The CIA and the Pentagon agree: Climate change could seriously harm our national security. As veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, we've seen first hand the negative effects of carbon pollution and dependence on oil. There's no fight more important than putting America in control of its own future by creating clean energy that's produced right here in America. That's why we're traveling the country - and coming to your town - to spread the message, rally supporters, and ultimately strengthen American security.
Capitol press conference
Will the U.S. military lead the way to greener technologies? That argument was made at the Capitol Wednesday by members of Operation Free, a coalition of veterans urging the U.S. to decrease dependence on fossil fuels. Robin Eckstine is a native of Neenah who started thinking about the issue while driving trucks in Iraq. “I wondered to myself as we were hauling fuel and water everyday, if we had less trips outside the gate, that would mean less risk to American lives, less risk to my life,” Eckstine said. “Why weren’t we being just a little more energy efficient, and solving this problem?”
Read and listen here…
We started out this day a little earlier so that we could make it to WJOB Radio AM 1230. They have a program run by veterans called “Veterans Views”, presented by the American Legion Hammond Victory Post # 168. Dan Winters and I were really excited to be on one of the only veteran’s radio shows in the country. The interview went very well and even though we had a “climate change doubter” phone in, we came out on top. It is hard to dispute that climate change is real when the Pentagon and the Department of Defense are taking it seriously and they aren’t known for being tree huggers. We also had the film crew from “Priceless” with us during the interview. You always look so much more important when you have a film crew following you.
Next we moved on to the Gary Indiana Public Library where we hosted a round table discussion with Dan Winter, Matt Victoriano, Larry Delashmit, and myself as the veteran speakers. There were about 15 people in the audience. It was a very good discussion and we got a lot of really engaging questions from the audience. Everyone was very happy that we were out spreading this really important message. I always feel good about an event when the audience is so engaged and asking questions. We also had two newspapers reporting the story. This trip to Gary, Indiana was very productive!
Just finished a great roundtable in Madison, WI at the State Capitol! Local veteran Robin Eckstein and the rest of the Operation Free team (Larry Delashmit and I) spoke to a good sized crowd. The roundtable included Senator Fred Risser, a WWII veteran and President of the Wisconsin State Senate, and Representative Steve Hilgenberg, Chairman of the Veterans Committee, and was later attended by Representative Steve Black, co-author (along with Sen. Risser) of the current clean energy legislation under consideration before the Wisconsin legislature. Reporters from the Wisconsin Radio Network and the BBC World Service were also in attendance.
Senator Risser and Representative Hilgenberg both expressed their thanks to Operation Free for bringing attention to the issue of green energy and said that they had come to learn and listen to views and information that they could use in their own push for comprehensive clean energy reform in the state of Wisconsin, the culmination of which may come soon in a bill coming up for vote in the state legislature. Sen. Risser also spoke to the fact that Wisconsin currently imports 100% of its energy from outside of the state and that Wisconsin and states like it have much to gain from energy independence.
The questions raised by the audience ranged from veteran involvement in new green energy jobs to the astronomical cost of fueling the fight against terrorism and what the U.S. military itself is currently doing to develop new energy sources and reduce its use of oil. We really enjoyed our time in Wisconsin, now we’re off to Indiana!
