climate change – Page 4 – Engaging Peace

The unpublicized victim of war

Posted on November 5, 2012November 27, 2012 by patdaniel

“Though mankind has always counted its war casualties in terms of dead and wounded soldiers and civilians, destroyed cities and livelihoods, the environment has often remained the unpublicized victim of war.” –United Nations

Tuesday November 6 is International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict. First designated by the U.N. General Assembly in 2001, this day each year offers an opportunity to consider the many ways in which war and the environment are inextricably intertwined:

Armed conflict, as well as weapons production and testing, lead to environmental pollution and other forms of ecological devastation.
Wartime tactics include deliberately targeting ecosystems (e.g., draining marshland or burning cropland) to inflict pain on the opposition and gain military advantage.
Military use of fossil fuels is a prime contributor to climate change.
Conflicts over natural resources (e.g., oil, water and minerals) are leading causes of war.
Profits from the exploitation of natural resources are used to fund armed conflicts.
Prevention of war requires protection and stewardship of environmental resources.

Engaging Peace has explored many of these issues in previous posts:

The U.S. war in Iraq has left a trail of environmental devastation and adverse health impacts for survivors. (For example, see post on Fallujah.)
The U.S. military is the single biggest contributor to global warming pollution. (See 2011 Earth Day post).
Resource extraction in the Democratic Republic of the Congo fuels rebellion and relies on child labor.
Nuclear war has the potential to annihilate entire populations of people and wildlife, poisoning their ecosystems for generations.
Efforts to unite the peace and environmental movements recognize that preventing war helps to preserve the environment–and vice versa.

A healthy ecosystem and access to natural resources are necessities for a peaceful world. Likewise, eliminating war would significantly impact the health of the planet.

How might your own peace activism embrace the goals of environmental activism?

Dr. Pat Daniel, Managing Editor of Engaging Peace

Earth Day during wartime (Part 1)

Posted on April 19, 2012November 3, 2012 by patdaniel

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

Earth Day and peace (Stories of engagement)

Posted on April 21, 2011April 19, 2011 by kathiemm

[Note from Kathie Malley-Morrison: Today we welcome guest contributor Abbie Jenks, who founded the Peace, Justice and Environmental Studies program at Greenfield Community College (GCC) in Massachusetts.]

It is hard to believe that 41 years have passed since the first Earth Day celebrations. Reading an article from Look magazine, published on April 21, 1970, I recognized it could have been written today. We might be saddened and burdened by that knowledge, yet it is becoming increasingly clear that fundamental social change is taking place.

More people are recognizing the need to change behavior in order for our world to sustain itself, now and for future generations. Facing such challenges as global climate change, environmental degradation due to wars, harmful corporate practice, personal consumer habits, and resource depletion, we must learn how to work together collaboratively instead of competitively.

The Peace, Justice and Environmental Studies program at GCC is an example of approaching these issues from a systems or ecological perspective. We strive to understand the social and cultural forces that work in conjunction with science and technology, and to create an integrated path to positive social change through nonviolent means.

With so much ambiguity, anxiety and denial about our future, we must engage in fundamental change, change that will create sustainable systems to meet our collective needs, without causing harm. We must learn that no one or no living thing has more value than another. We must learn how to share power to solve our problems.

Until we see ourselves as fully interconnected, we will continue to cause harm. Our world and our people are traumatized and we need to heal and consider how to prevent the damage done through violence towards others, the Earth, and ourselves.

If we understand that what we do affects everyone, and nurture an ecological perspective, we will be able to create a just and stable world.

Abbie Jenks, MSW, creator and advisor for the Peace, Justice and Environmental Studies program at Greenfield Community College