When a conflict arises between the military and the environment, the military wins, according to a new Supreme Court decision. The court ruled yesterday to lift bans and restrictions on submarine training exercises that have the ability to harm marine mammals. In a 6-3 ruling, the court reasoned that the possibility of damage to the environment is not enough to warrant restrictions on military training.
This decision marks another choice by the U.S. government to ignore Mother Earth and choose short-term security over the long-term effects that the sonar training could have on marine mammals and their ecosystems.
The case, Winter v. Natural Resources Defense Council, resulted from a conflict over the usage of mid-frequency sonar during training exercises conducted by the Navy. While some may discount this case's ruling as inconsequential, it is crucial to note the precedent that the ruling sets. According to Chief Justice John Roberts and the other five justices in the majority, the military does not need to concern itself with the environment and can instead use national security as a trump card.
According to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, one of the three dissenters, the training exercises are linked "to mass strandings of marine mammals, hemorrhaging around the brain and ears, acute spongiotic changes in the central nervous system and lesions in vital organs." The sonar used in the training exercises can be as loud as 2,000 jet engines -- and the new ruling allows the Navy to perform these exercises within 200 yards of sighted marine mammals. If anyone doubts the amount of damage that could be caused by these exercises, try standing near one jet engine. Now imagine that multiplied by 2,000.
This decision sends the wrong message to the world. At a time when the United States should be trying to set an example in environmental protection, the Supreme Court is giving the Navy the OK to perform exercises that hurt marine life. These exercises could be easily modified to better protect marine life, yet, according to Roberts, the military need not have such restrictions.
The United States needs to be at the forefront of the struggle to protect our planet. We cannot expect other nations to follow suit and adopt measures to protect our environment if we do not do the same. While this may seem like an isolated issue, it is representative of this nation's mood as a whole. We champion the cause of environmentalism until the slightest conflict comes about, and then the cause is dropped.
While alternate energy is certainly the more glamorous aspect of the environmental cause, these smaller conflicts are just as important in furthering the struggle to help our planet. If our nation cannot help the environment at these smaller junctures, we will never be able to take ourselves off of carbon-based fuels or protect the ozone layer, as these two markedly bigger problems will undoubtedly engender more substantial roadblocks than some military training exercises.
