Peace and Climate Working Group
Militarism & war can be fatal to the profound international cooperation that is necessary to deal successfully with the climate emergency. Further, war preparation and fighting do huge and lasting climate and other environmental damage. Climate-related devastation is fostering the kind of instability that promotes violence. The US military is the single largest institutional polluter in the world.
Our mission is to illuminate the interrelationship of US militarism and the global ecological and climate crisis. We seek to integrate anti-militarism into the climate and ecological narrative, by demonstrating how world peace and nonviolent conflict resolution are inseparable from environmental and climate justice, by using educational events, action opportunities, and solidarity work with climate and related social movements
Policy Goal:
bring together the movements for peace and climate, so they see each others’ issues as a central part of their work. An additional goal is, to collaborate with other working groups/campaigns within MAPA, on issues of common concern.
Objectives for 2023
a) consistent outreach to climate groups, resulting in closer connections around the peace and climate issues;
b) webinars that offer new ways of thinking about the economic system and foreign policy;
c) Workshop offering the Work That Reconnects to activists
2023 Activities
(i) support Mass. bills in legislature plus policy proposals to governor;
(ii) webinar currently planned on degrowth;
(iii) future webinars on “Doughnut Economics”, UN and Warheads to Windmills new report;
(iv) work w/ Veterans for Peace on their advocacy about climate impact of the military
Coalition work with (i) War Industry Resisters Network, (ii) 350 Mass (iii) UU Mass. Action, (iv) Climate Action Now (in Pioneer Valley), (v) Demilitarize Western Mass.
Co-Conveners
Convenor — John MacDougall
Co-convenors — Rosalie Anders, Kate Cloud.
Contact: climate@masspeaceaction.org
