A-Infos (en) Italy, FdCA, IL CANTIERE #39 - Armies and the Environmental Emergency "Armies consume in peacetime, destroy in wartime" - Carmine Valente (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

As we know, a slogan must be able to express important concepts in a few 
simple, catchy words and be easily memorable. The subtitle's message, 
which distinguished the antimilitarist movements of the last century, 
has this merit. In twelve words, it clearly defined the harmful role 
that armies played in society, both in wartime and peacetime. Today, 
when the world faces a seemingly unstoppable climate crisis, this 
description is no longer sufficient. In times of war, armies destroy, 
and do so with greater scale and malice, the examples close to us of 
Ukraine and Palestine, but the scenarios in other conflict zones are no 
different. They bear witness to the cynicism and barbarity with which 
entire territories are destroyed and thousands of young soldiers and 
tens of thousands of men, women, and children are killed, guilty only of 
living in those countries.

While this is happening, in our living rooms, the master thinkers of 
single-track thinking debate whether, faced with 70,000-80,000 deaths in 
Gaza, over 60% of whom were women, elderly, and children, we can/should 
speak of genocide or "simply" of massacre.
Nor does the estimated one million dead and wounded in the conflict 
between Russia and Ukraine seem to stir consciences in the democratic 
West. Instead, a rally is convened where the bourgeois pipers try to 
convince young people that it is right and beautiful to die for the 
European homeland.
But when the bodies of these young people return in a wooden coffin or a 
black sheet, as happens in many parts of the world, tears will be 
useless. The pipers, like diligent accountants, will record the numbers, 
but for every soldier or civilian who dies, a corner of the world will 
have been destroyed.

If war leaves deep wounds with death and the devastation of territories, 
in peacetime the military apparatus is not neutral, and talking about 
consumption seen solely as an economic factor, as was done in the last 
century, does not reflect the state of the art.
The Climate Crossfire report (1) notes, among other things, that: NATO's 
military fossil footprint increased from 196 million tonnes of CO2 
equivalent (tCO2e) in 2021 to 226 million tonnes of CO2e in 2023, an 
increase of 30 million tonnes in two years, equivalent to over 8 million 
additional cars.
If all NATO members reach the 2% GDP target between 2021 and 2028, their 
total military fossil footprint will be 2 billion tCO2e.
The new target of increasing military spending to 5% of GDP opens up 
apocalyptic scenarios.
These millions of tons of CO2 may not fully explain the impact of 
weapons on the environment, but if we analyze the fuel consumption of 
fighter-bombers, the full severity of the environmental devastation 
becomes clear.
For example, F-35A fighters consume approximately 5,000 liters of oil 
per hour, compared to the 3,000 liters of fuel consumed by the F-16 
fighters they are replacing. That is, a fighter-bomber consumes in one 
hour what a medium-sized car consumes in a year to travel 25,000 km.
The rearmament project that the European Union has launched, in addition 
to the obvious problems it will cause for the welfare state, must also 
be evaluated from the perspective of environmental disasters. Not only 
because the necessary investments to combat the already precarious 
environmental situation are being diverted, and the daily floods to 
which our territories are subject are there to remind us of this, but 
also because of the worsening that the massive investments in weapons 
will have a significant impact on the climate and the environment.
The ecological impact of rearmament is an aspect that has often been 
underestimated until now and today, in the face of the warmongering fury 
that has engulfed international institutions, it is being completely 
exorcised.

Global warming has faded into the background, but the "climate clock" 
(2) indicates that we now have only a few years to reverse the trend. 
This pessimism is confirmed by the analyses of scientists from the 
Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists magazine, who, through their symbolic 
clock (Doomsday Clock) (3), whose midnight symbolizes the end of the 
world, set the current situation at 89 seconds, the hypothetical 
distance from such an apocalyptic event.
How the military destroys in peacetime
It is not easy to reconstruct the environmental impact of the military 
sector because there is no obligation for governments to report 
emissions from this sector. Their reporting was excluded from the Kyoto 
Protocol under pressure from the United States and is voluntary under 
the Paris Agreement.
Although unreported and hidden, military exercises have a significant 
environmental impact.
Military installations occupy vast areas of land, often reclaimed from 
civilian use or natural conservation. Areas used for exercises often 
suffer permanent damage, with the destruction of vegetation, soil, and 
natural habitats, soil erosion, and resulting desertification.
During exercises, soil and water are polluted.
Explosions and munitions residues release toxic chemicals (such as lead, 
mercury, and other heavy metals) that can contaminate soil and groundwater.
Large-scale exercises, especially those involving aircraft, ships, and 
tanks, consume enormous amounts of fossil fuels, contributing to CO2 
emissions and climate change.
The devastation of territories during exercises with heavy weapons, 
aircraft, and military vehicles alters ecosystems, impacting wildlife, 
causing stress, forced migration, or changes in animal behavior.
Toxic substances released during exercises can remain in the environment 
for decades, with negative effects on human health and ecosystems.
All of this represents ongoing damage that, even with the prospect of a 
reversal of the trend-which is currently not on the horizon-will leave 
indelible marks on future generations, as restoring areas used for 
military exercises, often contaminated with radioactive 
material-depleted uranium-is complex and costly.
Stopping military escalation is now an objective that can no longer be 
postponed. The resources being diverted to fight the clash between a 
declining imperialism and a rising imperialism are actually resources 
that are planning the destruction of the planet. This destruction will 
not necessarily come through a nuclear conflict, although the criminals 
who govern us are trying, but through an impoverishment of the 
environmental system approaching the point of no return.

1) https://www.tni.org/en/publication/climate-crossfire
2) https://climateclock.world/
3) Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists - Wikipedia

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