Abby Martin's new documentary exposes the U.S. military as the planet's greatest polluter. The long tentacles of American Empire also extend to New Zealand.
ABBY MARTIN'S new documentary, Earth's Greatest Enemy, premiered this week in Portland, Oregon. This is not a polite contribution to the climate debate, nor a gentle nudge to recycle more. It is a forthright indictment of the U.S. military machine as the planet’s greatest polluter, and a demand that we stop pretending we can tackle climate change while leaving the Pentagon untouched. From Portland, the film will now tour across the United States, carrying its message into cities where the military’s shadow is often treated as untouchable.
Martin has never been one to mince words, and here she is at her sharpest. 'The U.S. military is the elephant in the room when it comes to climate change,' she says in the film. 'We cannot talk about saving the planet while ignoring the largest polluter on Earth and the system of empire that sustains it.' That clarity cuts through the fog of greenwashing and technocratic half-measures that dominate mainstream climate discourse. While politicians wring their hands about carbon taxes and electric cars, Martin points to the sprawling network of 750 U.S. bases, the endless wars, the toxic waste dumped into rivers and oceans, and the deliberate exemption of military emissions from international climate agreements.
What makes Earth's Greatest Enemy so powerful is that it refuses to separate the ecological crisis from the political one. In that respect, it reflects Abby's determinedly anti-capitalist politics. The destruction of ecosystems is not an accident—it is the logical outcome of empire. The Pentagon’s carbon footprint is inseparable from its role in enforcing global capitalism, securing oil routes, and projecting dominance across the Pacific and beyond. Martin’s film insists that climate justice and anti-imperialism are not parallel struggles but the same fight.
For those of us in New Zealand, the film’s message will land with particular force, for conservatives and liberals alike. We like to tell ourselves we are a nuclear-free nation, proudly independent of Washington’s war machine. But the reality is more complicated. New Zealand still participates in U.S.-led military exercises, still hosts warships, and still debates whether to deepen its role in the so-called “Indo-Pacific strategy.”
New Zealand is also a member of the Five Eyes intelligence network that sees its five members, including the United States, sharing military and strategic intelligence.
Martin’s focus on the Pacific—on Guam, Okinawa, and South Korea—reminds us that our region is treated as a chessboard for U.S. power, with devastating consequences for local communities and fragile ecosystems. The same empire poisoning water in Hawaii is the one pressuring Wellington to fall in line.
Earth's Greatest Enemy is not a film that will leave people feeling comfortable. It is meant to unsettle, to strip away illusions, to force the recognition that the climate crisis cannot be solved by tinkering at the edges. There is no benevolent capitalism waiting to be found via the 'right' policies. Martin’s work is a call to action, not just for Americans, but for all of us living in the long shadow of U.S. militarism. If we are serious about a liveable future, we cannot keep pretending that the war machine is compatible with survival. Earth's greatest enemy is not just America’s problem—it's ours, too.
US national screening tour screening details.
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