U.S. Military is the World's Biggest Consumer of Fossil Fuels

In wake of the tragedy in the Gulf of Mexico, Americans are examining their dependence on fossil fuels. It is good that individual citizens do what they can to conserve; however, the US military is the "world's single biggest consumer of fossil fuels, and the single entity most responsible for destabilizing the Earth's climate". Truthout reports:

Such "greenwashing" helps to mask the fact that the Pentagon devours about 330,000 barrels of oil per day (a barrel has 42 gallons), more than the vast majority of the world's countries. If the U.S. military were a nation-state, it would be ranked number 37 in terms of oil consumption - ahead of the likes of the Philippines, Portugal, and Nigeria - according to the CIA Factbook.

And although much of the military's technology has become far more fuel-efficient over the last few decades, the amount of oil consumed per soldier per day in wartime has increased by 175 percent since Vietnam, given the Pentagon's increasing use and number of motorized vehicles.

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