Photo by Ben Slowey
'Earth's Greatest Enemy' Avalon screening
'Earth’s Greatest Enemy' screening at Avalon Theater on Jan. 20, 2026.
Journalist-activist Abby Martin arrived in Milwaukee this week for a screening of her second feature documentary Earth’s Greatest Enemy. The January 20 event at Bay View’s Avalon Theater was sponsored by local organizations Milwaukee 4 Palestine, Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL) Milwaukee, CODEPINK MKE and The Black Alliance For Peace.
A production by The Empire Files, co-directed by Mike Prysner, Earth’s Greatest Enemy explores the U.S. military’s role as the world’s number one polluter. Sobering as it is profoundly honest, the film is a galvanizing call for Americans to act fervently in opposition to U.S. imperialism while holding those responsible for environmental and ecological destruction accountable.
Earth’s Greatest Enemy sheds light on staggering statistics about the U.S. military’s global footprint, such as that it makes up 25% of all carbon emissions, has more than 800 bases in at least 80 countries (with more being built), and uses 270,000 barrels of oil a day—annually amounting to 55 million metric tons (more than that of 150 countries).
Long-Term Impacts
Work on Earth’s Greatest Enemy started in 2020 and lasted five years. Martin travels throughout the film to many different locations environmentally affected by U.S. military activity, including North Carolina, Alaska, Hawaii and Japan, interviewing authors, scientists and activists about the long-term human and ecological impacts. Detriments to oceans, forests, air qualities and water supplies are closely examined while the adverse health effects prevalent within nearby communities are also recognized.
One segment notes the harmful substances like titanium or depleted uranium found in samples from Iraqis as a result of the U.S.-led war. Martin also visits Camp LeJeune in North Carolina, a site of notorious mid-20th century drinking water contamination due to the dumping of toxic chemicals by the military that led to a number of infant deaths as well as serious health issues and birth defects in families living on the base. The film then brings attention to ongoing ecocides such as the deforestation around Atlanta’s Cop City as well as Israel’s relentless, U.S.-backed bombing of Gaza.
In several instances, Martin confronts U.S. politicians, military leaders and company executives about their complicities and contributions to exacerbating climate change and mass ecological suffering by way of practices like weapons testing and toxic waste dumping. She gets both straight-up lied to and walked away-from.
Complicity and Cowardice
Following the screening was a Q&A, where Martin was asked her thoughts on the mainstream Western media’s role in platforming pro-imperialist narratives. She replied, “I am so disgusted with the complicity and cowardice of my colleagues in the media over the last few years, not just for towing the line about Gaza—which is horrific in and of itself—but towing the line of the status quo.”
She continues, pointing to the screen, “This was Biden, before Trump! Journalists normalize this and say that this is good and acceptable. The chauvinism and arrogance and belligerence of the West to normalize the global U.S. empire subjugating the planet is sick, and it’s a madness. Call and engage your local publications, write letters to the editor and do whatever you can to support the last bastions of public or independent press that exist in these cities. We need to seize those means, because it’s the last thing we have outside of social media that’s not continuously controlled by the same people who are profiting off this catastrophe.”
While answering subsequent questions, Martin emphasized how crucial it is for the film’s content to reach active U.S. soldiers and veterans. “You can’t watch this and walk away being proud of the institution. You’re disgusted and horrified that you took part in it. I’ve had people who were ready to join the military watch this and say they’re no longer joining, and people who left the military, horrified, who want to fight this.”
This is the World?
Martin and Prysner are the parents of two young children. When asked about how she talks to her kids about the U.S.-driven imperialist destruction, Martin responded, “I’m waiting for that moment where I have to tell them that this is the world I’ve brought them into. It’s so crazy that we’ve accepted these horrors as normal, and I’m not looking forward to when I have to tell my son that this is a choice —that society has the means to house and help people, but we don’t.”
She adds, “It’s so terrifying to have kids, and to see kids in Gaza, and think how anyone can differentiate their own children with the people who we’re murdering. I can’t wrap my head around it. I really can’t. I’m sure so many of you have children, and I don’t know how you process with a generation that has seen us fail time and time again to provide a future that has hope. Kids are 18 years old going to college - for what? For a world that’s dying, on fire, run by fucking psychopaths? Where you can get murdered in the street if you don’t obey? It’s not a world I want to live in or raise children in. We have no choice but to fight.”
On a positive note, Martin describes having received immense support for Earth’s Greatest Enemy from a number of climate activists and environmental justice organizations. She observes more mass revolutionary optimism than ever in the collective struggle for a better world. “People are starving for this information,” Martin affirmed. “People are ready to act accordingly, and I encourage everyone to be a part of that. This is going to be a long struggle, but we don’t let fascists win.”
As Martin continues on her director’s tour, donations can be made in support of Earth’s Greatest Enemy via the “Earth’s Greatest Enemy” website. A digital release of the film is slated for Earth Day on April 22. Its trailer is available on YouTube. Folks may also donate to support Martin and Prysner’s work with The Empire Files.
