Tom Donahue, the president of the US Chamber of Commerce, addressed a crowd at West Point today with a speech that heralded the importance of free trade to our international security. What he failed to mention is that because of the millions of dollars it spends on blocking clean energy solutions, the US Chamber is one of the primary reasons that our country is still addicted to oil, an addiction that is costing us not only our money and health, but also the lives of many young men and women who are serving overseas.
Indeed, there are perhaps no better messengers for the movement to break our addiction to oil than our nation’s veterans. That’s one of the reasons why 350.org has been proud to partner with Operation Free, a coalition of leading Veterans and national security organizations who recognize that climate change is a major threat, and support fast, bold action.
Operation Free writes on their website,
Every day, the men and women of our military serve us, from the deserts of Iraq and Afghanistan, to disaster relief in New Orleans, to humanitarian interventions around the world. We can help them shoulder the burden by acting on climate change now. If we work to reduce our use of oil and mitigate the effects global warming, our military will be able to continue to work effectively. But, if we continue to wait, rising ocean levels will inundate naval bases and island bases; temperatures will become more extreme, making it more difficult to execute operations around the world; ice caps will melt, forcing our navy to expand further around the world.
We’re looking forward to continue to work with Operation Free and others to reduce our dependence on foreign oil — and get the Chamber out of the way of blocking progress.
