by Lynn Sableman

   We seem to be missing something about the nexus of climate change and military activity. The USA has by far the largest military  on earth with the largest carbon footprint. Fighter jets emit tons per hour causing chest cavities to vibrate when Boeing jets roar overhead . We are rightfully concerned about the invasion of Ukraine by Russia. The first sensible thing I heard Putin say on TV was Russia has only five minutes to respond to incoming nuclear missiles from NATO  bases housing American nuclear bombs. In America when the alarm is triggered of incoming nuclear ICBMs we have a full 30 minutes to assess the accuracy of intelligence and have our president consider the general’s recommendations on how to respond and then select the most appropriate nuclear war plan response. Undoubtedly  sending the land based missiles off is the first thing, we have to use them or lose them. One man has the sole authority to pull the trigger on nuclear weapons so President Biden at present would press a button selecting the appropriate mass casualty or genocide of innocent global citizens. Why oh why aren’t our Jeff City servants of the people of Missouri discussing these two existential threats? All I hear from my representative,Ann Wagner, are heart rending appeals to protect the unborn. Now I’m not saying anything bad about unborns. But they are hard to keep track of. One  man has enough sperm to impregnate, let’s just say 30 women a day. 30 times 365 is ….really, aren’t there more pressing concerns Ann? 

   An MIT professor says humanity doesn’t have the maturity to handle nuclear anything. Not the nuclear  power reactors, Ukraine has 18 such old reactors their energy is 50% from nuclear power. Add to this scene Chernobyl which is now seeping radio nucleotides in ever greater amounts perhaps because of the climate crisis. The United States is awash in unsafe Superfund sites with spent fuel rod storage built to handle  ten years capacity, that is 60 years old bursting at the seams. One dixi cup of this spent fuel rod is enough to kill  a crowd in a large auditorium. These energy plants weren’t built to withstand Climate change weather systems.Storms, hurricanes, tornado forces  could burst these potential bombs open. These facilities must be kept with cooling systems -for a thousand years. There are double and triple layers of fail safe systems, but war and climate change were not in the original plans. My faith in the American Ideal  has melted away learning about these lapsed obligations. Now modernization of our nuclear weapons of our taxpayer money for 1 trillion dollars leaves humanitarian needs unmet. Why we could reverse our  poor  human rights record in the United States with that kind of cash. The Human Rights violations I refer to are well documented at the UN. It didn’t end with segregation. It’s about the human right to clean water and air ,healthcare, nutritious food, good paying jobs, affordable housing. To deal with the climate crisis means our military activity has to be cut back-it’s the largest carbon footprint on the planet. What could happen is Peace could break out all over the world! Bread not bombs!