National Budget? Military vs Renewable Energy

For some context, this is from a debate I participated where we had to prepare both halves of the debate.

The US government ought to prioritize renewable energy over military spending.

Decreasing Reliance

When the world runs out of fossil fuel, the USA will be at a technological  disadvantage. According to Chris Mooney of the Washington Post finds that in 2015, the World spent $286 billion on clean energy.  American Government only contributed $39 billion  in 2015.  Clearly, the American Government will start to fall behind every year they put this off. Soon, the rest of the world will have completely transitioned to fully relying on renewable energy while the USA is still stuck using obsolete sources of energy. 

Even more so, the USA primarily imports oil from Saudi Arabia, a country that has abused their citizens for ages. By buying oil from Saudi Arabia, the USA is supporting a very appalling nation. Also, the United States will become a import reliant country and end up relying on other countries for resources. According to the US Census Bureau, the USA spent a total of 132,553,641 dollars on crude oil in 2017. Once the United States fully switches to using only reusable resources, we will keep up with the rest of the world, stop relying on foreign countries, stop encouraging awful countries, and improve our own economy. 

Non-renewable causes climate change which causes bad conditions for people which causes uprisings. This leads to the the US government's needing to integrate their forces. This causes increased military spending. 

Saving Money 

Also the using renewable energy has been able to save Americans money. According Joshua Ryor of World Resources Institute, by using renewable energy “American ratepayers” will save ” tens of billions of dollars a year.” Renewable energy projects can lower energy bills in the short-term because they dont cost much to production. They also When people have more money, they can better contribute to the economy. When someone has some more money, they have more to spend and help other businesses. Furthermore according to USDebtclock .org, the military has contributed $615 billion to the national debt.. The increased debt will continue to build up and grow the the yearly interest. The Military is the third largest contributor to the National Debt (Renewable energy is better). 

Environmental benefits

Using non-renewable energy will lead to pollution. As the pollution in the cities grow, our world heats up even more and the effects of climate change will start to set in. As we have already seen, both pollution and climate change has led to deaths. In China the air is so badly polluted that citizens of the some cities have to wear face masks to avoid getting sick. Climate change has proved to lead to rising water levels. Shore lines would be destroyed. According to NASA, climate change has thrown off weather patterns and led to bad crops. Acid rain and other natural disasters are worsen. Bad crops are leading to famines and higher temperatures and causing overheating related deaths. Clearly, we need to address the most drastic.  

Thus in conclusion, the government should prioritize renewable energy over military spending because we will be at technological disadvantage if we don't prioritize renewable energy. Another reason why we should emphasize renewable energy is because it will cause Americans to save money and it will help end air pollution globally. As a country part of the UN we need to not only think about ourselves, but the world as a whole.

The US government ought to prioritize renewable energy over military spending 

The military is vital to maintain a working country:

 A military is required to maintain our country. Without an army, our country would be easily picked apart by other countries. According to the Guardian, though the United States are investing the most amount of money into the military, our allies are falling behind both Russia and China. We have been stationed in Afghanistan since 2001. 

According to the Washington post, while America has 1.3 million active troops while china has 2.2 million troops. Though the Chinese save money, their troops are not even issued bullet-proof vests. On the other hand our troops are kitted out with bullet proof body armor, knee and elbow pads, goggles, radios, night goggles, and gas masks. In order to uphold the strongest military in the world, we need to focus our money on the military. We spend $18 billion on nuclear weapons while our enemies spend a total 23.1 billions. Clearly we need to continue to fund our military. Total soldiers paid a combined 135.8 billion. Operations cost almost 200 billion total.

Soldiers 

Currently, our soldiers are constantly putting their lives on the line but are only earning an average amount of money. In addition, when the government does raise military funding’s, soldiers also get pay raises. According to Patricia Zengerle of Reuters.com, once congress passed a bill in 2018 to raise military funding’s, all soldiers got a 2.1% pay raise. The men and women who endure both the physical and mental torture to prepare for battle and fight our battles, deserve a sustainable paycheck. Total soldiers paid 135.8 billion. Operations cost almost 200 billion total 

Our veterans 

One of the major reasons why we shouldn’t cut military spending is because veterans would not get their full benefits. According Nikki Wentling of Military.com that veterans have been denied over 100 million dollars in benefits. By cutting military spending, the number of denied benefits will increase. Veterans are the people who fought for our country. Some of them died for our country and many of them got injured physically and mentally for our country. They fought for our rights and giving them their hard earned benefits are one of the many privileges that they deserve.

The military provides a good education 

Furthermore, the Military is a way to give people who are looking for a good education but can not afford it.  According to GoArmy.com, the official website of the US Army, those in ROTC get to go to college for free, are given 600 dollars for books and supplies, and are allocated between 300 and 500 dollars per month. In addition, Under the Post-9/11 GI Bill, anyone that served in active duty for more that 90 days after 9/11 gets to go to college free of tuition and $1000 worth of supplies per year for 4 years. Those are only some of the benefit that ROTC and those in the military receive.

Thus in conclusion, the government should prioritize the Military because the military is a source of excellent education, help veterans, and protects our country from foreign invaders.