The study, led by Ryan Thombs of Penn State University and published in PLOS Climate on July 2, drew on publicly available data from the DOD spanning 1975 to 2022, linking reductions in military spending to significant decreases in energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.

Researchers found that a decrease in expenditures has a larger effect on slashing energy consumption than a rise in expenditures does on heightening energy usage. Additional analyses show that this is due to cuts in DOD energy consumption from facilities, vehicles and equipment, and jet fuel in particular.

“We started this study not entirely sure what we were going to find,” Thombs told Newsweek on Thursday. "There are published studies on the impacts of increasing militarization on environmental outcomes, but studying the effects of cutting military spending was an open question.

“I think the finding that cutting expenditures had a larger impact than increasing expenditures was a little bit surprising but made sense, and it is also the thing that really stood out in our analyses.”

  • gagcar@lemmus.org
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    10
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    4 hours ago

    No they aren’t. Exemptions can be granted for small cutouts, but they are still held to federal regulations. A cup of fuel on the ground or any more than a drop of oil in the water triggers a mandatory reporting that the CO can be held personally liable for. Shit, they were breaking down office chairs with multiple dissimilar material components to recycle each material correctly. I’m sure there are multiple places that are getting away with not following requirements, but they are required to still follow federal laws regarding pollution and waste disposal.

    • Taldan@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      32 minutes ago

      I don’t know which of you to believe

      I know they’re exempt from FAA regulations. Anyone able to cite the rules, one way or the either for EPA regs?