Extinction Rebellion, 350 Seattle, Veteran for Peace, Tanco Lupa, International League of Peoples' Struggles, Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility, and Resist War Seattle have come together to demand an end to the gratuitous military flights over Seattle. Please join the march starting at Columbia Park or come directly to the Seafair site, Genessee Park, for the rally at 11:30.

The military air shows at Seafair cannot continue if we want true climate justice. Climate science has established we need systemic change for our communities and ecosystems to heal through the coming years of global destabilization of weather patterns, among other serious concerns. Transitioning off of CO2-emitting fossil fuels at an institutional and national level is the massive shift we need to mitigate further disaster.

It is no secret that the Blue Angels run on jet fuel. In fact, the US military burns more fossil fuels than many entire industrialized countries. The US military is the largest institutional greenhouse gas producer in the world. Brown University’s “Costs of War” research project revealed that 70% of emissions are used for “training, moving, and sustaining military forces”. If the US military no longer existed, we would spare the world millions of tons of greenhouse gas emissions every year.

Boeing Seafair’s Blue Angels airshow represents a tiny fraction of the US military’s total emissions. However, the amount of fuel burned remains staggering. In just one weekend, the Blue Angels burn enough fossil fuels to power 140 single-family homes for 365 days. And the airshow serves no purpose other than entertainment… and military recruitment.