by Meryl Phair ’21
Environmental Editor
Security in the United States is currently a topic of discussion, centering around possibilities of reevaluating public safety, as brought up by racial justice protests and global security, as tested by the COVID-19 crisis. Alongside these systems is another operative institution meant to ensure protection to Americans, which comes at a steeper cost to the preservation and safety of our world than many realize.
The U.S. military views climate change as a “threat multiplier,” meaning it can dramatically enhance the threats of existing dangers and actively poses a threat to national security. The military has been increasingly calling for energy resiliency by investing in research and exploring renewable energy technologies. However, the Department of Defense’s increasing emphasis is at odds with active climate policies within the military. Currently, the Pentagon is the largest institutional user of petroleum and the largest single producer of greenhouse gases in the world.
A report from Brown University’s Costs of War Project in 2019 estimates that since the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, the U.S. military has created a staggering pollution output of 1,212 million metric tons of greenhouse gases. In 2017, CO2 emissions from the U.S. military reached a sweeping high of 59 million tons, a larger output than a list of industrialized nations including Sweden, Switzerland, Morocco, Peru, Hungary, Finland, New Zealand and Norway. The report by Brown University also confirmed that, if the U.S. military was a country, it would rank No. 55 in the world for the largest amount of CO2 pollution emitted.
The sheer magnitude of environmental degradation linked to military activity, both domestically and internationally, is a direct result of resources pouring into the DOD from the U.S. government. The DOD budget makes up more than half of federal discretionary spending each year. In addition, the U.S. government spends more money on its military than any other country.
Environmental degradation results from landscape damage caused during active hostilities with the destruction to crops, forests, water systems and other natural resources. Along with the more immediate impacts to the environment, military hostilities often produce pollution of the air, land and water, which affects the long-term health and safety of populations and ecosystems.
For example, perchlorate, a component of jet and rocket fuel, is particularly corrosive in the contamination of sources of drinking water, aquifers and soil. It has been linked to causing endocrine system and reproductive problems in humans. The Environmental Protection Agency has discovered perchlorate in 45 states, contaminating the drinking water of about 16 million Americans. Currently, California and Massachusetts are the only states with set perchlorate regulations after cases of contamination were found in 2006. Although a health impact analysis by the EPA showed that concentrations of perchlorate in drinking water which could present a public health concern were recorded at higher levels then concentrations in the 2011 regulatory determination, the EPA determined on June 18, 2020, that perchlorate found in drinking water did not present a large enough public health concern to require a national regulation.
Along with environmental contamination, the DOD produces more hazardous waste than the five largest U.S. chemical companies combined. Hazardous waste includes depleted uranium, oil, jet fuel and pesticides as well as defoliants like Agent Orange and lead. These contaminants are released into the environment during active conflict but also seep into the earth at chemical manufacturing plants and in testing operations. The Pentagon's environmental program reported to Newsweek in 2014 that across the U.S. alone, 39,000 contaminated areas reach 19 million acres of national land.
Even while the U.S. military isn’t actively engaging in war itself, far-reaching impacts to the environment are produced through ongoing non-war operations and the maintenance of military installations. Emissions from vehicles and aircrafts, training area contamination and minimal waste management infrastructure all have compounding effects on the U.S. military's carbon footprint. U.S. military bases have consistently ranked as some of the most polluted places in the world. The EPA has a list of “Superfund sites,” which qualify for clean-up grants from the government and hundreds of military bases are regularly listed.
While the U.S. military has far-reaching operation impacts that negatively affect the environment, the military plays a significant role in environmental protection through technological advancement in innovating the clean energy sector as well as the potential to affect policy debates and influence individual behavior in the climate change arena. For example, a study conducted by Sarah E. Light, associate professor of legal studies and business ethics at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, found that participants were more inclined to purchase renewable energy when they learned the DOD was actively using renewable energy technology.
The military is also being increasingly utilized to de-escalate threats to national security that result from climate change produced phenomena. For example, hurricane season is historically the National Guard’s busiest time of year, and thousands of troops are currently prepared to support in natural disaster relief as hurricanes are tracking at a 30 percent increase this year in comparison to just last year. Similarly, in response to COVID-19, about 120,000 of the National Guard’s 450,000 personnel were mobilized in overseas deployments linked to pandemic response as well as domestic missions, involved in pandemic related efforts in 50 states, three territories and directly in Washington, D.C. In response to COVID-19, natural disasters and unrest linked to racial injustice protests, domestically deployed troops reached an unmatched estimation of 32,000 this year in emergency support personnel. The militarized response to public protests against systemic racism, in particular, has escalated calls for institutional accountability and reevaluations of national security.
In 2019, the United States Army War College released a report which outlined the impact of climate change on U.S. military operations, stating that “the Department of Defense is precariously unprepared for the national security implications of climate change-induced global security challenges.” The report highlights threats of climate change on national security citing severe weather events, mass migration, diminishing global freshwater supplies, disease, Arctic competition, stress on the U.S. power grid and nuclear reactors, and sea level rise. Sea level rise is a particularly imminent threat as it will affect many coastal base installations and the infrastructure workforce as current populations will have to relocate in response. For example, the largest naval base in the United States in Norfolk, Virginia, is currently sinking and, as a coastal installation, is at risk from damages from hurricanes on the East Coast which will intensify as climate change progresses.
As climate change mobilizes populations, limited access to resources such as food, water and jobs will heighten civil unrest and exacerbate conflict. Harm to vulnerable populations due to climate impacts will also become a pattern. Perhaps the biggest environmental concern of the U.S. military is the potential geopolitical competition which could have devastating effects on global ecosystems and the long-term continuity of planet Earth.
The effects of climate change threaten national security systems and response efforts. While our nation contends with a tumultuous time, the institution meant to provide safety and security to our communities is one of the biggest offenders of harm. Not only do damages of the military affect the environment but their immediate as well as far-reaching effects harm the populations and inhabitants of our natural world.