U.S. Army Bases Going Green to Save Money

While American military bases may be implementing green strategies into their operations – like calculating their carbon footprints – they’re not necessarily going to be on the front-line in the fight against global warming. They’re only interested in environmental measures that will save them money and stay in line with their main strategic war-fighting goals. But, their efforts will be a big help anyway, as they cut back on emissions and turn to renewable energy sources.

Plenty Mag has the scoop on what the military is doing to go green:

Many military bases now use renewable energy: California’s China Lake naval facility is powered by a geothermal plant, while Nevada’s Nellis Air Force Base gets juice from a massive solar array.

At North Carolina’s Fort Bragg, troops train in mock villages built from recycled shipping containers. The container construction cuts waste and energy use, while reducing the price tag from $400,000 per village to just $25,000.

At forward operating bases in Iraq and Afghanistan, 85 percent of energy goes to power AC units that keep troops and equipment cool. Spraying foam insulation directly onto tents has cut energy losses by 45 percent, reducing the amount of diesel trucked to the front line and decreasing convoys’ exposure to attacks.

Of course, Plenty Mag points out that the military is also committing plenty of eco-sins and that isn’t likely to change any time soon. Among the offenses are heavy reliance on coal, whale-harming sonar from Navy ships, use of depleted uranium munitions, hogging funds that could be used for environmental projects and, perhaps worst of all, aiming to sidestep rules governing Superfund sites and air pollution, skipping costly clean-ups on 129 heavily-polluted sites and redefining “hazardous materials” to exclude unexploded munitions.

Naturally, we’d love to see the military find ways of operating that don’t put the environment and human health at risk. Hopefully more changes will occur over the next 8 years of Barack Obama’s leadership – we can dream!

Link [Plenty Mag]
Photo credit: Nellis Air Force Base

McCain Doesn’t Want to Give Veterans Increased Education Benefits

Apparently, John McCain wants you to support the troops – but not too much. Wear your flag pins and display those yellow ribbons on your vehicles with pride. But don’t actually give the troops the education benefits they were promised before joining the armed forces. That would be wrong, apparently. See, a bill was recently introduced in the Senate that would expand education benefits for veterans. It’s the least we owe them for their service, right? Well, McCain quotes a study that was done on the bill that claims retention rates would decrease by 16% if soldiers were offered more money for college. The funny thing is, he failed to read the quote in the same study that showed that recruitment rates would simultaneously increase – by 16%. Now, we all know that Senator McCain is no mathematician, and I’m not either, but last time I checked, 16 minus 16 equals…. Zero.

From Yahoo News:

McCain, the all-but-nominated Republican presidential candidate, opposes a Democratic-backed bill that would significantly expand the breadth of education benefits for veterans, first adopted for those returning from World War II. Democrats want the proposal included in a war spending bill the Senate is scheduled to vote on this week.

The legislation, sponsored by Democratic Sen. Jim Webb of Virginia and Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, also veterans of Vietnam, would guarantee full tuition payments to veterans at any public school in their home state. Its expected cost is $52 billion over 10 years.

McCain says the legislation is too expensive and has proposed his own version, which would increase the monthly benefit available to most veterans to $1,500 from $1,100. It would not offer the equivalent of a full scholarship.

As Jon Stewart noted on the Daily Show last night, “Where did potential soldiers get the idea that the military was some kind of ‘fast-track to college’ in the first place?” Oh, right, it could be all those ads the military runs where grateful soldiers talk about the military being the only reason they were able to attend college. Nice blunder, McCain – especially when your military record was probably the biggest benefit you had on your side.

Check out a clip from last night’s Daily Show here.

Link [Yahoo News] + [Comedy Central]

EarthFirst Blog Week in Review: March 3rd - 7th

Last week was a good one if only because I turned 30 on Saturday. Three cheers for Pisces!

You can feel Spring in the air here in Maine, though we’re probably due for another good storm or three. We’re slowly ramping up things on the ol’ blog here and should be getting our Official Launch on in the next few weeks. You’ll start to see some new writers get into the mix and our editorial intern Caroline starts this week. Yeeeehaw!

Here are the headlines from Earthfirst.com from March 3rd through the 7th.

• The Internet Saves 10 Watts of Energy for Every Watt it Uses
• War’s a Comin’! Alabama, Georgia and Florida Will Fight it Out Over Water
  
• Bush 0 Whales 1, Federal Court Rules Against Use of Navy Sonar
• Al Gore Calls out Major Media at TED: Ask More Green Questions to Presidential Candidates
• It’s a Long Way Back to The Office- A Pull Back in Work At Home Policies?
  
• Very Stupid Eco-Arsonists Torch Green Homes in Seattle Suburb
• Tiny Homes Are Full of Awesome, 100 Square Foot Tumbleweed Tour Video
  
• Higher Gas Prices + Road Congestion = Greener Mass Transit
• Great Flying Spaghetti Monster! Look at Those Gas Prices!
  
• Alyssa Milano Makes a Very Strong Argument for Vegetarianism
• Ripping Off Mother Nature For Design Tips Nets Better Wind Turbines
  
• George Bush Bends Space and Time to Recast America as a Leader on Climate Change
• The Pedal Powered Snow Plow Is Chock Full of Awesome
  
• Tripp Isenhour, Pro Golfer and Dick, Kills a Hawk with a Well Aimed Bal
• Bullet Proof Vest Saves Anti-Whaling Activist from Japanese Whaler’s Bullet
  
• Clearly You’re Doing it Wrong
• The Friday Crazy: The Can Man Suit is 35lbs. of Aluminum Can Awesome

Bush 0 Whales 1, Federal Court Rules Against Use of Navy Sonar

President George Bush got smacked down by Johnny Law this week when a federal court over-ruled a White House exemption allowing the U.S. Navy to use whale-damaging sonar. According to the court decision, Navy ships can’t use sonar within 12 nautical miles of California, must turn it off when whales are spotted and avoid places where they live.

I’m not sure they have quite thought this thru. Whales are sea mammals. Therefore they live in the sea. Therefore the ENTIRE sea is out of bounds for Navy vessels?

We think this is a remarkable development and we will be looking forward to seeing a case in court on behalf of the Leopard Gecko (Iraq desert) and the Steppe Eagle (Afghanistan).

In fact, we hope in future armed conflicts will have to consider the full Environmental Impacts from the start.

“Sorry George,” says Condy “there is a rare newt in Tehran. We’ll just have to relocate the war someplace else”.

Link [Terra Daily]