US spending on the Iraq war could cover all of the global investments in renewable power generation that are needed between now and 2030 in order to halt current warming trends.
2. 141 million metric tons of CO2 equivalent (MMTCO2e) emissions since March 2003 and still counting…
• CO2 released by the war to date equals the emissions from putting 25 million more cars on the road in the US this year. These stem from fuel-intensive combat, oil well fires and
increased gas flaring, the boom in cement consumption due to reconstruction efforts and security needs, and heavy use of explosives and chemicals that contribute to global warming.
• If the war was ranked as a country in terms of emissions, it would emit more CO2 each year than 139 of the world’s nations do annually. Falling between New Zealand and Cuba, the war each year emits more than 60% of all countries.
• Emissions from the Iraq War to date are nearly two and a half times greater than what would be avoided between 2009 and 2016 were California to implement the auto emission regulations it has proposed, but that the Bush Administration has struck down.
I thought that this was pretty interesting. I had never stopped to think about how else the U.S. could have been spending money and the affects that it could have on the rest of the world.
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It seems as if it was not only a waste of money (so much more good could have been done instead) but it also harms the environment is many ways. I found pretty much similar data on another site, you can see it in my post, which definitely confirms your data.
ReplyDeleteIt's sad to see that the U.S. is more willing to spend money on a war, than to try help the planet.