War

“Warfare is inherently destructive of sustainable development. States shall therefore respect international law providing protection for the environment in times of armed conflict and cooperate in its further development, as necessary.” – 1992 Rio Declaration


The application of weapons, the destruction of structures and oil fields, fires, military transport movements and chemical spraying are all examples of the destroying impact war may have on the environment. Air, water and soil are polluted, man and animal are killed, and numerous health affects occur among those still living.

The continent of Africa alone is rife with Civil Wars. These wars are mainly fought in densely populated regions, over the division of scarce resources such as fertile farmland. There are many environmental effects, such as biodiversity loss, famine, sanitation problems at refugee camps and over fishing.

In Hiroshima and Nagasaki, over 200,000 people were either killed instantly or eventually. Besides the direct casualties, the environment took a severe hit as well, affecting those who survived the initial bombing. The blasts caused air pollution from dust particles and radioactive debris flying around, and from the fires burning everywhere. Many plants and animals were killed in the blast, or died moments to months later from radioactive precipitation. Radioactive sand clogged wells used for drinking water, thereby causing drinking water a problem that could not easily be solved. Surface water sources were polluted, particularly by radioactive waste. Agricultural production was damaged; dead stalks of rice could be found up to seven miles from ground zero. In Hiroshima the impact of the bombing was noticeable within a 10 km radius around the city, and in Nagasaki within a 1 km radius.

Obviously, this is an extreme example. We have never seen anything like the A-bomb since. But all wars and act of wars not only take its toll on the people it is meant to harm, but the environment is irreparably damaged for some time.

"In some sort of crude sense which no vulgarity, no humor, no overstatement can quite extinguish, the physicists have known sin; and this is a knowledge which they cannot lose."–J. Robert Oppenheimer

There have been countless wars in world history, so it would be futile to try to describe the environmental impact each of them had here. But, in an example closer to home, the World Trade Center bombing in 2001 had serious environmental impacts that we are still reading about, ten years later. Many people present at the WTC at the time of the attacks are still checked regularly, because of long-term effects. It is thought there may be an increased risk of development of mesothelioma, which comes from exposure to asbestos. Airborne dioxins in the days and weeks after the attack may increase the risk of cancer and diabetes. Infants of women that were pregnant on September 11 and had been in the vicinity of the WTC at the time of the attack are also checked for growth or developmental problems.

I’m not going to make any political stands here. Wars are necessary when governments feel they have no other choice. Our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have been a hot-button topic for a decade. But this blog’s purpose is to highlight the causes of environmental issues, and war certainly does a lot of damage to the environment. I doubt there is a eco-friendly way to fight a war, and you don’t need to hear from me what kind of impacts war can have on people.

I’m also not a big science-fiction guy, but I think if aliens decided to come to Earth and take over, humans would quickly see how dumb it was to be fighting each other for so long.


"Drafted to go to Vietnam

To fight communism in a foreign land.

To preserve democracy is my plight

Which is a God...Given...Right.

Greenery so thick with hidden enemies

Agent Orange is sprayed on the trees.

Covering me from head to toe

Irate my eyes, burns through my clothes.

Returned home when my tour was done

To be told "You have cancer, son".

Agent Orange is to blame

Government caused your suffering and pain.

Fight for compensation is frustrating and slow

Brass cover-up, not wanting anyone to know.

From cancer many comrades have died

Medical Insurance have been denied.

Compensation I now receive

My health I hope to retrieve.

In Vietnam , I was spared my life

Just to be stabbed with an Agent Orange knife" Yvonne Legge, 2001



"We will live in the death smog for a while,

breathing the dust of the dead,

the 3 thousand or so who turn to smoke,

as the giant ashtray in Lower Manhattan

continues to give up ghosts.

The dead are in us now,

locked in our chests,

staining our lungs,

polluting our bloodstreams.

And though we cover our faces with flags

and other pieces of cloth to filter the air,

the spirits of the dead aren’t fooled

by our masks." Lawrence Swan, 05-10-2001

“My hands are tied

The billions shift from side to side

And the wars go on with brainwashed pride

For the love of God and our human rights

And all these things are swept aside

By bloody hands time can't deny

And are washed away by your genocide

And history hides the lies of our civil wars” – Guns ‘n Roses (Civil War)

Source: http://www.lenntech.com/