The Burden

The Burden presents the determined voices of those within the military and across the political spectrum who advocate for breaking America’s addiction to fossil fuels as essential to improving our national security.

Featuring high-level active duty and retired military leaders, elected officials and others, the film illustrates a tale of energy innovation. Some of our country’s most vital consumer technologies emerged out of military needs, such as the Internet and GPS, and the military is poised to play the same role again with energy.

However, as the film highlights, the fossil fuel industry’s powerful political influence poses major challenges to successfully developing renewable energy alternatives, even within the military. But the resolute advocates featured in The Burden are determined to break the energy impasse in order to improve American security and prosperity.

The Film's Purpose

The U.S. military is currently the world’s single largest institutional consumer of oil, and the United States alone uses 20% of the total global supply. The film highlights how that heavy reliance upon oil and other fossil fuels poses a variety of national security concerns, including:

• The vulnerability of troops and loss of lives and money resulting from the need to protect and defend fuel convoys in war zones like Afghanistan and Iraq,

• The strategic and economic costs of keeping oil rich areas of the world open,

• How climate change will increase the need for the military to respond to natural disasters, and other emerging global security challenges.

The film presents in stark terms the urgent need to accelerate our transition from oil in the name of strengthening national security. While many elected officials privately express concern about our environmental and energy challenges, many refuse to do so publicly for fear of the political consequences. The Burden hopes to change this equation.

Characters include current and former Republican elected officials, active duty and retired military leaders, and veterans-turned-entrepreneurs, who believe the most significant extension of their service to country is helping the nation end its dependence on fossil fuels through innovation that drives economic prosperity. The film highlights the work of military, political and business leaders who can inspire others in similar positions of influence to take action – without waiting for Congress.