in with the U.N. and/or NATO be completely exempted from measurement or reductions.


After securing this gigantic concession, the Bush administration then refused to sign the accords.

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Although the U.S. had already received these assurances in the negotiations, the U.S. Congress passed an explicit provision guaranteeing U.S. military exemption. Inter Press Service reported on May 21, 1998: "U.S. law makers, in the latest blow to international efforts to halt global warming, today exempted U.S. military operations from the Kyoto agreement which lays out binding commitments to reduce 'greenhouse gas' emissions. The House of Representatives passed an amendment to next year's military authorization bill that 'prohibits the restriction of armed forces under the Kyoto Protocol.'"

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According to environmental journalist Johanna Peace ... "The military accounts for a full 80 percent of the federal government's energy demand."


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http://www.opednews.com/articles/The-Elephant-in-the-Room--by-George-Washington-091221-894.html

[caraher]

1. rec'd back up to zero

Sheesh!

[girl gone mad]

5. Don't even recognize this place some days..

:(

[postulater]

2. Thanks.

After my initial surprise at this, I realized it really isn't a surprise.

[ronatchig]

3. There's a hole in daddys arm

where all the money goes.

Jesus Christ died for nothing
I suppose...

J. Prine

This old song came to mind immediately on reading this post.

People think this country is hooked on fossil fuels

But is war that sooths that empty feeling.

[pleah]

4. K&R

[Goldstein1984]

6. It makes sense, I guess

We're 5% of the world's population, but we do 50% of its "defense" spending.

Another reason why Copenhagen ended in failure. How can the U.S. maintain empire and cut CO2 emissions?

[Raster]

7. The Pentagon's War Machine *used* to serve the United States.

The United States now exists to serve the Pentagon. War is Peace.

[Gregorian]

8. Recommending. Thank you for posting this.

I wish this were a sticky at the top of the forums.

[Syntheto]

9. That's nice, but...

...so does every other military in the world. That's not to mention the exemption (here, anyway) from OSHA rules, as well as EPA controls. A buddy who had been stationed at a Comm Station in Alaska talked about how they routinely dumped antifreeze and other chemicals out in a ravine behind the base. There was a special about Edwards Air Force Base, and while I hate to even use the phrase 'Area 51' because of all the silly UFO connotations, some of exotic materials they dumped and burned 'out back' made a lot of workers seriously ill.

Also the article points out that the military uses a full 80 percent of the federal government's energy demand... that doesn't mean it uses 80% of the national energy consumption. No one's said this yet, but... I guess the other 20% of the Fed budge goes to HVAC needs for non military use, say embassies, etc, etc, That would eliminate base housing and the Base exchanges, cinemas, motor pools, etc. Somebody might want to help out here on the base housing, because I'm not sure if those people in them pay the full amount or pay a reduced, subsidized amount for electricity and gas.

No country that has even a constabulary military is going to scrimp on those costs. I would worry more about people getting hurt, and pollution, but even at that, I doubt many military organizations around the world would extend those sorts of protection to their soldiers, sailors and air force personnel.

[Blue Owl]

10. Think how much fuel is required

To ship tens of thousands of troops, their gear, food, water, weapons halfway around the world.

Then add the tanks, humvees, choppers, drones, jets, aircraft carriers, subs, all of which gobble down the gas like no tomorrow.

I'm sure there's no connection to the Bu$hCo Oil Empire though.

[Vidar]

11. K&R.