Solar panels rather than bombs?

Wars Dwarf Warming in US Budget

Despite growing recognition in the Pentagon and the intelligence community that global warming poses serious national security threats to the United States, Washington is spending 88 dollars on the military for every dollar it spends this year on climate-related programmes, according to a new study released here Thursday by the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS). The study, entitled “Military vs. Climate Security”, found that the government has budgeted 647.5 billion dollars for the defence budget in 2008 — more than the defence budgets of the rest of the world’s nations combined — compared to 7.37 billion dollars for climate-related programmes.
Of the latter total, moreover, only 212 million dollars is devoted to helping poor countries obtain clean, renewable energy sources that do not contribute to global warming — less than what U.S. military forces in Iraq spend each day on operations there.

We have to look at who benefits from these dollars - whose wallets are fattened. That is the first issue. The second is that the monies for climate-related programs must also address consumerism and our ways of life (or rather ways of buying). Until we all realize that our consumer culture must change, we shouldn't expect funds to be relegated to programs that will take money away from GE, Monsanto, Exxon...