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https://www.ecowatch.com/military-largest-polluter-2408760609.html https://www.ecowatch.com/military-largest-polluter-240876060...

kolbe 9y ago
This provides absolutely no basis for comparison, jut a few slightly quantitative anecdotes. I am, without doing any research, supremely confident that US civilians and private industry are far more environmentally destructive than the US military in 2017.
- toomuchtodo 9y ago
  "The U.S. military is the largest institutional consumer of oil in the world. Every year, our armed forces consume more than 100 million barrels of oil to power ships, vehicles, aircraft, and ground operations—enough for over 4 million trips around the Earth, assuming 25 mpg." http://www.ucsusa.org/clean_vehicles/smart-transportation-solutions/us-military-oil-use.html http://www.ucsusa.org/clean_vehicles/smart-transportation-so...
  - grepthisab 9y ago
    Right, the single biggest maybe. But more than US citizens combined, as the parent comment indicates? No.
    - toomuchtodo 9y ago
      Right, but the US military is top down control, which means changes are easier versus herding hundreds of millions of individual consumers to the right solutions. Nobody likes a dictatorship until something needs to get done fast.
      - wooter 9y ago
        Not only top down, but 100% accountable to the government already. No new laws necessary (under Bush, Obama, or Trump). In fact, MOST Americans want to end these useless dragging wars. Really reveals how much they truly care about pollution versus posturing for more control.
  - wooter 9y ago
    Scary how ive been censored on here. Flagged, buried, and couldn’t answer any comment till now. I’m done with HN.
    - deleted 9y ago
      [deleted]
- shykes 9y ago
  It's quite possible that the US military is a bigger polluter than any private corporation or government agency. It's an organization of truly colossal size. But the sum of all US corporations is, in aggregate, much, much larger.

kolbe 9y ago

This provides absolutely no basis for comparison, jut a few slightly quantitative anecdotes. I am, without doing any research, supremely confident that US civilians and private industry are far more environmentally destructive than the US military in 2017.

toomuchtodo 9y ago
"The U.S. military is the largest institutional consumer of oil in the world. Every year, our armed forces consume more than 100 million barrels of oil to power ships, vehicles, aircraft, and ground operations—enough for over 4 million trips around the Earth, assuming 25 mpg." http://www.ucsusa.org/clean_vehicles/smart-transportation-solutions/us-military-oil-use.html http://www.ucsusa.org/clean_vehicles/smart-transportation-so...
- grepthisab 9y ago
  Right, the single biggest maybe. But more than US citizens combined, as the parent comment indicates? No.
  - toomuchtodo 9y ago
    Right, but the US military is top down control, which means changes are easier versus herding hundreds of millions of individual consumers to the right solutions. Nobody likes a dictatorship until something needs to get done fast.
    - wooter 9y ago
      Not only top down, but 100% accountable to the government already. No new laws necessary (under Bush, Obama, or Trump). In fact, MOST Americans want to end these useless dragging wars. Really reveals how much they truly care about pollution versus posturing for more control.
- wooter 9y ago
  Scary how ive been censored on here. Flagged, buried, and couldn’t answer any comment till now. I’m done with HN.
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
shykes 9y ago
It's quite possible that the US military is a bigger polluter than any private corporation or government agency. It's an organization of truly colossal size. But the sum of all US corporations is, in aggregate, much, much larger.