Live data from Hacker News

US military is a bigger polluter than as many as 140 countries

theconversation.com

11–20 of 243 posts

Re: US military is a bigger polluter than as many as 140 countries

#11

I always have wondered how people calculate pollution from countries. I mean, that must be from data gathered from the government? For countries/governments that doesn't even have or have a very limited garbage disposal, that must mean they pollute very little on paper when in reality people just throw stuff into the ground / ocean etc. I don't really believe this article. It seems like a typical clickbait shit artic…

> I mean, that must be from data gathered from the government?

I'm going to take the wild stretch of imagination that the people who are professionally interested in pollution and study it full-time have also considered this and are doing something a little more sophisticated to measure it.

Re: US military is a bigger polluter than as many as 140 countries

#12
post #7
post #2

Surprise, surprise, the military-industrial complex is destroying our planet. How people can still support this is beyond me.

When was the last time the "people" were asked if they agree with the size of their country's army ? EDIT: we agree to disagree but my impression is that when it comes to army and security services the tail is wagging the dog almost everywhere - not only in US. Any congressman can be presented with classified information which with the right interpretation can justify basically anything and the said congressman will…

Every election when they choose to support candidates who have stated policies regarding the military, really.

Re: US military is a bigger polluter than as many as 140 countries

#13

I always have wondered how people calculate pollution from countries. I mean, that must be from data gathered from the government? For countries/governments that doesn't even have or have a very limited garbage disposal, that must mean they pollute very little on paper when in reality people just throw stuff into the ground / ocean etc. I don't really believe this article. It seems like a typical clickbait shit artic…

Dirty rivers suck, but humanity's big problem right now is global warming.

Well, we face multitude of issues. For example loss of biodiversity is likely as important as global warming.

Re: US military is a bigger polluter than as many as 140 countries

#14
post #7
post #2

Surprise, surprise, the military-industrial complex is destroying our planet. How people can still support this is beyond me.

When was the last time the "people" were asked if they agree with the size of their country's army ? EDIT: we agree to disagree but my impression is that when it comes to army and security services the tail is wagging the dog almost everywhere - not only in US. Any congressman can be presented with classified information which with the right interpretation can justify basically anything and the said congressman will…

[deleted]

Re: US military is a bigger polluter than as many as 140 countries

#15

This kind of research is well documented to be funded by foreign governments. The US Military night very well pollute an extraordinary amount, but such funding will mean we never get the emissions down in other countries and this has to be a global effort. The House Committee on Natural Resources has already sent several letters [1] to groups like the National Resource Defense Council asking why they have whitepapers…

Your post confused me. I though you were saying that this report was to be suspicious because is coming from an organization that maybe have ties to China.

But it seems this report have nothing to do with that organization, but with some European universities.

So, what are you saying? that the report is right but 'maybe' it was funded by another country because you don't like it?

Re: US military is a bigger polluter than as many as 140 countries

#16
I always liked this Clickhole piece on military/environmental issues:

5 Ways ISIS Can Reduce Its Carbon Footprint

"As ISIS continues to expand its operations in the Middle East, it is more urgent than ever for this group to enact sustainable policies that will have the least impact on our environment. Here are some expert tips to help the Islamic State go green!

Requiring cars to stop at a military checkpoint leads to fuel inefficiency and idling engines, especially if an ISIS agent has to search the vehicle. Limiting checkpoints to one every 20 miles provides similar security with significantly lower emissions!"

https://news.clickhole.com/5-ways-isis-can-reduce-its-carbon...

Re: US military is a bigger polluter than as many as 140 countries

#18
post #2

Surprise, surprise, the military-industrial complex is destroying our planet. How people can still support this is beyond me.

I think you have to balance that against not preventing instability around the world. What would it look like if China, Russia, Iran and many others were unchecked and we let them do whatever they wanted...

Now, the current admin is cutting back on involvement. Some candidates call for more interventionism. That we’re retreating from “our duty” to be international police, essentially. So what is it?

Re: US military is a bigger polluter than as many as 140 countries

#19
post #18
post #2

Surprise, surprise, the military-industrial complex is destroying our planet. How people can still support this is beyond me.

I think you have to balance that against not preventing instability around the world. What would it look like if China, Russia, Iran and many others were unchecked and we let them do whatever they wanted... Now, the current admin is cutting back on involvement. Some candidates call for more interventionism. That we’re retreating from “our duty” to be international police, essentially. So what is it?

I think you have to balance that with the tendency of military to destabilize the world.

Re: US military is a bigger polluter than as many as 140 countries

#20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dirty rivers suck, but humanity's big problem right now is global warming.

Well, we face multitude of issues. For example loss of biodiversity is likely as important as global warming.

Loss of biodiversity is in big part caused by global warming (temperature rising, ocean acidification etc.) Global warming is not caused by loss of biodiversity.

On top of that, many of things that need to be done to reduce global warming will directly positively affect biodiversity, such as reducing deforestation and thus habitat loss.

So no, fixing global warming is more important since its a prerequisite to stopping loss of biodiversity.

Post reply on HN