The US Military Is Destroying the Planet Beyond Imagination

Abby Martin’s new documentary feature, Earth’s Greatest Enemy, takes stock of the US war machine’s environmental damage, tracing a devastating landscape of destruction from poisoned military bases to melting Arctic horizons.

South Korea and U.S. Army Conduct Joint River Crossing Drill

The relationship between capitalism and militarism is foundational to understanding why the military appears so unserious about curbing emissions. (Seung-il Ryu / NurPhoto via Getty Images)


The US military is a behemoth that covers nearly the entirety of the planet, and the extent of the damage it is doing to the environment is difficult to comprehend. The military emits more carbon pollution than any other single institution and, depending on which estimates you trust, more than a vast number of countries in their entirety. As the world continues to hurtle toward climate disaster, the military is disproportionately responsible.

Earth’s Greatest Enemy, a new documentary project from journalist and activist Abby Martin, makes sure you won’t forget it.

Martin, host of The Empire Files, has long been an outspoken critic of American imperialism and US militarism. Around 2020, however, Martin’s focus shifted: she and her codirector, Mike Prysner, had a baby and began worrying about the future and the climate catastrophe threatening it: “What would it be like when our son is our age?” Martin asks. The new parents made the link between the war machine they’d spent their professional lives opposing and the climate crisis threatening their son’s future.

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