Just a thought.

Wednesday, July 26, 2023

Threat..

The U.S. military has recognized climate change as an “existential” threat to national security, spurring conflict and mass migration.

But critics say it hasn’t done enough to stave off climate change—and that’s partly because it’s not required to share how much it pollutes. The U.S. military is the single largest institutional source of greenhouse gas emissions in the world, according to Brown University’s Costs of War Project. (This is despite reducing emissions from a peak of around 85 million tons in 2004.)

Using Department of Energy data, researcher found that the U.S. military is a major polluter. Since the beginning of the Global War on Terror in 2001, the military has produced more than 1.2 billion metric tons of greenhouse gases. The data is likely incomplete—but even with the available data, she found that the U.S. military emits more than entire countries like Portugal and Denmark, and that the Department of Defense accounts for nearly 80% of the federal government’s fuel consumption.

Sending..

The U.S. is sending two amphibious warships and thousands of Marines to the Middle East to bolster regional security after Iranian forces threatened commerce in and out of the Persian Gulf, the Pentagon announced Thursday.

Amphibious warship USS Bataan (LHD-5) and USS Carter Hall (LSD-50) and elements of the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit on the two ships are being dispatched to the U.S. Central Command.
The announcement comes days after the U.S. sent additional warships and fighters to the Middle East to deter Iranian forces from interfering with merchant traffic.
On July 5, the Iranian corvette IRINS Bayandor (81) fired on the merchant tanker Richard Voyager in an attempt to seize the ship off the coast of Oman. Just a thought.

Greenhouse..

In 2017, for example, the Pentagon's total greenhouse gas emissions (installations and operations) were greater than the greenhouse gas emissions of entire industrialized countries, such as Sweden, Denmark and Portugal and also greater than all CO2 emissions from US production of iron and steel.

Sinéad..

Sinéad O’Connor, the fiery Irish singer and songwriter whose striking voice briefly made her an unlikely pop superstar in the early Nineties, while her bold public stances on child abuse, war, and organized religion kept her in the news, has died at the age of 56.

Already a rising star in the late ‘80s, O’Connor shot to fame in 1990 when her version of the Prince song “Nothing Compares 2 U” became a Number One hit.

Her Celtic-tinged vocal style, marked by breathy swoops that were by turns soothing and abrasive, would echo throughout the Nineties,