{"id":79703,"date":"2016-09-19T12:00:13","date_gmt":"2016-09-19T11:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=79703"},"modified":"2016-09-16T18:40:29","modified_gmt":"2016-09-16T17:40:29","slug":"the-military-tries-to-sell-itself-as-positive-environmental-force","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2016\/09\/the-military-tries-to-sell-itself-as-positive-environmental-force\/","title":{"rendered":"The Military Tries to Sell Itself as Positive Environmental Force"},"content":{"rendered":"

The U.S. Army, Navy and Marines\u00a0made a\u00a0pitch to conservationists from around the world that they\u00a0share\u00a0the same goals. Not everyone is buying it.<\/em><\/p>\n

15 Sep 2016 – <\/em>To some conservationists,\u00a0the U.S. military is one of the\u00a0most destructive forces on the planet.<\/p>\n

In Hawaii alone, environmental groups have battled the military\u00a0over armored vehicles that tore up the land and sonar that caused injury and death to\u00a0marine wildlife.<\/p>\n

Perhaps the largest example of the military\u2019s impact on Hawaii is the unpopulated island of Kahoolawe, which was used for target practice for decades.\u00a0Despite a multimillion-dollar\u00a0cleanup of unexploded ordnance, the island and its surrounding waters are still littered with bullets, shells and bombs<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But none of that would have been evident if you happened upon any of three exhibits set up by the military at the World Conservation Congress,\u00a0the\u00a0massive gathering of conservationists that took place earlier this month in Honolulu.<\/p>\n

The Navy, Army and Marines used the 10-day mega conference to pitch\u00a0themselves as outstanding\u00a0stewards of the land and sea and boast\u00a0about the money they\u2019ve spent to protect the environment \u2014 a contrast with their legacy of environmental damage.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

The U.S. Army Natural Resources Program Hawaii\u2019s display booth at the World Conservation Congress at the Hawaii Convention Center.
Cory Lum\/Civil Beat<\/p><\/div>\n

Taylor Marsh works\u00a0with the\u00a0Army Natural\u00a0Resource Program Hawaii, which is run by civilians and based at Schofield Barracks. At the\u00a0Army\u2019s exhibition booth, Marsh said the branch\u00a0spends $7 million a year to mitigate damage to local ecosystems.\u00a0He described the program as the \u201cmost well-funded conservation\u00a0organization on Oahu.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are actually restoring and protecting more than any other program,\u201d he said, pointing out he works with\u00a0more than 60 staff members and four field\u00a0teams. \u201cAs far as endangered species are going, we are having really good success.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some activists and environmentalists are unswayed by the military\u2019s efforts, though.\u00a0Outside the conference one day, dozens of protesters<\/a> chanted slogans like,\u00a0\u201cOccupation is not conservation!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe track record in Hawaii is not good,\u201d said\u00a0David Henkin, a staff attorney at the Honolulu office of Earthjustice<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Henkin would know.<\/p>\n

\"Sailor\u2019s<\/a>

Sailor\u2019s Hat on Kahoolawe, where the Navy dropped a 500-pound TNT bomb to simulate the effects of an atomic blast.
PF Bentley\/Civil Beat<\/p><\/div>\n

A History Of Destruction<\/strong><\/p>\n

Earthjustice\u00a0has led the legal fight\u00a0against Army Stryker brigades, which tore\u00a0up plants and soil around Schofield Barracks on Oahu as well as\u00a0at Parker Ranch and the Pohakuloa training areas on the Big Island. The Strykers, heavily armored vehicles, destroyed a centuries old heiau\u00a0(Hawaiian temple).<\/p>\n

Henkin\u2019s work has also involved suing the Navy over its use of sonar off the western shore of\u00a0Kauai. The Navy, he said, brags that it protects whales, but evidence has shown\u00a0some whales\u00a0washing up dead, their brains fried and their eardrums bleeding.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe get out and try and save what is precious\u00a0to Oahu.\u201d \u2014 Taylor Marsh of the U.S. Army<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The military\u2019s history when it comes to the environment, Henkin said, is an ugly one.<\/p>\n

It has included\u00a0turning Pearl Harbor, which he described as \u201conce a vibrant ecosystem with pearls,\u201d into \u201ca toxic bog.\u201d<\/p>\n

The military has also\u00a0held\u00a0live-fire training in the verdant and sacred Makua Valley on Oahu\u2019s Leeward Coast.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are over 100\u00a0sites in Makua eligible for listing on the National\u00a0Historic Register, some bearing the scars of arms and bullets,\u201d Henkin said.<\/p>\n

How\u00a0The Military Helps\u00a0The Environment<\/strong><\/p>\n

At the conference, which was put on by the International Union for Conservation of Nature\u00a0and\u00a0plays a big role in setting worldwide environmental policy, the military had posters and brochures at its booths highlighting\u00a0some of the ways it says it\u2019s doing what it can to help preserve and protect Hawaii\u2019s environment.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>

A representative of the Navy demonstrates a \u201cwhale wheel\u201d to identify different types of the marine mammals.
Chad Blair\/Civil Beat<\/p><\/div>\n

The Navy pointed to its\u00a0modified lighting at installations on Kauai to reduce impacts to birds like the\u00a0Newell\u2019s shearwater and Hawaiian petrel. The Army noted its\u00a0planting\u00a0of more than 27,000 endangered\u00a0plants on Oahu and the Big Island. The Air Force talked about its restoration of the\u00a0Puewai wetlands at\u00a0Bellows Air Force Station in\u00a0Windward Oahu.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll the services are working\u00a0toward providing more awareness\u00a0and more outreach to the communities, to get them involved in the\u00a0mitigation in some of the environmental\u00a0programs we have going on here,\u201d said\u00a0Jomia Blas, who worked\u00a0the Air Force\u2019s booth.<\/p>\n

Speaking specifically about the Air Force, Blas said the branch \u201cis very adamant\u00a0about protecting\u00a0and preserving\u00a0the land that\u00a0we manage\u00a0and that we are currently residing\u00a0on.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe take our environmental\u00a0programs very seriously,\u201d Blas said, \u201cnot only\u00a0for the mission for us to execute the things that we need to do in using Hawaii as a strategic hub, but also for giving back to the environment for sustainability reasons.\u201d<\/p>\n

Only Following The Law<\/strong><\/p>\n

But Henkin said that, if the military is doing anything to mitigate damage to Hawaii, it\u2019s only because it required to do so by\u00a0law.<\/p>\n

Those laws are the\u00a0National Environmental\u00a0Policy Act, the Marine Mammal Protection Act\u00a0and the Endangered\u00a0Species Act. The military works in coordination with\u00a0the U.S. Fish\u00a0and Wildlife\u00a0Service\u00a0and the National\u00a0Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u00a0is the only reason they actually\u00a0do it,\u201d Henkin said. \u201cThey want to portray their\u00a0efforts as\u00a0\u2018good neighbor\u2019\u00a0and out of\u00a0goodness\u00a0of heart, but\u00a0they are doing it because\u00a0they have to. I appreciate when they\u00a0sometimes follow the law, but I also\u00a0appreciate that,\u00a0when they don\u2019t, we can take them to court and sue them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Demonstrators<\/a>

Demonstrators outside the World Conservation Congress on Sept. 3 hold signs protesting the military.
Cory Lum\/Civil Beat<\/p><\/div>\n

Henkin added: \u201cIt is not a favor they are doing for the people\u00a0of Hawaii, some sort of act of generosity on their\u00a0behalf. They are spending our money, taxpayer money.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018We Are Environmentalists\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

Marsh, who worked the Army\u2019s booth, acknowledged that the those who say the military can be destructive\u00a0to land and sea life have\u00a0\u201ca valid point.\u201d He mentioned several of the same degraded sites in the islands as Henkin did.<\/p>\n

But there is a bigger picture to be seen, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are environmentalists and a lot of us are local,\u201d said Marsh. \u201cWe get out and try and save what is precious\u00a0to Oahu, because\u00a0the Army has so many training\u00a0areas and\u00a0owns so much land on Oahu and a lot of the land is precious\u00a0endemic native forest.\u201d<\/p>\n

___________________________________<\/p>\n

Chad Blair is a reporter for<\/em> Civil Beat. You can reach him by email at cblair@civilbeat.org<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 civilbeat.org<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To some conservationists, the U.S. military is one of the most destructive forces on the planet. In Hawaii alone, environmental groups have battled the military over armored vehicles that tore up the land and sonar that caused injury and death to marine wildlife. Perhaps the largest example of the military\u2019s impact on Hawaii is the unpopulated island of Kahoolawe, which was used for target practice for decades.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[61],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-79703","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-environment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79703","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=79703"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79703\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79703"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79703"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79703"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}