A United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report released this week confirmed the dire situation we have long feared for our planet: as a result of nations failing to take climate action, it is now certain that global warming and its extreme weather consequences will intensify over the next thirty years. It’s “code red” for humanity, said UN secretary-general António Guterres, responding to the report.

It’s hard to overstate the extent of the climate crisis. According to the UN report, the next thirty years will almost certainly see 1 billion people worldwide subjected to life-threatening heat waves. Hundreds of millions will be affected by severe droughts. Whether the future will be even worse will depend on whether the temperature rise can be capped at 1.5 degrees Celsius.

While many are to blame for the inaction that has brought us to this point, one perpetrator in particular must be immediately reined in: the US military-industrial complex.