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April 03, 2009
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I especially enjoyed the chapter in your book on Fort Knox's money saving green facility management. Are there other, more lethal, ways the military is using environmentally friendly technology? I seem to recall reading an article about "green ammunition."
— Khaki
Washington, D.C.
 Thanks for the interesting question, Khaki, and for plugging the book. But since I'm a bleeding heart, tree-hugging, grease-powered-car-driving pacifist who thinks that all of the world's conflicts could be solved through hugs and watching more Dr. Phil, I'm not exactly an expert on this topic. So in order to answer your question, I had to do some homework.
It turns out that, yes, our implements of force for creating peace are becoming more environmentally friendly because they've been pummeling the American soil they're supposed to defend. Most notably, there's a new project to replace the lead-filled standard 5.56 mm round for military rifles with a non-toxic one so the heavy metals won't leach through the dirt and into aquifers around firing ranges. Pollution from military bases creates a substantial health hazard to armed forces personnel and the public at large. Environmentalists point out that the Department of Defense is the nation's largest polluter, and is now in the process of cleaning 29,500 hazardous waste sites on its installations across the country, according to National Resources Defense Council statistics. The cost to taxpayers for this work is in the hundreds of billions of dollars.
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Do you have a question of your
own?
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In the late <1990s, the military created its Green Bullet Program shortly after the drinking water around a National Guard firing range on Cape Cod was found to be filled with lead. As my chapter on the innovations at Fort Knox points out, the military can be extremely pragmatic about employing "green" technologies to cut costs (both short-term and long-term), and the Green Bullet Program is simply another of many examples (though I should point out that I couldn't find the price of an experimental non-toxic 5.56 mm round compared to a lead-filled one). Besides, it makes for good public relations. I mean, even a peace-loving hippy dippy like me is writing about it now—before I leave to watch some Dr. Phil.
Resources:
The Green Bullet Program
Eco Adventurer
Greg Melville is the author of Greasy Rider, a new book in which he drives across the country in a fry-oil-powered car investigating the future of green technology. A journalist who has written for Outside, The New York Times, and Popular Mechanics, Melville blogs about all things eco at greasyriderbook.blogspot.com. He lives with his wife, kids, and dog in Asheville North Carolina.
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