By Tom H. Hastings
       Here comes a new year. We are about to transition from a bumbling elderly presidentâs administration to a chaotic malignant elderly narcissistâs attempt at autocracy. What could possibly go wrong?
But also, what could go right?
The US military has some 750 bases in at least 80 other nations, with more than 170,000 troops deployed overseas in many of the countries of the world. To date, there has been bipartisan support for this, even though the rest of the world is filled with leaders who are increasingly aggrieved by this–letâs be blunt: few people like foreign soldiers patrolling their lands. We are those foreign soldiers.
Maybe Donald Trump will reverse that. Maybe, in his myopic and pompous Me First rule he will draw down some of that global grasp. If he does, it could be a temporary alignment between a belligerent braggart and a planetary peace movement, the strangest of bedfellows. The interests of Trump and the peace movement are radically different, but if they overlap enough in practice, it could be some small step forward in an unexpected shared practice.
Ah, you say, but thatâs an invitation to the dictators of the world to aggressively seek to invade and occupy other lands. Look at Russia and Ukraine, Russia and all its former Soviet republics, all of which are fearing a return to Russian imperialism. Look at China, threatening Taiwan and who knows where else.
True. In a world where might makes right, it seems sensible to acquire massive military power and defend our country and our allies.
But what if there were a different kind of might? After all, with climate chaos threatening every country on Earth and the military having the largest carbon bootprint of any sector of the worldâs human activities, our addiction to military power is going to prove not just lethal to others, but also to ourselves. A climate emergency that threatens to make planet Earth uninhabitable means that continuing our pathetic dependence on having a military in more places than any empire in human history is ultimately simply self-inflicted harm.
What happens when Estonia is invaded by Russia? What will Trump do then? What if he basically does what he said he would–let Russia âdo whatever the hell they wantâ?
We need a new superpower, one that doesnât involve a military belching carbon into the atmosphere as the US Air Force has done–the largest consumer of fossil fuel in the US military, which is the largest single consumer of fossil fuel on the planet.
What if humankind learned to defend itself with nonviolence?
What was the carbon footprint when Gandhi led 300 million Indians as they ended British rule of their country, including the famous Salt March (hint: thousands walking for 24 days is not a carbon-intensive campaign)? It was microscopic compared to the military amassed by India now.
What was the climate emergency contribution of Chilean people power as they ended the tyranny of General Augusto Pinochet and regained their democracy? It was tiny compared to Pinochetâs military, which was augmented by a great deal of US military aid, but all that power was overcome by nonviolent people power.
When the people of East and West Germany rose up in nonviolent insurrection against Soviet rule of East Germany and the domination of the Warsaw Pact countries of Eastern and Central Europe, did they have a carbon footprint as they gathered with sledgehammers to begin dismantling the Berlin Wall? They rose up against a military superpower and that superpower folded–even Forbes called it people power.
A post-carbon-consuming military vs military is possible and is simply necessary if humanity is to have a future.
Maybe Donald Trump can help. He didnât get my vote but if he draws down the US military–something he emphatically did not do in his first term, but something heâs hinted at in his 2024 campaign–heâll get some polite applause from the likes of me.
Then the people of the world can relearn how we liberate ourselves without guns and bombs and massive carbon-spewing tanks, trucks, ships, jets, and troop transports. Trump has no interest in that, but we donât need him for that.
Dr. Tom H. Hastings is Coördinator of Conflict Resolution BA/BS degree programs at Portland State University. His views, however, are not those of any institution.
