No MAS! No Military Air Shows!
Photo credit: Mary Paterson
As the climate crisis worsens and the US military’s budget approaches $1 trillion dollars the impetus intensifies for climate, environmental and peace groups to abandon their individual silos of influence and come together and voice their collective outrage with a single, coordinated focus. Protesting military air shows provides just the opportunity to engage these stakeholders in the broader conversation concerning the U.S. military’s enormous contribution TO the climate crisis as well as the tremendous financial burden burgeoning militarism causes.
The No MAS (No Military Air Shows) campaign is well underway for 2025. Please see below for short report backs, and a list of upcoming protests. We salute the brave activists confronting these grotesque displays of militarism in the skies, often under deafening roars of jets for hours, and we thank our dedicated allies who share our values for peace and climate justice.
Past actions:
Albuquerque, NM, May 31, Air Fiesta at Kirtland AFB, VFP with ally YUCCA
Photo credit: James Janko
Annapolis, MD, May 22, US Naval Academy Air Show, with allies CodePink, WorldBeyondWar
Photo credit: Taylor Smith-Hams
Upcoming actions:
- Toronto, Canada, Aug 30-Sep 1
- Virginia Beach, VA, Sep 20-21
- San Diego, CA, Sep 26-28
- Salinas, CA, Oct 4-5
- San Francisco, Oct 10-12
Please see the attached spreadsheet for a list of scheduled military air shows for 2025: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ZF-sDyPFyoSAeNxcjGRj-X0Fawcr4aQJ
To find out how you can participate, or with other questions and suggestions, please email climate@veteransforpeace.org. Before your local action, we recommend our zoom presentation on the climate crisis, war and militarism; to schedule a presentation, please click here.
Military air shows are a wa$te – of our tax dollars, jet fuel, pilots’ skills, and greenhouse gas emissions. When the Navy started the air shows program in 1946, the global level of atmospheric CO2 was only 310 ppm (parts per million), but now it is 428 ppm and rising, far above the safe ceiling of 350 ppm. The US military is the world’s single largest institutional consumer of fossil fuels. NONE of those fuels need to be used for entertainment.
View/download this handy 10-point guide: No MAS! How To Protest a Military Air Show
Please click on the links below to access resources, articles and videos to support your actions.
- PBS Interview: Protestors call for cancellation of the Miramar Air Show
- “Disneyland of War” short documentary
- Clip from “War Machine”
Short videos:
- Earth’s Greatest Enemy documentary trailer
- The US military is the largest institutional consumer of fossil fuels
- The true cost of the military-industrial complex
Articles:
- Sample OpEd - Opinion: The U.S. military’s impact on the climate crisis is STILL rarely mentioned. Here’s what you should know.
- No MAS! Military Jets and the Climate Crisis
- Inconvenient Truths About Military Air Shows
- Opinion: Airshow protest highlights Pentagon's carbon footprint
- The Problem With the Blue Angels
Case Study: Miramar Air Show in San Diego and San Diego Veterans For Peace, Chapter 91
Chapter 91 in San Diego has been protesting the annual Miramar Air Show since 2016. We began by focusing upon the military’s glorification of war and its overt appeal to youths as young as 8 years old as it allowed kids to aim automatic weapons at each other and climb atop tanks, romp inside helicopters and “fly” Top Gun jets. We sought community support, and, although we did receive some local media attention, we found ourselves with few allies. That changed in 2021 when we refined our focus to that of the Blue Angels as gross polluters. We had three local climate/social justice organizations endorse us and attend our actions. We saw that we were connecting with an issue beyond Peace groups. We amplified our efforts to gain supporters earlier in 2022 and ended up with 18 local organizations endorsing our actions!
