Department of Climate Defense

What will it take to stop and reverse climate change? On the left, we emphasize actions by ordinary citizens whose protests, educational work, and organizing seek to compel governing and economic elites to do the right thing for the rest of us. But not every powerful institution is resisting the truth about the damage being done to the planet. Surprisingly perhaps, the U.S. military has proven itself more open to addressing the climate crisis than Republican politicians who swear over and over again that the men and women who serve in uniform can do no wrong.

Jeffrey Marqusee, the former executive director of the Office of the Secretary of Defense’s Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program and a fellow leftist, discusses the Pentagon’s views on climate change and what it has done to mitigate it.