Dropping a Climate Wedge in the Middle of the War in Iraq

The peace movement, which has largely convinced the entire population that the Iraq War is about oil, and the environmental movement, which has framed the debate that global warming is a clear and present danger, both don’t seem to be bridging the gaps between the two issues. I’d love to be proven wrong on this, but from what I’ve seen, most of the two sections of the progressive movement aren’t making the obvious connections.

Burning fossil fuels is driving global warming. The United States just spent almost $1 trillion (yes, trillion with a “T”) to ensure permanent access to Iraqi oil. In other words, money that could have gone to dozens of serious social programs - including funding a complete greening of the American economy - was instead funneled into an illegal, costly, and lethal global warming drilling expedition and nobody is talking about it.

The war, as the election season in the United States speeds up, is largely off the table. It’s gone off the media radar for election coverage, which isn’t surprising, though obviously quite frustrating. The environmental movement, which has been doing a phenomenal job linking solutions to global warming with solutions to poverty in America (i.e. “green pathways out of poverty”, “green collar jobs”, and “solar cells, not jail cells”), but doesn’t seem to be focusing in a large way on why our national spending priorities are what they are. How can we prompt a green economic revolution in our country if half of our budget is going to waging a bloody war for control of fossil fuel reserves!

The only folks I’ve seen actually trying to link the two issues are the “no war, no warming” folks. But the slogan just doesn’t cut it. All it says, all it invokes, is a group of people who happen to be against two things (key word: against). The direct linkage and correlation between the two issue’s aren’t highlighted when they are dichotomized in that way. We need to be more creative and thoughtful when linking the two - and we need to frame our message in positive language. People need to understand them as one concept. Much like messaging around “green collar jobs” invokes two issues with one conceptual frame.

The connections are clear. The public, soldiers, and veterans are all against the Iraq War in record numbers. Large portions of the population think we need to take action against climate destabilization too. Both global warming and the war are only getting worse. The U.S. Government and Corporate America just handed us these narratives. Let’s take them and roll with it!