Friends,
The
letter below has been sent not only to Rep. McCarthy, but also to Nancy Pelosi
and Senators Chuck Schumer and Mitch McConnell. We will be risking arrest with
Jane Fonda on Friday, November 8.
Kagiso, Max
Baltimore
Nonviolence Center, 325 East 25th Street, Baltimore, MD 21218
Ph:
410-323-1607 Email: mobuszewski20001 at Comcast dot net
November
7, 2019
Representative
Kevin McCarthy
2468
Rayburn House Office Building
Washington,
DC 20515
Dear
Rep. McCarthy:
Funding endless war is an existential threat to human life and
one of the leading causes of climate chaos, and why it’s urgent that we come
together and make the connection between U.S. militarism and climate change. On
Friday, November 8, as part of Fire Drill Friday, we plan to be on the steps of
the Capitol around 11 AM calling on our legislators to declare a climate
emergency. We would appreciate if you could send an aide to meet with us.
It is essential that to save Mother Earth, major cuts to the
military budget must be made and those funds diverted to programs designed to
alleviate the effects of climate chaos. 64% of
US discretionary spending is wasted on the military, which pollutes our planet
more than 140 countries combined! The Pentagon is the single largest institutional
consumer of fossil fuels in the world, and the United States
military has an enormous “carbon boot print.” If it were a country, its fuel
use alone would make it the 47th-largest greenhouse gas emitter in
the world, between Peru and Portugal. And for much of the past century, a major
function of the military has been to secure access for US-based companies to
fossil fuel resources in the Middle East and elsewhere. It’s hard to imagine
how to “green” the US’s fossilized war machine without fundamentally
questioning its purpose in a 21st century defined by the need for international
cooperation against the climate crisis.
The Poor
People’s Campaign and the Institute for Policy Studies recently calculated that
the US could safely cut as much as $350 billion from
the Pentagon’s current spending and still be left with a bigger military budget
than China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea combined. That’s a lot of money that
could be reinvested in other priorities like a Green New Deal — enough not just
to help ward off the worst climate catastrophes, but to actually improve living
conditions for the many who are suffering in today’s economy.
For instance,
just 11% of the Pentagon’s current annual budget — about $80 billion — could
produce enough wind and solar energy to power every one of the almost 128 million households in
the United States. As renewables get cheaper, that fraction gets even smaller.
And with the right kind of regulatory structures, zero-carbon renewable
electricity could effectively be made free after the initial investment of
construction.
There are
other costs associated with shifting to fossil-free electricity, of course — like
developing battery storage, a resilient smart grid to transmit energy across
large regions, and other sources of carbon-free energy like geothermal and
tidal. But even accounting for these, one estimate calculates the total cost of
shifting our electricity to 100% renewable energy over 10 years at $4.5 trillion. That’s
still less than the $6 trillion that
we’ve spent on almost two decades of endless wars waged since 9/11.
But direct
public job creation in low-carbon sectors of the economy, like education,
health care, and clean energy, would have much greater positive economic
impacts per tax dollar than war-related jobs. The military creates about seven
jobs per $1 million of spending, according to a study from the Costs of War Project,
while clean energy and infrastructure each support 10 jobs, health care
supports 14, and education supports 15. No wonder Green New Deal advocates
support a public jobs guarantee as part of the framework.
Everything we
need to transform the US to a green economy is technically and economically
feasible. But our government’s enormous and unnecessary military expenditures,
which are now approaching World War II–era levels,
have warped our sense of what's possible. That’s tricked us for decades into
believing we can't afford to make big investments in improving our lives or
keeping our planet habitable.
But skimping
on the survival of human civilization isn’t an option. Inaction on climate
change could soon cost the gross domestic
product on the scale of five Great Recessions per year — supposing that
economic modeling is even equipped to calculate the costs of an uninhabitable Earth. The
good news is we know exactly where to find the funds. So we look forward to a
meeting with an aide on the Capitol steps, so that we can flesh out the points
made in the letter.
If you are not yet convinced that Congress must declare a
climate emergency, see this article Climate crisis:
11,000 scientists warn of ‘untold suffering’ on November 5, 2019 in The
Guardian -- https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/nov/05/climate-crisis-11000-scientists-warn-of-untold-suffering.
The article written by Damian Carrington, Environment editor, also
makes the point that “Most countries’ climate plans ‘totally inadequate’ – experts.”
Please join the struggle to save the
planet. We look forward to your response.
In peace,
Max Obuszewski and Janice Sevre-Duszynska
Representative
Nancy Pelosi, 123 Longworth House Office Building, Washington, DC 20515
Senator
Mitch McConnell, 317 Russell Senate Office Building, Washington, DC 20510
Senator
Chuck Schumer, 322 Hart Senate Office Building, Washington, DC 20510
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