To celebrate the anniversary of our ‘mission accomplished’ in Iraq, here are some of the connections between war and climate.

    Just as the 1st Gulf War showed us, it isn't a good idea to mix oil drilling and bomb dropping. Some of the less known side effects of that war were the largest oil spill in human history, contaminating the groundwater for generations to come, and frequent well fires that precipitated soot, heavy metals and dioxin on people throughout the region. The main difference between the war in the 90’s and the one we are fighting today is that most oil spill these days happen on land and tend to attract less attention. These environmental disasters will mean that over 90,000 Iraqi casualties will soon be joined by many others suffering chronic diseases due to their exposure to persistent organic pollutants, heavy metals and radioactivity. There is only so much that ‘smart bombs’ can do when a whole country is covered with toxins and radioactive materials.

    One of the toughest challenges we are facing in dealing with the climate crisis is the exhorbitant cost. Everything that needs to happen to drastically reduce our emissions, from insulating all homes, to re-wiring the nation, will be impossible without massive government spending. Unfortunately, our state coffers are in disarray, partly because we have been spending copious amounts of money on fighting a foreign war. This war has been draining our resources at home, increasing our trade deficit and crippling our economy. But what if that money was invested in the large scale de-carbonization of our economy to decrease energy costs, improve air quality, create American jobs, and become an example for the world to follow in climate mitigation? 

    Oil Change International released a report about just that. Here are some of their findings: 

1) Projected total US spending on the Iraq war could cover all of the global investments in renewable power generation that are needed between now and 2030 in order to halt current warming trends.

2) The war is responsible for at least 141 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (MMTCO2e) since March 2003.3 To put this in perspective:

    • CO2 released by the war to date equals the emissions from putting 25 million morecars on the road in the US this year.

    • If the war was ranked as a country in terms of emissions, it would mit more CO2 each year than 139 of the world’s nations do annually. Falling between New Zealand and Cuba, the war each year emits more than 60% of all countries.

    • Emissions from the Iraq War to date are nearly two and a half times greater than what would be avoided between 2009 and 2016 were California to implement the auto emission regulations it has roposed, but that the Bush Administration has struck down.

3) Just the $600 billion that Congress has allocated for military operations in Iraq to date could have built over 9000 wind farms (at 0 MW capacity each), with the overall capacity to meet a quarter of he country’s current electricity demand. If 25% of our power came rom wind, rather than coal, it would reduce US GHG emissions by over 1 million metric tons of CO2 per year – equivalent to approximately 1/6 of the country’s total CO2 emissions in 2006.

4) In 2006, the US spent more on the war in Iraq than the whole world spent on investment in renewable energy.

5) US presidential candidate Barack Obama has committed to spending “$150 billion over 10 years to advance the next generation of green energy technology and infrastructure.”9 The US spends nearly that much on the war in Iraq in just 10 months.