Saturday, May 28, 2016

On Memorial Day, Is The Environmental Cost Of War Going To Be Remembered?


Memorial Day is one of several opportunities for our corporate rulers to orchestrate sentiment in favor of their wars of conquest. Because so many families in the U.S. have lost a member to combat injuries -- or lived with permanently damaged family members and friends who suffered moral injury and killed themselves later -- this holiday resonates. Peace messages are shouted down as unwelcome on this day, as well as on Armistice Day (recast as Veterans Day) and Independence Day. 

War is glorified all the time but at these times speaking out against it is vilified as "disrespecting those who served" or those who "paid the ultimate price."

It is the environment of our planet that is paying the ultimate price. Who will grieve for her on Memorial Day?


Well, this young man will. Henry Marr's mom Allie Hall picked him up at school recently and he was upset about how human beings are affecting other animals on our planet.




Is he overreacting? Scientists at Cornell Lab of Ornithology don't think so.


This Memorial Day, join me in taking the Natural Guard pledge:


I pledge to speak out about the effects of militarism on our environment, because the commons we all share that sustain life are valuable to me. 

In discussions about security and safety, I will remind others of the need to count in the cost in pollution and fuel consumption of waging wars all around the planet.


In discussions about acting soon to protect our loved ones from the effects of climate chaos, I will remind others of the need to examine the role of the Pentagon and its many contractors in contributing to planetary warming.

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