Do you ever think we ask for too little?
I know we have to stop fracking, protect old growth, and invest in housing, infrastructure, education and health care. But sometimes I think we miss the big picture.
As we try to cut costs and keep our climate anxiety at bay, $1,264.12 billion in tax dollars of NATO member countries goes to defence spending. These funds are used to kill people, destroy communities and homes, and create untold trauma and misery. And the immense amount of greenhouse gases it produces isn’t even counted. It’s a colossal waste!
What impact would that money have if put towards restoring our environment, creating clean energy, and investing in a care based economy?
This may sound crazy, but compared to what? Environmental devastation and more austerity?
The last wars were based on lies: Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya — no weapons of mass destruction, women and everyone else worse off than before, countries reduced to rubble — why are we believing the reasons we’re being fed for today’s military adventures? Is Ukraine just the latest sacrifice zone, with Taiwan next in line?
We need peace now, and we need to redirect NATO money towards a global just transition. The economy is supposed to serve people and planet, not the other way around. There’s lots of work to do, and an unimaginably wonderful world to look forward to, if we get our priorities straight.
Diana van Eyk
Winlaw