ACTING
TOGETHER
Peace and
Climate
Local action:
1. Encourage institutional divestment from
the fossil fuel industry
2. Fight against the construction of new
fossil fuel or nuclear infrastructure such as
the fracked gas pipeline to West Roxbury
3. Work to promote better facilities for
mass transit, biking, and walking
4. Promote energy conservation programs
We can’t have peace
without climate justice
Date of publication
National action (pressuring legislators):
1. Channel money away from the military
towards clean energy programs and land
and water restoration
2. Pass a carbon tax
3. End subsidies for the oil and gas
industries
4. Strengthen the United Nations and
replace military intervention and weapons
sales abroad with economic and
educational solutions.
11 Garden Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
[email protected]
(617) 354-2169
masspeaceaction.org
Recent flooding in Texas
MASSACHUSETTS
PEACE ACTION
PEACE AND CLIMATE
ACTIVISTS: TOGETHER,
WE’RE STRONGER
Climate change is leading to unrest and
war. Its precise role may be difficult to
pinpoint, but it is real. In Syria, for
example, four years of drought led to
crops drying up, impoverishment, hunger,
and migration to cities. Young men took to
the streets. The government reacted by
cracking down on protesters, sparking
widespread civil unrest that escalated into
a devastating civil war and over 400,000
deaths. Ten years on, Syria is still in the
midst of a tragic conflict. Climate change
and reliance on violence have been a
devastating combination.
The mass migration of Syrian
refugees to neighboring countries and
beyond is part of a growing world crisis.
Global warming has already created tens
of millions of refugees; it is likely to create
as many as 200 million refugees over the
next 30 years. Climate change and war
are intimately connected. Even the
Defense Department sees climate change
as a “threat multiplier.” We cannot hope
for long-term stability and peace
without addressing the climate crisis
and vice versa.
THE PROBLEMS
THE SOLUTIONS
Massachusetts Peace Action aims to
address the multiple and intersecting
issues around the environment and
conflict. Our world faces many climate
related issues, including:








Violence and war
Nuclear weapons
Rising sea levels
Drought and famines
Deforestation and degradation of
arable land
Severe heat waves
Loss of biodiversity
Air and water pollution
Our reliance on military based economic
growth leads to a military establishment
that wastes billions of dollars and burns
staggering amounts of fossil fuels. It also
promotes the carrying out of warfare that
kills millions of people and lays waste to
the land.
.
Solar panels next to the Mass Pike
We need to develop alternatives. It’s time
to shift towards a sustainable economy, to
stop spending hundreds of billions of
dollars on the military, much of it for
securing fossil fuel resources, and instead
use that money to make a future with
clean energy and healthy ecosystems,
including:






Recent wildfires in Alberta
Solar and wind power
Waste reduction and composting
An economic shift from overconsumption to sufficiency
Public transportation and electric
cars
Agriculture that restores the soil
and water cycles
Energy efficiency initiatives
National effort alone will not suffice.
We need international cooperation to
build on the important beginnings in
the Paris Climate Accords and the Iran
Nuclear Agreement.