Green Options

A Democratic Republic of Congo soldier was killed by a hippo while fishing illegally in Virunga National Park’s Lake Edward.

Despite the ban on fishing in Lake Edward, a member of Democratic Republic of Congo government forces, along with five others, were poaching fish from the lake when a hippo overturned their boat.

The Army knows that extensive alternative energy installations are the best way to ensure continuous, reliable electricity production. That’s why the military organization is building the Department of Defense’s largest ever solar project at the Fort Irwin Base in California’s Mojave Desert.

This week, US President Obama and Russian President Medvedev are meeting in Moscow to negotiate a treaty to succeed START. President Obama seems to understand that if the US expects Iran and North Korea to give up their intentions to develop nuclear weapons, we can’t act as hypocrites hoarding our own nuclear arsenal. Russia and the United States currently own “90 percent of the world’s nuclear weapons”.

In remembrance and in honor of all that are and have served in the U.S. military on this Memorial Day, it only seemed fitting to recall knitting efforts that have taken place during war times past.

During WWI and again in WWII, women and families picked up knitting needles to help in the war effort. The American Red Cross organized many volunteer groups that knit various items for soldiers serving overseas. Socks, sweaters, helmet liners, scarfs, caps and blankets were just a few of the items that were knit up and shipped to those serving.

During WWII, the knitting effort was further encouraged and women were told to “knit for defense” and “knit for victory.” Patterns and tutorials were readily made available to those who wanted to feel like they were contributing during this trying time, even First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt was seen supporting the war effort in this way.

We’ve all heard stories of how US soldiers in Iraq have been forced to travel in Humvees lacking armor protection; however, the shortage in military supplies includes basic necessities. Many soldiers stationed all over Iraq lack adequate supplies of drinking water. Commanders have been forced to steal water from the private contractors to meet the basic needs of their troops.

The next generation of portable fuel cells is being, almost literally, battle-tested by the U.S. military, which put a portable fuel cell/battery system through its paces this past February during field maneuvers in the 28th annual Cobra Gold.  Cobra Gold is the U.S. military’s long-running multilateral exercise in Thailand.  The lightweight, portable fuel cell system was developed by DARPA’s Robust Portable Power Sources program, and its  tooth-to-tail implications apply to military and civilian sustainability, too.

Beam me up, Scotty: programmable matter is one step closer to reality.  The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has just announced the successful completion of a key milestone in Phase I of its Programmable Matter research.  The goal is to develop particles that can assemble into solid objects on command - and that’s got big implications both for warfighters and the military’s carbon bootprint, too.

An army travels on its stomach, and the U.S. military is no exception. The impact is evident in the packaging, especially plastic packaging, left over from MRE’s, Unitized Group Rations, and other packaged food supplies. That’s about to change, big time. Food waste composting is on the horizon for U.S. military bases and even field operations, and close on its heels is a compostable bioplastic for military use.

You wouldn’t know it by this week’s headlines, but the truth is that President Obama’s proposed military budget actually increases military spending by about 4%.  Much of the histrionics and hand-wringing about budget cuts concern specific unsustainable weapons programs like the F-22.  Well, as long as gearheads are running the newsrooms, gear will grab the headlines, but it’s military sustainability that’s the critical issue here.

US military developing fuel cell propulsion technology for use with Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs)

Russia’s Security Council has authorized the creation of an Arctic special forces military to be deployed by the year 2020 to protect their interests in the Far North as new sources of natural resources become more available due to the decrease in ice cover.