The US military – with its empire of bases and trillion-dollar budget – is the single largest polluter on the planet, prompting calls for demilitarization from climate justice movements. This talk grounds global analyses of US imperialism and military carbon emissions in the political economy of the military-industrial complex in Massachusetts (MA-MIC). Briefly exploring histories of the MA-MIC, the focus turns to active MA military installations and the ways they both produce climate apartheid (climate-driven exacerbation of global inequality) and provide material US support for Israel’s (climatically disastrous) genocide in Gaza. Examining these everyday, often hidden processes of militarization reveals myriad connections to policing and prisons, enabling interwoven linkages between climate apartheid, demilitarization, and abolitionist climate justice.
