Ikvienam, kam rūp mūsu dabiskā vide, ar lielām skumjām ir jāatzīmē Pirmā pasaules kara simtgade. Papildus neticamajai iznīcināšanai Eiropas kaujas laukos, intensīvajai mežu izciršanai un jaunajam fokusam uz Tuvo Austrumu fosilo kurināmo, Lielais karš bija ķīmiķu karš. Indīgā gāze kļuva par ieroci — tādu, ko varētu izmantot pret daudzām dzīvības formām.
Insecticides were developed alongside nerve gases and from byproducts of explosives. World War II — the sequel made almost inevitable by the manner of ending the first one — produced, among other things, nuclear bombs, DDT, and a common language for discussing both — not to mention airplanes for delivering both.
War propagandists made killing easier by depicting foreign people as bugs. Insecticide marketers made buying their poisons patriotic by using war language to describe the “annihilation” of “invading” insects (never mind who was actually here first). DDT was made available for public purchase five days before the U.S. dropped the bomb on Hiroshima. On the first anniversary of the bomb, a full-page photograph of a mushroom cloud appeared in an advertisement for DDT.
War and environmental destruction don’t just overlap in how they’re thought and talked about. They don’t just promote each other through mutually reinforcing notions of machismo and domination. The connection is much deeper and more direct. War and preparations for war, including weapons testing, are themselves among the greatest destroyers of our environment. The U.S. military is a leading consumer of fossil fuels. From March 2003 to December 2007 the war on Iraq alone atbrīvots vairāk CO2 nekā 60% no visām valstīm.
Rarely do we appreciate the extent to which wars are fought for control over resources, the consumption of which will destroy us. Even more rarely do we appreciate the extent to which that consumption is driven by wars. The Confederate Army marched up toward Gettysburg in search of food to fuel itself. (Sherman burned the South, as he killed the Buffalo, to cause starvation — while the North exploited its land to fuel the war.) The British Navy sought control of oil first as a fuel for the ships of the British Navy, not for some other purpose. The Nazis went east, among several other reasons, for forests with which to fuel their war. The deforestation of the tropics that took off during World War II only accelerated during the permanent state of war that followed.
Kari pēdējos gados ir padarījuši lielas teritorijas neapdzīvojamas un radījuši desmitiem miljonu bēgļu. Iespējams, nāvējošākie ieroči, ko atstājuši kari, ir sauszemes mīnas un kasešu bumbas. Tiek lēsts, ka uz zemes atrodas desmitiem miljonu. Padomju un ASV okupācijas Afganistānā ir iznīcinājušas vai sabojājušas tūkstošiem ciematu un ūdens avotus. Talibi ir nelegāli tirgojuši kokmateriālus uz Pakistānu, kā rezultātā ir veikta ievērojama mežu izciršana. Postījumus palielinājušas ASV bumbas un bēgļi, kuriem nepieciešama malka. Afganistānas meži ir gandrīz pazuduši. Lielākā daļa gājputnu, kas agrāk šķērsoja Afganistānu, vairs to nedara. Tās gaiss un ūdens ir saindēti ar sprāgstvielām un raķešu degvielām.
The United States fights its wars and even tests its weapons far from its shores, but remains pockmarked by environmental disaster areas and superfund sites created by its military. The environmental crisis has taken on enormous proportions, dramatically overshadowing the manufactured dangers that lie in Hillary Clinton’s contention that Vladimir Putin is a new Hitler or the common pretense in Washington, D.C., that Iran is building nukes or that killing people with drones is making us safer rather than more hated. And yet, each year, the EPA spends $622 million trying to figure out how to produce power without oil, while the military spends hundreds of miljardiem dolāru, kas dedzināja naftu karos, kas cīnījās, lai kontrolētu naftas piegādes. Miljons dolāru, kas iztērēti, lai vienu gadu turētu katru karavīru svešā profesijā, varētu radīt 20 zaļās enerģijas darbavietas par katru USD 50,000 1. USD 1 triljons, ko ASV katru gadu iztērē militārismam, un 10 triljons USD, ko iztērē pārējā pasaule, kopā varētu finansēt pāreju uz ilgtspējīgu dzīvesveidu, kas pārsniedz mūsu visdrosmīgākos sapņus. Pat XNUMX% no tā varētu.
When World War I ended, not only did a huge peace movement develop, but it was allied with a wildlife conservation movement. These days, those two movements appear divided and conquered. Once in a blue moon their paths cross, as environmental groups are persuaded to oppose a particular seizure of land or military base construction, as has happened in recent months with the movements to prevent the U.S. and South Korea from building a huge naval base on Jeju Island, and to prevent the U.S. Marine Corps from turning Pagan Island in the Northern Marianas into a bombing range. But try asking a well-funded environmental group to push for a transfer of public resources from militarism to clean energy or conservation and you might as well be trying to tackle a cloud of poison gas.
Esmu gandarīts, ka esmu daļa no kustības, kas tikko sākās plkst WorldBeyondWar.org, already with people taking part in 57 nations, that seeks to replace our massive investment in war with a massive investment in actual defense of the earth. I have a suspicion that big environmental organizations would find great support for this plan were they to survey their members.
Deivids Svonsons vēlas, lai jūs pasludinātu mieru plkst http://WorldBeyondWar.org Viņa jaunā grāmata ir Karš Nr. Vairāk: atcelšanas gadījums. Viņš emuārus pie http://davidswanson.org un http://warisacrime.org un strādā http://rootsaction.org. Viņš uztur Talk Nation Radio. Sekojiet viņam Twitter: @davidcnswanson un FaceBook.
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