biodiversity – Engaging Peace

by Deborah Belle

It was the most beautiful day in the history of the world, or some reasonable facsimile thereof. The sky was the tenderest blue. The sun warmed the skin and created gorgeous deep shadows. Trees kept their green leaves, with only a few branches turned a brilliant red. It was a wondrous day to be alive and to be on planet Earth.

There was a poignancy to all this beauty as the plaza at Boston’s Government Center filled with thousands of young people and their elders, everyone come to bear witness to the terrible threats facing our beloved planet and the urgent need to act now before we lose it all.

There were adorable children with their homemade signs. A contingent of folks protesting the fracked gas Compressor Stati on proposed for the South Shore to transport fracked gas to Canada. Folks from the Sunrise Movement helping to register new voters. Others stressing the need to protect our water, our birds, our biodiversity.

And this was only the beginning of only one of the 4,638 climate strike actions taking place today around the country and around the world. Will we act in time? The beauty of the day demanded it.

Note from KMM: Pegean says
“Tho I am just a cat forsooth,
I see the lies. I see the truth.
I want this world of ours to thrive.
Pease help me keep our earth alive.”

Sunday, April 22, is Earth Day. Today we honor the Earth by calling attention to the common goals of the peace and environmental sustainability movements.

But first, some context: Assessing the impact of war on the environment can be fraught with complexity, but here is a sampling of those effects:

Destruction or contamination of farmland, forests, wildlife and biodiversity
Unexploded ordnance (UXO) left to cause death and maiming of people and animals. In Laos alone, about 80 million undetonated cluster munitions are still present in the environment
Polluted water supplies for people, plants and animals
Exacerbation of climate change (the U.S. military is the world’s largest consumer of oil)
Oil spills, both deliberate and as collateral damage
Disruption of ecosystems from refugees and displaced people
Radioactive wastes from depleted uranium weapons and nuclear testing
Pollution from chemical weapons, herbicides, and routine operations of the military-industrial complex
Failure to clean up after warfare, causing long-term public health, agricultural, and ecological devastation

It works the other way, too–that misuse, destruction, and scarcity of natural resources can be the cause of war. Examples include conflicts over oil in the Middle East, rare metals in the Congo, food shortages and water scarcity in South Asia and throughout the world. More and more, climate disruption is becoming or is predicted (pdf) to be a source of conflict.

In other words, environmental degradation is a threat to global security.

As you celebrate Earth Day on Sunday, please consider what it will take to stop the intertwined scourges of warfare and environmental destruction. Even more important, make a commitment to do something about them.

Pat Daniel, Ph.D., Managing Editor of Engaging Peace

Climate action day: The most beautiful day!

Earth Day during wartime (Part 1)