The Defense Department will install solar panels on the Pentagon, part of the Biden administration’s plan to promote clean energy and “reestablish the federal government as a sustainability leader.”
The Pentagon is one of 31 government sites that are receiving $104 million in Energy Department grants that are expected to double the amount of carbon-free electricity at federal facilities and create 27 megawatts of clean-energy capacity while leveraging more than $361 million in private investment, the Energy Department said.
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The solar panels are among several improvements set for the Pentagon, which also will install a heat pump system and solar thermal panels to reduce reliance on natural gas and fuel oil combustion systems
Greenwashing is harmful because it tricks people into thinking there’s been progress and we aren’t on track for the collapse of civilization.
How is this greenwashing?
A building is installing solar panels and replacing hvac systems with more efficient equivalents. If installing solar panels and installing more efficient heating/cooling is now considered greenwashing…
By trying to present the Pentagon as environmentally friendly, instead of one of the worst polluters on the planet.
The only person presenting that narrative is you. Just read the article:
‘Brendan Owens, assistant secretary of Defense for energy, installations and environment, said the projects will improve energy resilience and reliability at the Pentagon and other military sites in the U.S. and Germany. He called energy use "central to everything we do.’‘’
‘Solar panels will provide "an uninterrupted power source’’ at the Pentagon in case of a cyberattack or other outage to the bulk grid, as well as reduce strain on the building’s power load, Owens said in an interview.’
Its not about “green” to that member of the Defense department, its about continued operation and money. Yes, it will also reduce green house gas creation, but the Defense department isn’t even making that claim.
So what you’re doing is putting words in their mouth, then calling them hypocrites for using that language you created. Thats a straight up straw man fallacy you’re using.
Uh huh, and you think they reached out to the media to create this headline because they want us to be informed about building maintenance. Okay lol
Well no. The Pentagon is an office building. The second largest office building on the planet installing solar and improving it’s heating efficiency is a pretty big win.
The funding to modernize federal buildings didn’t include the entire DoD because a tank or F-35 isn’t considered a building.
Offtopic, but what office building is bigger?
Supposedly https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surat_Diamond_Bourse
I literally learned this as I posted because I wanted to verify that the Pentagon was the largest and had to revise what I was about to send.
Hey look the greenwashing worked.
This demonstrates why a lot of people in the “green” movement don’t get taken seriously, and deservedly so.
Can you share your Congressional omnibus bill of all-time that solves all of the worlds problems, perfectly, in one-shot, with majority support?
The fucks trying to pretend the democrats aren’t Just as bad as the repubs on this issue further cement our fate lol.
How is lessening your carbon footprint greenwashing?
1: this isn’t materially lessening the the pentagons carbon footprint
2: the greenwashing (on you, here, now) is clearly working, hence the justificiation of @queermunist@lemmy.ml premise
I saw this and thought: “Hey, that’s a good first step, I wonder how long it is before they take another?” Not that the pentagon went green. Check your bias.
Taking steps that do nothing in lieu of steps that do something is the definition of greenwashing.
Your response:
Demonstrates the effectiveness of the seeded story. Propaganda and marketing work.
Wow, do you not understand incremental progress? And I never said that they were green. You can acknowledge progress (however slight) without being a stooge. So, what’s the amount of progress that it would take before you stop complaining about the small steps?
Oh I do understand the philosophy of incrementalism.
I understand the consequences and costs of failing to take bold action to do what is necessary to change the course of a situation.
Small steps have only taken us backwards, and it gets worse every cycle. Only bold steps and decisive actions have moved us towards a more perfect union.
Not understanding the cost of small steps forwards on a train that’s hurtling in the wrong direction is meaningless. Its justification is to support the problem while being able to rinse your hands of the issue. The justification of smalls steps as progress while we’re clearly regressing is the fundamental problem we face as a society, because time, space, and oppurtunity are limited, you will only get so many opportunities to take action. When we either decide to take small steps, or accept them out of others, we further the issue.
Incrementalism as a social philosophy is a failure, and is costing us our ability to survive on this planet, its costing us our ability to have a civil and just society.
You should get off the internet and return to the trees then.
Sorry, I’m too busy to return to the trees, too busy taking bold and decisive action.
I’ll return to the trees some day, when my work is done.
This is purely propaganda meant to trick people into thinking the Pentagon is green.
HOW IS IT GREEN WASHING?
Bruh you’ve been answered. No need to yell.
That wasn’t an answer, it was a poorly voiced opinion.
Dude, this conversation is a great example of letting perfect being the enemy of good. Organization takes a step in the right direction, and wack jobs come out of the woodwork because it wasn’t a complete change that would have taken decades to finish
We’ve been ‘accepting’ the good in earnest now for around 50-60 years under the modern global political hegemony. How is that going? Has the world been improving? We get bold decisive action when it relates to things that make life worse for all peoples, and we get incrementalism when it comes to actions which would improve peoples lives. This is the true cost of incrementalism. Its why the world is fucked. No. Halfway solutions aren’t good enough. In fact they are actually worse than no solution at all because the take the space and opportunity where a significant action can be made.
Because the US army is the number 1 polluter of all time. We’ve been through this.
So, they can’t take steps to reduce that?
Yeah they sure can! But they’re not… They’re continuing to increase their carbon footprint while making people like you feel good about a few solar panels lol.
Yeah, because installing solar panels, getting more efficient HVAC aren’t steps…
This isn’t all or nothing.
They are microscopic steps in comparison to the leaps and bounds the US military makes in terms of CO2. You asked how it’s greenwashing, multiple people have explained it to you, either you understand it or you don’t.
As much as I hate the military industrial complex, symbolic actions matter, and we need some form of military so as long as we have a military I hope it will utilize green energy when possible.
Symbolic actions with no substance are purely propaganda.
We don’t need the largest military on Earth.
I agree.
But again, how is this greenwashing?
What do you think the propaganda is for? It’s meant to trick people into thinking we’re making progress so they don’t panic.
Is this not progress?
the alternative is imminent collapse of civilization and no solar panels
This thinking, the entirety of its attitude. Its why fascism was able to take root in the US.
Its the other half of the mechanism in a ratchet effect that slow walks us into deterioration.
Only revolutionary action and upheaval can take us back.
I’m not going to fucking care if the Pentagon has solar panels while I’m fighting to the death over the last unopened can of beans in an abandoned Walmart.
Yeah, I get it. Not sure that stating the doomer case is any better than installing solar panels, though, is my point. It gets us the same outcome in the end.
If people actually realized how fucked we are they wouldn’t settle for greenwashing. We could get organized and fight back.