The sky over Gaza is not just burning — it is collapsing. Missiles carve trails of fire through the darkness, their explosions illuminating a land turned to rubble. Smoke rises where homes once stood, and the sea foams red as debris drifts into its depths. The air is thick with dust, tree crowns are on the ground, roots in the air. This is not just destruction; it is erasure. And as the bombs fall, across the ocean, another disaster unfolds.
In Miami, the storm surge comes like a fist. Walls of water rise and swallow entire Miami streets, dragging cars and people into the abyss. The wind howls, bending palm trees until they snap, their trunks hurtling through the air like missiles. Houses collapse, power lines sizzle, and in the aftermath, the city lies drenched and broken, another casualty of a climate crisis that knows no borders. But as different as these disasters may seem — one fueled by war, the other by nature — the hands pulling the strings are often the same.
War profiteering and the climate crisis are not separate catastrophes; they are twin-headed beasts, feeding off each other in a cycle of devastation. The military-industrial complex, backed by fossil fuel giants, not only profits from war but also drives the very climate instability that breeds future conflicts. Every missile that falls, every storm that swallows a coastline, lines the pockets of those who have built an empire upon destruction.
It is an inconvenient truth that the military-industrial complex is among the biggest contributors to climate change. The U.S. Department of Defense emits more carbon dioxide than some entire nations. Fighter jets, naval warships, supply chains, and military bases consume vast amounts of fossil fuels, yet military emissions are often omitted from climate treaties due to aggressive lobbying.
While civilians are urged to reduce their carbon footprint, war profiteers continue to amass wealth by producing weapons that will be used in conflicts over depleting resources-conflicts that, in many cases, they have helped ignite.
The destruction does not end with carbon emissions. Warfare destroys the land. It decimates the landscapes, poisons water supplies, and renders farmland unusable. The U.S. military’s use of toxic burn pits, the radioactive legacy of depleted uranium ammunition, and the deforestation caused by warfare all contribute to long-term environmental degradation.
In war zones, nature becomes collateral damage, and war profiteers walk away with billions while communities are left to suffer the aftermath.
Soha Abu Diab, a Palestinian displaced from Gaza City was quoted in the Guardian on the ecocide in Gaza. “This life is not life,” she said. “There is pollution everywhere – in the air, in the water we bathe in, in the water we drink, in the food we eat, in the area around us.”
The climate crisis is not a distant threat; it is already fueling conflicts worldwide. Droughts, rising sea levels, and extreme weather events displace millions, increasing competition over food, water, and habitable land.
From Syria to Sudan, environmental stressors have played a key role in sparking violence, creating fertile ground for war profiteers to step in. Private military contractors and arms manufacturers thrive on this instability, securing lucrative contracts under the guise of “peacekeeping” while ensuring that war remains profitable.
Fossil fuel companies — the lifeblood of the military-industrial complex — push for military interventions to secure oil-rich regions. The Iraq War, framed as a mission of liberation, was inextricably tied to oil interests. The pattern repeats itself across the globe: wherever there is fossil fuel wealth, there is military presence, often justified under the rhetoric of national security. The climate crisis, with its increasing strain on resources, will only escalate these tensions, ensuring a steady stream of profit for those who manufacture destruction.
For the corporations that profit from war, climate change is not a crisis; it is a business opportunity.
As rising sea levels threaten coastal cities, private security firms market themselves as protectors of the wealthy. As climate refugees flee their homes, border security industries secure billion-dollar contracts to militarize borders. And as nations face climate-driven instability, weapons manufacturers ensure that their arsenals remain well-stocked. This is disaster capitalism at its most grotesque — profiting not just from war, but from the very climate chaos that war helps accelerate.
Examine the case of post-war reconstruction; after conflicts, many of which are exacerbated by climate stress, companies like Halliburton and Bechtel swoop in to profit from rebuilding efforts. These same corporations have ties to industries that contributed to the conflict in the first place, confirming the cyclical nature of war profiteering. The victims of war and climate catastrophe are left with little, while the architects of these disasters walk away even richer.
In recent years, military institutions have attempted to rebrand themselves as environmentally conscious. Talk of “green warfare” and “sustainable military operations” has surfaced, with governments referencing biofuels and solar-powered bases. But a “greener” war machine is still a war machine. No amount of sustainability initiatives can offset the fundamental reality that war is one of the most environmentally devastating human activities. These greenwashing efforts serve as little more than a PR stunt, designed to placate public concern while ensuring that military budgets continue to rise.
The imperialist propaganda machine ensures that war remains a palatable, even necessary, endeavor in the public eye. It relies on people taking headlines at face value, trusting in the ever-recurring narrative of the “brown” or “Black” terrorist, and accepting the U.S. as the enforcer of global security. This narrative serves a dual purpose: it dehumanizes those on the receiving end of military aggression while allowing war profiteers to operate under the illusion of righteousness.
While climate activists fight to bring attention to these crises, they are constantly being shut down. Across the globe, governments have cracked down on those demanding climate justice, criminalizing protests and labeling activists as extremists. In the U.S., laws targeting protestors — particularly those opposing fossil fuel projects — have intensified, ensuring that corporate interests remain unchallenged. In the UK, Just Stop Oil activists have been jailed for peaceful protests. In France and Germany, environmental activists have faced police brutality. And in Palestine, environmental destruction is not only a byproduct of war but a deliberate tool of occupation, as Israeli forces uproot olive trees and destroy agricultural lands to displace communities.
These crackdowns serve one purpose: to maintain the status quo. War profiteers and fossil fuel executives understand that their power depends on suppressing dissent. The fewer voices calling for an end to militarization and climate destruction, the longer they can continue their business as usual.
There is no climate justice without peace. The same corporations that fuel conflict are the ones accelerating planetary destruction, and their unchecked power ensures that the cycle continues. A future without war is not only a moral necessity — it is an ecological one. Until then, the planet will continue to burn, not just from rising temperatures, but from the fires of war.
