A group of Fulani women and their daughters walk towards their houses in Hapandu village, Zinder Region, Niger on July 31, 2019. In the African Sahel the climate has long been inhospitable. But now rising temperatures have caused prolonged drought and unpredictable weather patterns, exacerbating food shortages, prompting migration and contributing to instability in countries already beset by crisis. LUIS TATO / AFP / Getty Images
At the 56th Munich Security Conference in Germany, world powers turned to international defense issues with a focus on "Westlessness" — the idea that Western countries are uncertain of their values and their strategic orientation. Officials also discussed the implications of the coronavirus outbreak, the Middle East and the Libya crisis.
<p>In the crowded Bayerischer Hof Hotel, African delegates were in the single digits. Not a single head of state from the continent attended, despite the growing threat of terrorism and the armed conflicts tearing it apart.<em></em></p>
<p>A report by <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/415-million-children-grow-up-in-war-zones-save-the-children-reports/a-52359439" target="_blank">Save the Children</a>, published as world leaders convened in Munich, Germany, said at least 95,000 children had been killed or maimed across the world since 2005. Tens of thousands were abducted and millions were denied access to education.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjc3NDY5My9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTU5ODE2MTA3MH0.Ewvdg0emexycvUBokiM7-1Dqqn27tGEe6PJvYt2hgwU/img.png?width=980" id="9e7fc" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="9e2a9b3165a6488ff2224c2476cb707a" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" /><p>African children were the worst affected, according to Save the Children. Some 170 million across Africa and the Middle East are living in war zones. "You will see that most of the violent conflicts do not feature," Dan Smith, director of SIPRI, an international think tank dedicated to research into conflict, armaments, arms control, and disarmament, told DW.</p><p>Smith is disappointed the international community is not paying attention to the crisis unfolding in Africa. "They (Africans) are not part of the thinking of the security community that is gathered here," Smith adds. "That doesn't mean that this community's concerns are irrelevant, but they're not focused on the Sahel; they are not focused on the Horn of Africa."</p>
<p>Security experts say the West doesn't care because armed conflicts in the Sahel, West Africa and the Horn are far enough away that they don't directly impact EU countries. "When something happens in the Sahel, unless it affects the flow of migration towards Europe — Europe is not particularly concerned about it,"<em> </em>Smith says. </p>
Germany Makes a Case for the Sahel
<p>In the absence of African leaders, to bring the matter to the table, German Defense Minister <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/merkels-party-struggles-with-identity-crisis-in-wake-of-cdu-leaders-departure/a-52355906" target="_blank">Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer</a> called for an increased effort in the fight against Islamists in Africa. </p><p>"The Sahel is a key region for Europe, for example, when it comes to migration or the threat of terrorism," she said, adding: "That is why it is so important that Germany remains committed there, militarily as well."</p><p>Kramp-Karrenbauer's statement was encouraging to the Central African Republic's defense minister, Marie-Noelle Koyara. "I take this opportunity to thank the German government for making such a wise decision,"<em> </em>the CAR defense minister told DW<em>.</em></p><p>Koyara said this was not just about politics, but about caring for humanity. The <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/central-african-republic-peace-deal-violated-and-fragile/a-50039847" target="_blank">Central African Republic</a> has been stricken by civil war since 2012. A Muslim-dominated coalition of armed groups known as Seleka took over the capital, Bangui, in 2013. Since then, the country has seen thousands killed amid clashes with Christian militias. </p><p>"If you look at the million children suffering, the women who are running around to save their own lives, the women who are raped and entire villages bombarded, humanity should not tolerate it," Koyara said, supporting Germany's call for action in conflict-afflicted areas in Africa.</p>
World Bank Beefs up Support
<p>A climate change panel discussion preceded the Munich Security Conference. It reminded the security and political heavyweights in Munich that the war in Darfur 17 years ago was triggered by the effects of climate change and claimed the lives of 300,000 people.</p><p>The conflict has since exacerbated environmental degradation in Sudan, forcing more than 2 million people into refugee camps.</p><p>Today, climate change-related conflicts are spreading rapidly in the Sahel region. </p><img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjc3NDY5OS9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYwMTk1NDUxMX0._dNpBIXjll0kFtwMV3LkLprwHxzn-2FubYSpid9JWDE/img.png?width=980" id="de761" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="dc825450524acfdd4b27a33cc8a690e9" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" /><p>Some 4.2 million people have been displaced as of March 2019 — one million more than the recorded number in 2018. Violence escalated in 2019, particularly in Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, and the areas around Lake Chad.</p><p>In response to the crisis, the World Bank is dispatching its director of operations, Axel van Trotsenburg, to the region. "We plan, in the next three years, to provide $53 billion (€49 billion) to the Africa region," he said ahead of his visit to Burkina Faso, Mali, Chad and Mauritania. "Special attention will be given to the fragile states like the Sahel region, the Horn of Africa and Lake Chad," van Trotsenburg told DW.</p><p>The World Bank says it has put a lot of emphasis on good governance and strict controls on the use of "our money." The Sahel countries are marred with issues of mismanagement and corruption, among other problems. "That means if there's corruption and we find out, we will go after those who are abusing the money."</p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/munich-security-conference-african-leaders-absent-from-sahel-talks/a-52398078?maca=en-VAM_volltext_ecowatch-28485-html-copypaste" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Deutsche Welle</a>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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An Indonesian man pumps water up to the second floor of a house to wash away the mud in a flooded neighborhood on Jan. 3 in Jakarta, Indonesia. Ed Wray / Getty Images
After nearly 15 inches of rain fell in one day and caused flash floods and landslides in Jakarta, the Indonesian capital, that destroyed 60,000 homes and killed at least 43 people, the Indonesian Air Force sent two planes to drop salt on approaching rain clouds to break them up before they reached the city, according to Reuters.
<p>The slowly sinking capital that is crumbling into the Java Sea has started the new year with a humanitarian crisis as tens of thousands of people were displaced and over 190,000 were evacuated by the sudden deluge on Dec. 31, 2019. </p>
<p>To stave off further damage, Indonesia's technology agency BPPT teamed up with the air force to carry out three rounds of cloud seeding earlier today, with more expected when needed, a BPPT official said, as <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-indonesia-weather-floods/indonesia-plans-cloud-seeding-to-halt-rain-floods-death-toll-rises-to-43-idUSKBN1Z203J" target="_blank">Reuters</a> reported.</p>
<p>"All clouds moving towards the Greater Jakarta area, which are estimated to lead to precipitation there, will be shot with NaCl (sodium chloride) material," Indonesia's technology agency BPPT explained in a statement, as the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-50981453" target="_blank">BBC</a> reported.</p>
<p>The two small planes dropped salt on rain clouds above the Sundra Strait. A larger plane was loaded and on standby if more rain clouds approached the city, according to the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jan/03/jakarta-floods-cloud-seeding-planes-will-try-to-break-up-heavy-rain" target="_blank">Guardian</a>.</p>
<p>Indonesian authorities often use cloud seeding or salt flares into clouds to try to catalyze rainfall to help put out forest fires during the dry season, according to the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jan/03/jakarta-floods-cloud-seeding-planes-will-try-to-break-up-heavy-rain" target="_blank">Guardian</a>.</p>
<p>"We will do cloud seeding every day as needed," said BPPT chief Hammam Riza to reporters, as <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-indonesia-weather-floods/indonesia-plans-cloud-seeding-to-halt-rain-floods-death-toll-rises-to-43-idUSKBN1Z203J" target="_blank">Reuters</a> reported.</p><p>Indonesia's president, Joko Widodo, who last year announced that the capital would move to East Kalimantan on Borneo to help relieve Jakarta's overcrowding, blamed stalled flood control infrastructure projects for the disaster. Meanwhile, authorities are using hundreds of pumps to try to suck water out of residential areas and from public infrastructure like roads and railways, as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jan/03/jakarta-floods-cloud-seeding-planes-will-try-to-break-up-heavy-rain" target="_blank">the Guardian</a> reported.</p><p><em>[<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/indonesia-to-move-capital-jakarta-2636197365.html">Read why Indonesia will move its capital from fast-sinking Jakarta.</a>]</em></p><p>However, even in areas where the water has receded, mud and debris have prevented people from returning to their homes, according to the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-50981453" target="_blank">BBC</a>.</p><p>Jakarta regularly experiences flooding during the rainy season, which started in November. This week's flood was "one of the most extreme rainfall" events since records began in 1866, the Meteorological, Climatological and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) said on Friday, as <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-indonesia-weather-floods/indonesia-plans-cloud-seeding-to-halt-rain-floods-death-toll-rises-to-43-idUSKBN1Z203J" target="_blank">Reuters</a> reported.</p>
<p>The agency said the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/climate-crisis">climate crisis</a> had increased the risk of extreme weather and warned that heavy rainfall could last until mid-February, with Jan 11-15 an expected peak, according to <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-indonesia-weather-floods/indonesia-plans-cloud-seeding-to-halt-rain-floods-death-toll-rises-to-43-idUSKBN1Z203J" target="_blank">Reuters</a>.<br></p>
<p>This week's flooding is the worst since 2013 when dozens were killed by overflowing canals when monsoons struck the city. More than 50 people died in floods in the capital in 2007, as <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-indonesia-weather-floods/indonesia-plans-cloud-seeding-to-halt-rain-floods-death-toll-rises-to-43-idUSKBN1Z203J" target="_blank">Reuters</a> reported. </p>
<p>"This year's flooding was phenomenally bad because of the extremely high rainfall," said Yayat Supriatna, a Jakarta-based urban planning expert, as the <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/jakarta-flood-2020-indonesia-capital-inundated-record-rainfall-dozens-deaths-missing-today-2020-01-03/" target="_blank">AFP</a> reported.</p>
<div id="912eb" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="478GLK1578073127"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1213086357188276226" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">VIDEO: 🇮🇩 Hundreds of people displaced because of severe flooding in the Indonesian capital #Jakarta hold Friday pr… https://t.co/mPrp4C87qr</div> — AFP news agency (@AFP news agency)<a href="https://twitter.com/AFP/statuses/1213086357188276226">1578057300.0</a></blockquote></div><p>He added that Jakarta's many infrastructure problems, including poor drainage and rampant overdevelopment, worsened the situation.</p><p>"Yes, the weather conditions were terrible, but this was exacerbated by awful urban planning," said Supriatna.</p><p>Authorities said 17 died in floodwaters, while 12 were killed in landslides. Several people died after coming into contact with downed live electrical lines and from hypothermia. As a precaution, officials turned off the electricity in many districts in Jakarta as a precaution, according to the <a href="https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2020/01/03/43-die-in-Jakarta-flooding/4011578060106/" target="_blank">UPI</a>.</p>
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Man stands on stage at Fort Leonard Wood in the U.S. Brett Sayles / Pexels
Wilson "Woody" Powell served in the Air Force during the Korean war. But in the decades since, he's become staunchly anti-war.
<iframe style="border: none" src="//html5-player.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/11814719/height/45/theme/standard/thumbnail/yes/direction/backward/" height="45" width="100%" scrolling="no" allowfullscreen webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen oallowfullscreen msallowfullscreen></iframe><p>Through the group <a target="_blank" href="https://www.veteransforpeace.org/">Veterans for Peace</a>, Powell has spoken out against conflicts, sought justice for civilian victims, and mentored veterans with PTSD.</p><p>Now he's turned his attention to yet another cost of war: <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/" target="_blank">the climate</a>.</p><p>"War plays a big role in climate change," he says. "All the wars that are fought over fossil fuels, for instance. Wars that are fought on smaller levels over hardwood forests in South and Central America. The carbon footprint of the U.S. military itself, which is very, very large."</p><p>Powell recently drafted <a target="_blank" href="https://www.veteransforpeace.org/2019ballot/2019-01">a resolution</a> that urges all Veterans for Peace chapters to take climate action and help educate students and others about the issue.</p>
<p>"I was brought up during World War II," he says. "I was nine years old when it started, and I saw the mobilization that went on … where we completely switched over our manufacturing facilities from making refrigerators and automobiles to making tanks and planes and so forth."</p><p>He says it will take a similar level of commitment to defeat global warming.</p><p>And he hopes veterans across the country can help win this fight.</p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from </em><em><a href="https://www.yaleclimateconnections.org/2019/11/veteran-urges-other-veterans-to-fight-for-the-climate/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Yale Climate Connections</a>.</em><a href="https://www.yaleclimateconnections.org/2019/11/veteran-urges-other-veterans-to-fight-for-the-climate/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"></a></p>
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Nevada Test and Training Range. U.S. Air Force / Airman 1st Class Kevin Tanenbaum
Friday the U.S. Navy released details of a plan to seize more than 600,000 acres of public land in central Nevada to expand a bombing range. The land under threat includes rich habitat for mule deer, important desert springs and nesting sites for raptors like golden eagles.
<p>If approved by Congress, the 1,536-page plan would transform entire valleys and mountain ranges into bombing targets. Combined with another proposal to expand the Air Force's Nevada Test and Training Range, the military is attempting to grab 1.75 million acres of public land in Nevada—an area larger than Delaware.</p><p>"It's outrageous that the Trump administration wants to ram another military takeover of public lands down our throats," said Patrick Donnelly, Nevada state director at the <a href="https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/" target="_blank">Center for Biological Diversity</a>. "The wide-open spaces of central Nevada's basin-and-range country are part of what makes our state so spectacular. Congress shouldn't let Trump seize hundreds of thousands of acres of public land so the military can drop bombs on our cherished wildlife and wild places."</p><p>The proposal would triple the size of Fallon Naval Air Station bombing ranges, seizing land in the iconic Fairview Peak area and the Stillwater National Wildlife Refuge. The plan released Friday follows an earlier proposal to expand the Nevada Test and Training Range in southern Nevada, which would take more than 1.1 million acres of Desert National Wildlife Refuge, currently managed to protect bighorn sheep and other wildlife.</p><p>The public has 60 days to comment on the enormous <a href="https://frtcmodernization.com/" target="_blank">draft environmental impact statement</a>, shorter than the 90 days normally given to comment on such a lengthy and complex document. The Navy has scheduled public meetings in Hawthorne and Gabbs (Dec. 10), Austin and Eureka (Dec. 11), Fallon (Dec. 12), and Reno and Lovelock (Dec. 13). <br><br>"The military has a long history of trying to stymie legally required public involvement," said Donnelly. "We'll shine a bright light on this process and highlight the risks this bombing range expansion poses to wildlife and public lands."</p>
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Sgt. Jerry Rushing / U.S. Department of Defense
By Daniel Ross
A rock seawall protecting the Air Force's Cape Lisburne Long Range Radar Station on the North East Alaska coast is under increasing duress from extreme weather patterns affecting Arctic sea ice—nearly $50 million has been spent replacing vulnerable parts of the wall already.
<p>In 2013, a late summer monsoon rainstorm struck Fort Irwin, in California, flooding more than <a href="http://www.oea.gov/resource/2018-climate-related-risk-dod-infrastructure-initial-vulnerability-assessment-survey-slvas" target="_blank">160 buildings</a> and causing extensive damage that took weeks to clean up. Some buildings were out of commission for months. </p><p>The 2012 Waldo Canyon Fire, one of the most destructive wildfires in Colorado's history, only narrowly missed Peterson Air Force Base. The fire cost some <a href="http://www.oea.gov/resource/2018-climate-related-risk-dod-infrastructure-initial-vulnerability-assessment-survey-slvas" target="_blank">$16 million</a> to battle.</p><p>These are just some of the findings that make up a U.S. Department of Defense vulnerability <a href="http://www.oea.gov/resource/2018-climate-related-risk-dod-infrastructure-initial-vulnerability-assessment-survey-slvas" target="_blank">report</a>, published earlier this year, looking at the impact of climate change on more than 3,500 military installations. Its conclusion? That more than half of these installations are affected by flooding, drought, winds, wildfires, storm surges and extreme temperatures. Drought proved the single biggest challenge to the military, affecting nearly 800 bases. Next up was wind, which affected more than 750 bases, while non-storm surge-related flooding impacted a little more than 700 bases. </p><p>"As an institution, the military sees climate change as a threat to what they do on multiple levels," said Michael Klare, professor emeritus of peace and world security studies at Hampshire College. "It's a threat to their bases. It's a threat to their operations. It creates insurgencies. t creates problems for them. They're aware of that, and they want to minimize those impediments."</p><p>Indeed, climate change has long been on the military's radar. It was the George W. Bush administration, for example, that required the Defense Department to procure <a href="http://www.energytrendtracker.org/2017/03/dod-bucks-trump-in-pursuit-of-renewables/" target="_blank">25 percent of its energy for its buildings from renewables by 2025</a>. Even President Ronald Reagan received <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2015/12/03/reagan-bush-41-memos-reveal-how-republicans-used-to-think-about-climate-change-and-the-environment/" target="_blank">military memos</a> warning of global warming. While in 2014, the department published a <a href="https://www.acq.osd.mil/eie/downloads/CCARprint_wForward_e.pdf" target="_blank">roadmap</a> establishing an outline to deal with the threats from climate change within the military, as ordered by then-President Barack Obama.</p><p>Although President Trump's administration is known for its climate change denialism, major figures within the military are still noticeably vocal about the issue. In February, Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats warned in a <a href="https://www.dni.gov/files/documents/Newsroom/Testimonies/2018-ATA---Unclassified-SSCI.pdf" target="_blank">Worldwide Threat Assessment</a> that the impacts from global warming—more air pollution, biodiversity loss and water scarcity—are "<a href="https://www.dni.gov/files/documents/Newsroom/Testimonies/2018-ATA---Unclassified-SSCI.pdf" target="_blank">likely to fuel economic and social discontent</a>—and possibly upheaval—through 2018." Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has been called the "<a href="https://www.alternet.org/environment/when-it-come-climate-change-policy-us-government-two-minds-utterly-opposing-worldviews" target="_blank">lone green hope</a>" for his long-established views on the threat of global warming. </p><p>Given the immediate threat of rising sea levels, the U.S. Navy is leading the charge to better understand these impacts at the ground level. Last year, a <a href="https://www.fedcenter.gov/_kd/Items/actions.cfm?action=Show&item_id=31041&destination=ShowItem" target="_blank">Navy handbook</a> provided a planning framework for incorporating the threat of climate change into development projects at Navy installations. To put this into context, a 2016 Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) <a href="https://www.ucsusa.org/global-warming/science-and-impacts/impacts/sea-level-rise-flooding-us-military-bases" target="_blank">analysis</a> of 18 military installations along the U.S. East coast and the Gulf of Mexico found that by 2050, most of these bases will experience 10 times the number of floods than they do currently. In about 80 years, eight of the bases could lose as much as 50 percent of their land to rising seas. Naval Air Station Key West, in Florida, could be almost entirely underwater by the end of the century.</p><p>"We did use the high sea level rise scenario because generally, the military has a low tolerance for risk," said Shana Udvardy, UCS climate preparedness specialist and a co-author on the study. "And we're basically on track for the high scenario because of the rate of ice sheet melting. It's very likely to happen, and it's after mid-century that we'll really see the changes in the extent and frequency of tidal flooding."</p><p>According to U.S. Geological Survey scientist Curt Storlazzi, who has studied the <a href="https://www.usgs.gov/center-news/documentary-about-sea-level-rise-threatening-republic-marshall-islands-features-usgs" target="_blank">effects of global warming on military installations</a> on the Marshall Islands for the Defense Department, the twin impacts of rising sea levels and storm waves will increase the magnitude of flooding there by "double" in the next couple of decades. "That's going to negatively impact both the military and civilian populations," he said. "That's the big takeaway—most civilian and defense infrastructure doesn't do well with salt water."</p><p>The Center for Climate and Security, a non-partisan group of defense and national security experts, continues to study the myriad threats of climate change on the military. In this recent <a href="https://climateandsecurity.files.wordpress.com/2018/02/climate-and-security-advisory-group_a-responsibility-to-prepare_2018_02.pdf" target="_blank">report</a>, the group outlined how extreme weather patterns will expand the department's role in tackling national and global security threats, highlighting how humanitarian assistance and disaster relief missions are "increasingly important responsibilities for military commanders around the world."</p><p>But former Rear Admiral David Titley, professor of meteorology at Penn State University and an expert in climate change, the Arctic and national security, argues that the military as a whole has yet to really grapple with the problem of climate change in any long-term strategic way, nor has it looked at how to cost-effectively prioritize resources—views mirrored in a recent Government Accountability Office <a href="https://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-18-206" target="_blank">report</a>. </p><p>Change could be on its way in this regard. Rep. Jim Langevin, the ranking Democrat on the Emerging Threats and Capabilities Subcommittee, pushed through an amendment in the <a href="https://langevin.house.gov/press-release/langevin-supports-bipartisan-defense-bill-fy2018" target="_blank">2018 defense spending bill</a> directing the Defense Department to identify the 10 military installations most vulnerable to climate change and to identify ways to mitigate the forecasted damage. "You would argue that that's where you put your first dollar towards buying down the risk," Titley said. "There may be bases that have higher climate vulnerability, but the impact may not be that big a deal relative to others." </p><p>Langevin also included a <a href="https://langevin.house.gov/press-release/langevin-supports-committee-passage-2019-defense-bill" target="_blank">provision in the 2019 defense spending bill</a> requiring the department to factor energy and climate resiliency efforts into major military installation plans. But Titley is circumspect about the Defense Department's overall ability and willingness to institutionally get to grips with the problems climate change poses. "We'll see whether the department of defense actually does that or not," said Titley. "There's no real leadership on this issue."</p><p>Miriam Pemberton, a research fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies, a progressive think tank, said that the military's public overtures on climate change ring a little hollow when stacked up against the actual dollars directed toward green initiatives within the military—efforts like <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/jan/21/us-navy-launches-first-biofuel-powered-aircraft-carriers" target="_blank">biofuel to power aircraft carriers</a> and <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-military-green-energy-insight/u-s-military-marches-forward-on-green-energy-despite-trump-idUSKBN1683BL" target="_blank">solar energy in combat zones</a>. </p><p>According to an Institute <a href="https://ips-dc.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/CvsC-Report-1.pdf" target="_blank">report</a> from last year, "Combat vs. Climate," the ratio in military spending in 2017 to deal with regular security threats versus climate change was 28:1—a slight improvement on the 2015 ratio of 30:1. But as the report finds, "spending 28 times as much on traditional military security as on climate security is hardly commensurate with the magnitude of this 'urgent and growing threat,' as the military has defined it."</p><p>Further, while the military's budget grew by <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2018/03/26/596129462/how-the-pentagon-plans-to-spend-that-extra-61-billion" target="_blank">$61 billion in 2018</a>, the amount of money the department continues to funnel toward green initiatives and renewable energies hasn't grown proportionately, said Andrew Holland, the American Security Project's director of studies. Nor does the military, he said, see its primary mission as tackling climate change. Indeed, the military is the <a href="https://www.ucsusa.org/clean_vehicles/smart-transportation-solutions/us-military-oil-use.html#.WzUjRdJKjIV" target="_blank">world's largest institutional consumer of fossil fuels</a>. Last year, the department used more than <a href="https://www.acq.osd.mil/eie/OE/OE_index.html" target="_blank">85 million barrels</a> of fuel to power ships, aircraft, combat vehicles and contingency bases. The cost? Nearly $8.2 billion.</p><p>"We have a military whose job is to fight and win America's wars," Holland said. "But where you can take clean energy initiatives that fight climate change and also increase the military's operational ability to fight and win those wars, that's a double win."</p><p>Another obstacle is that there's no "line item for climate change" within the defense spending bill, said the UCS's Shana Udvardy. "So, it's really up to each installation to figure out where they're going to get the resources, and which resources they're going to allocate to these types of adaptation measures," she said. What's more, both Udvardy and Holland agree that the military has recently grown increasingly secretive about its green initiatives, for fear of retaliation by the White House. </p><p>Trump has already <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/statement-president-trump-paris-climate-accord/" target="_blank">pulled out of the Paris Climate Accord</a>, for example, and signed an <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/presidential-executive-order-promoting-energy-independence-economic-growth/" target="_blank">executive order</a> rolling back all Obama-era climate change related actions within federal agencies. There are notable signs that this has trickled down to the Defense Department—the latest <a href="https://www.defense.gov/Portals/1/Documents/pubs/2018-National-Defense-Strategy-Summary.pdf" target="_blank">National Defense Strategy</a> had been scrubbed clean of any reference to climate change, for example. </p><p>"None of us have any clue as to how bad it's going to be," said Michael Klare, about the impacts from global warming. "But this something that the military does understand better than most people—it's not the polar bears we should be worried about, it's about whole societies that are going to collapse and send out waves of migration, which we're seeing already." </p><p><em>Daniel Ross is an Los Angeles-based journalist with bylines in Truthout, the Guardian, FairWarning, Newsweek, YES! Magazine, Salon, Vice and a number of other publications.</em></p><p><em>This article was produced by </em><a href="http://independentmediainstitute.org/earth-food-life/" target="_blank"><em>Earth | Food | Life</em></a><em>, a project of the Independent Media Institute.</em></p>
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Abandoned Air Force Base in Greenland. Ken Bower
By Whitney Webb
Last week, mainstream media outlets gave minimal attention to the news that the U.S. Naval station in Virginia Beach had spilled an estimated 94,000 gallons of jet fuel into a nearby waterway, less than a mile from the Atlantic Ocean.
<p>While the incident was by no means as catastrophic as <a href="https://www.rt.com/usa/371086-worst-pipeline-accidents-2016/" target="_blank">some other pipeline spills</a>, it underscores an important yet little-known fact—that the U.S. Department of Defense is both the nation's and the world's, largest polluter.</p><p>Producing more hazardous waste than the five largest U.S. chemical companies combined, the U.S. Department of Defense has left its toxic legacy throughout the world in the form of depleted uranium, oil, jet fuel, <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/pesticides">pesticides</a>, defoliants like Agent Orange and lead, among others.</p><p>In 2014, the former head of the Pentagon's environmental program <a href="http://www.newsweek.com/2014/07/25/us-department-defence-one-worlds-biggest-polluters-259456.html" target="_blank">told Newsweek</a> that her office has to contend with 39,000 contaminated areas spread across 19 million acres just in the U.S. alone.</p><p>U.S. military bases, both domestic and foreign, consistently rank among some of the most polluted places in the world, as perchlorate and other components of jet and rocket fuel contaminate sources of <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/drinking-water">drinking water</a>, aquifers and soil. Hundreds of military bases can be found on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) <a href="http://www.veteransinfo.org/epa.html" target="_blank">list of Superfund sites</a>, which qualify for clean-up grants from the government.</p><p><a href="http://www.newsweek.com/2014/07/25/us-department-defence-one-worlds-biggest-polluters-259456.html" target="_blank">Almost 900</a> of the nearly 1,200 Superfund sites in the U.S. are abandoned military facilities or sites that otherwise support military needs, not counting the military bases themselves.</p><p>"Almost every military site in this country is seriously contaminated," John D. Dingell, a retired Michigan congressman and war veteran, <a href="http://www.newsweek.com/2014/07/25/us-department-defence-one-worlds-biggest-polluters-259456.html" target="_blank">told Newsweek</a> in 2014. Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville, North Carolina is one such base. Lejeune's contamination became widespread and even deadly after its groundwater was polluted with a sizable amount of carcinogens from 1953 to 1987.</p><p>However, it was <a href="http://www.military.com/daily-news/2017/02/25/va-to-begin-processing-camp-lejeune-toxic-water-claims.html" target="_blank">not until this February</a> that the government allowed those exposed to chemicals at Lejeune to make official compensation claims. Numerous bases abroad have also contaminated local drinking water supplies, most famously <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2016/02/10/new-docs-link-polluted-drinking-water-supply-massive-us-military-base" target="_blank">the Kadena Air Force Base</a> in Okinawa.</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image"><img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy85ODcwMDcyL29yaWdpbi5qcGciLCJleHBpcmVzX2F0IjoxNjQyNDM5MDA4fQ.ts3OTifc8hR6dAK1-56Qrq7cNVwuTUbQGWZ1yLsxDyE/img.jpg?width=980" id="6420a" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="c0c66b2fd5df3b75af141ba48bb72265" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image"><small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="Add Photo Caption...">Between 1946 and 1958, the U.S. tested 66 nuclear weapons near Bikini atoll. Populations living nearby in the Marshall Islands were exposed to measurable levels of radioactive fallout from these tests. National Cancer Institute</small></p><p>In addition, the U.S., which has conducted more nuclear weapons tests than all other nations combined, is also responsible for the massive amount of radiation that continues to contaminate many islands in the Pacific Ocean. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/02/bikini-atoll-nuclear-test-60-years" target="_blank">The Marshall Islands</a>, where the U.S. dropped more than sixty nuclear weapons between 1946 and 1958, are a particularly notable example. Inhabitants of the Marshall Islands and nearby Guam continue to experience <a href="https://dceg.cancer.gov/research/how-we-study/exposure-assessment/radiation-dosimetry-cancer-risk-estimates-republic-marshall-islands" target="_blank">an exceedingly high rate of cancer</a>.<br></p><p>The American Southwest was also the site of numerous nuclear weapons tests that contaminated large swaths of land. Navajo Indian reservations have been polluted by <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/abandoned-uranium-mines-a/" target="_blank">long-abandoned uranium mines</a> where nuclear material was obtained by U.S. military contractors.</p><p>One of the most recent testaments to the U.S. military's horrendous environmental record is Iraq. U.S. military action there has resulted in the <a href="http://projectcensored.org/2-us-department-of-defense-is-the-worst-polluter-on-the-planet/" target="_blank">desertification of 90 percent of Iraqi territory</a>, crippling the country's agricultural industry and forcing it to import more than 80 percent of its food. The U.S.' <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2003/jan/19/iraq5" target="_blank">use of depleted uranium</a> in Iraq during the Gulf War also caused a massive environmental burden for Iraqis. In addition, the U.S. military's policy of using <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/feb/16/us-military-burn-pits-chemical-weapons-cancer-illness-iraq-afghanistan-veterans" target="_blank">open-air burn pits</a> to dispose of waste from the 2003 invasion has caused a surge in cancer among U.S. servicemen and Iraqi civilians alike.</p><p>While the U.S. military's past environmental record suggests that its current policies are not sustainable, this has by no means dissuaded the U.S. military from openly planning future contamination of the environment through misguided waste disposal efforts. Last November, the U.S. Navy announced its <a href="http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/38374-us-military-plans-to-dump-20-000-tons-of-heavy-metals-and-explosives-into-the-oceans" target="_blank">plan to release</a> 20,000 tons of environmental "stressors," including heavy metals and explosives, into the coastal waters of the U.S. Pacific Northwest over the course of this year.</p><p>The plan, laid out in the Navy's Northwest Training and Testing <a href="http://nwtteis.com/DocumentsandReferences/NWTTDocuments/FinalEISOEIS.aspx" target="_blank">Environmental Impact Statement</a>, fails to mention that these "stressors" are described by the EPA as known hazards, many of which are highly toxic at both acute and chronic levels.</p><p>The 20,000 tons of "stressors" mentioned in the Environmental Impact Statement do not account for the additional 4.7 to 14 tons of "metals with potential toxicity" that the Navy plans to release annually, from now on, into inland waters along the Puget Sound in Washington state.</p><p>In response to concerns about these plans, <a href="http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/38374-us-military-plans-to-dump-20-000-tons-of-heavy-metals-and-explosives-into-the-oceans" target="_blank">a Navy spokeswoman said</a> that heavy metals and even depleted uranium are no more dangerous than any other metal, a statement that represents a clear rejection of scientific fact. It seems that the very U.S. military operations meant to "keep Americans safe" come at a higher cost than most people realize—a cost that will be felt for generations to come both within the U.S. and abroad.</p><p> <em>Reposted with permission from our media associate </em><em><a href="http://www.mintpressnews.com/u-s-military-is-worlds-largest-polluter-hundreds-of-bases-gravely-contaminated/227776/" target="_blank">MintPress News</a>.</em></p>
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Environmental Working Group
“We, the undersigned, are constituents of the largest male breast cancer cluster ever identified—73 men,” begins a letter circulated by the Environmental Working Group and signed by veterans, their dependent children and surviving family members. “What happened to us is no coincidence.”
Over a period of 30 years, an estimated 1 million servicemen and women, their families and civilian workers at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune were exposed to tap water polluted by known carcinogens. These include trichloroethylene (TCE), vinyl chloride and benzene—all classified as known human carcinogens by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
The Marine Corps leadership was aware of the contamination years before steps were taken to remove the chemicals from the drinking water. Thousands of veterans from the base have filed for disability compensation with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, but only a handful have been approved for benefits so far.
“These men are just one small group of the tens of thousands of Marines, sailors, their families and base employees who have been affected by their exposures to the fouled drinking water,” said Mike Partain, a son and grandson of Marine officers who was born at Camp Lejeune and was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2007. “Will the medical help we need arrive only after we have all passed away? How many men with breast cancer will it take for our country to recognize that everyone exposed to the contaminated drinking water at Camp Lejeune was poisoned? Where is this nation's honor for our veterans and their families?”
Two pending bills—the Caring for Camp Lejeune Veterans Act of 2011, introduced by Sens. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) and Kay Hagan (D-N.C.), and the Janey Ensminger Act, introduced by Rep. Brad Miller (D-N.C.)—would provide medical care and services to the affected veterans and family members. Both have bipartisan support.
The Camp Lejeune incident, the largest documented case of drinking water contamination at a domestic military facility, is the subject of the award-winning film Semper Fi: Always Faithful. The film, which takes its name from the Marine Corps motto, was recently short-listed for an Academy Award nomination for Best Documentary Feature.
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Environmental Working Group is a nonprofit research organization based in Washington, D.C. that uses the power of information to protect human health and the environment. To visit our website, click here.