The Bren Environmental Justice Club and UC Santa Barbara Researchers Against War joined representatives from the international non-profit Veterans for Peace on Oct. 20 to discuss the United States military industrial complex and climate crisis.
The investigative documentary addresses the environmental cost of the U.S. “military Empire.” Shengyu Zhang / Daily Nexus
The talk-in was held in light of the release of Abby Martin’s film “Earth’s Greatest Enemy,” and featured three speakers: Dr. Jim Rine, a U.S. army veteran representing Veterans for Peace; Dr. Summer Gray, an associate professor of environmental studies at UCSB; and Crystal Kim, a fifth-year physics Ph.D. candidate representing UCSB Researchers Against War (R.A.W.). After presentations from each speaker, the event transitioned into an open discussion in which audience members shared their thoughts about the balance between national security and environmental consciousness.
With over 750 overseas military bases in at least 80 countries, the U.S. military is the largest in the world. The U.S. Department of Defense receives 56% of Congressional discretionary spending, amounting to $872 billion in 2024, and accounts for 40% of world military spending.
According to the Climate and Community Project and the United Kingdom-based think tank Common Wealth, militaries across the world account for 5.5% of total global emissions. Accounting for at least three quarters of global military presence, the U.S armed forces are by far the largest contributor. In comparison, total civil aviation accounts for just 2% of emissions. This makes the U.S. military the single largest contributor to global climate change.
The U.S. military’s environmental footprint encompasses more than simply carbon emissions. According to Martin’s film, military testing and combat also affect natural habitats, cause displacement and impact air and water quality all across the globe.
The Bren Environmental Justice Club hosted a showing of “Earth’s Greatest Enemy” at the Isla Vista Theater on Oct. 19. The investigative documentary addresses the environmental cost of the U.S. “military Empire.”
Dr. Gray praised the film because it “flips the script” on carbon emissions. Martin suggests that rather than asking individual people to reduce their carbon footprint, people need to flip the blame on the military and the large corporations that benefit from congressional military funding for creating a system that perpetuates climate change.
“The issue is structural,” Gray said.
Cindy Piester, a Veterans for Peace representative who also attended the event, applauded Martin for her commitment to exposing an institution that has long evaded accountability for its environmental impact.
“It is an incredible, groundbreaking film that shows unprecedented, riveting footage … with the idea of showing the population the realities of what the United States militarism and wars are doing to the ecosystem, the planet, the people and the climate,” Piester said.
The talk-in also explored the implications of military funding in research — an issue that strikes close to home for UCSB students. According to R.A.W. Representative Kim, UCSB receives more funding from the top five private military contractors than any university in the UC system, with the majority going towards engineering research. Kim says that military funding is usually not explicitly for military technological innovation, but advancements from university research are integrated into military technology later on. Kim argues that this allows the military to covertly fund products, blurring the ethical line for researchers.
“What does [military funding] actually mean when so much of science research is funded by the military?” Kim said.
According to Kim, at least two products created by UCSB researchers are actively being used by the U.S. military. For example, the material science department created composites which are now integrated into F-35 fighter jets being sold to militaries around the world.
“So there’s this direct link between research done here at this university to bombs being dropped in other countries,” Kim said.
Kim also noted how state disinvestment in the UC system has led to an increase in alternative funding from military contractors.
At several universities such as Stanford University, UC Santa Cruz and UCSB, some researchers have signed pledges refusing to partake in military-funded research. However, these numbers are relatively small as only 36 pledges have been collected at UCSB, according to Kim. Kim says this is because this is a lot to ask of researchers:
“That’s really cutting off a lot of [researcher’s] options. And I think people are afraid of that,” Kim said.
The event organizers reiterated the importance of having conversations about this topic. Lenaya-Aiden Gonzales, a second year environmental studies masters student and co-leader of the Bren Environmental Justice Club, encouraged UCSB students to keep being curious about this issue.
“I think you need to keep learning, keep questioning, keep understanding what you’re reading and fight the propaganda as hard as you can … I grew up in a military family, and I’ll always feel a certain way towards the military … But my heart isn’t closed to the fact that that might be a lot more complicated than just the good it’s done for me and my family.”
A version of this article appeared on p. 6 of the Oct. 30 print edition of the Daily Nexus.
