If humanity was obliged to wreck the planet and accelerate climate change, it would invent war. Since every aspect of military activity is by definition destructive, it is never harmless, especially at a time when millions are dying because of climate change. [i] Just as the urgent need to address causes of climate change is being universally recognised, the renewed emphasis on armed state violence, packaged as security, is immeasurably and immorally counterproductive to survival goals. [ii]Perversely, it is environmental protectors who are increasingly being criminalised. [iii]

All climate records were broken in 2023. [iv] Greenland ice is melting at the same rate per hour it used to melt per day, creating a vicious cycle as cooler freshwater forces warmer saltier water under the ice sheets, speeding up the melting rate and raising temperatures. [v] As a benchmark, this confirms advancing hazards, among which war looms large. [vi] High-carbon, high-tech weapons make killing easier, through more power, and dehumanisation. [vii]

A Conflict and Environment Observatory (CEOBS) report on environmental impacts of the Ukraine war covers industrial and energy infrastructure, nuclear facilities and other radioactive sources, the built environment, the rural environment, freshwater resources and infrastructure, the coastal and marine environment; the global climate; national climate objectives; and evolving legal and regulatory frameworks. [viii] War ravages everything. [ix]

The graph above illustrates consequences of past choices that foreclosed better possibilities for the world and the common good. Decisions instead facilitated climate-polluting high-profit industries of fossil fuels, agribusiness and timber. [x] Big Oil knew what its business was doing to climate from research in the 1950s. [xi] Fossil fuel lobbyists continue to capture and sabotage the COPs and IPCC. [xii]

Methane can trap 100 times more atmospheric heat than CO₂ can, and accounts for up to 30% of observed global warming. [xiii] Curtailing methane is the easiest and fastest way to curb global temperature rises. A 7% rise in emissions was reported by Sweden due to the Nord Stream methane and gas leak,assumedly adisgraceful act of war. [xiv]

US-UK research shows that emissions generated in the first two months of the Gaza bombardment surpassed the annual carbon footprint of more than 20 of the world’s most climate-vulnerable countries. Accepted as an under-estimate for excluding methane and other planet-heating gases, the calculation included CO₂ from aircraft missions, tanks and fuel from other vehicles, as well as emissions generated by making and exploding the bombs, artillery and rockets. US cargo planes flying military supplies to Israelare responsible for almost half the total CO₂ emissions. [xv] Comprehensive emissions tracking is only just beginning. [xvi]

Militarism and war are major contributors to the climate crisis and devastate people and land. [xvii] Veterans for Peace’s Climate Crisis and Militarism Project is one effort to highlight and stem occurrences. [xviii] A huge hurdle is the US National Defence Industrial Strategy, committed to arms trade growth. [xix] Another is military security being used as an excuseto avoid reporting emissions. [xx]Demands for bigger defence budgets are then easier to make. [xxi] Enemies’ evilness is clung to as justification for maintaining warfare and nuclear development, rather than negotiating. [xxii]  But investors’ calls for transparency may yet spur mandatory disclosures. [xxiii] War ruthlessly sabotages climate mitigation efforts. [xxiv]

According to the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED), conflict is now widespread and pervasive: Conflict increased by 12% from 2022 to 2023, and by 40% since 2020, affecting one in six people. Conflict was reported in 168 of 234 countries in 2023. Over 147,000 conflict events on record resulted in at least 167,800 fatalities. [xxv]Brown University’s Cost of Wars Project counts victims, not forgetting over 38 million refugees displaced by these conflicts. [xxvi]

Genocide, Ecocide, Urbicide, Domicide

With the destruction of buildings, workplaces, homes, service and cultural centres, even towns and cities, war ruins neighbourhoods – urbicide – and homes – domicide. [xxvii]  By March 2024, over half of all buildings in Gaza were damaged or destroyed, symptomatic of genocide. [xxviii] Ecocide is widely evident. [xxix] Lost homes, lost lives, lost identities. [xxx]

Bombing and arson also destroyed a third of Syria’s housing stock and a quarter of its forest cover. [xxxi] Western backed wars and ecological devastation have displaced 10 million people in the Democratic Republic of Congo.[xxxii] This cruelty is deliberate in modern war.[xxxiii] Militarism and the climate crisis are “deeply intertwined and mutually reinforcing”. [xxxiv] Except toprofit select sectors such as munitions, politicians’ protestations about endless war being good for the economy is a fallacy[xxxv]

The construction industry already accounts for over a third of global carbon emissions, and is a waste production leader. [xxxvi]Embodied emissions arising from making materials such as steel, cement, bricks, glass, aluminium and plastics, which comprise buildings, figure increasingly in overall climate impacts. [xxxvii]&[xxxviii] These materials, essential for renewable energy technologies too, are already becoming scarce. For example, only by reducing demand, and recycling scrap metal, in electric arc vs coal blast furnaces to lower emissions, will enough steel continue to be available. [xxxix] Rebuilding after demolishing doubles emissions, as both the original building and also its replacement must be counted. [xl]This is exactly what war compels. Even architects are switching to re-using buildings, with and for people. [xli]

Targeting land fertility, crops, and infrastructure,war ensures enduring barrenness and pollution.[xlii] Fires and rent materials release heat, throwing ecosystemsinto chaos. [xliii]  Exposure to fine particulate matter already kills more than a million people annually. [xliv] Forever PFA chemicals common on military sites and elsewhere enter water supplies. [xlv] Fires from bombing burn plastics, foams, textiles, carpets, human and animal corpses, wood products (treated lumber, plywood, flooring), asbestos, lead, paint, synthetic fabrics, electronics, furniture, household chemicals, and more, polluting the air. Contamination exposure correlates with a significant increase in diseases including respiratory ailments, cardiac hazards, and cancers. [xlvi]Carcinogenic-degree radiation is more common than realised.[xlvii]Even citizens harmed by toxic waste in peacetime are brushed off, only to discover environmental protection exists in name only.[xlviii]

Such major harms may soon be sueable as ecocide under international law. [xlix] The UN is progressing rules for environmental assistance and recovery in conflict. [l]  In parallel, allowing climate change to worsen unchecked imposes a growing burden of disease. [li] NASA tracks the relentless rise of heat-trapping CO2. [lii] As oceans also heat up, they no longer absorb atmospheric excess. [liii] US Army reports found the military would not be spared disruption. [liv]&[lv]  Yet leaders talk up war expansion more than ever, neglecting peace diplomacy needed to address conflicts and climate incidents. [lvi] How sexualised this power play is does not go unnoticed either. [lvii] To grow and stay relevant, war organisations create ecosystem conditions of instability and conflict. [lviii]

Preparing for Handover

The Doomsday clock warns of extreme nuclear and equivalent dangers. [lix]Change is resisted partly because decarbonisation challenges GDP growth. [lx]Global industrialists and financiers are being permitted to consign the rest of humanity to ecocide. [lxi] The EU has just passed a new ecocide Directive, as yet too timid. [lxii] It comes after a new EU Nature Restoration Law, again more a start. [lxiii] Human services are being eroded, and poverty, exploitation and sickness are being tolerated. [lxiv]

Given central authority failures, civil society activism is critical, and can alter outcomes.[lxv]More regulatory conditionality in industrial policy would ensure that government subsidies were invested in social infrastructure rather than being siphoned off in private profits through dividends or share buybacks. A payout distribution cap could restrict wealth extraction from public services. [lxvi] Limiting obscene CEO salaries is regularly recommended. [lxvii] Worker initiatives to ‘green’ production and oppose malpractice drive real improvement especially when supported  [lxviii] Reviving and prioritising the welfare state would afford citizens protection from imminent polycrisis risks. [lxix] Instead, the real foundations for living are let fall into neglect and depravity. [lxx]

15,000 scientists update their State of the Climate Report every year, warning of massive natural and socioeconomic collapse. [lxxi]  Another worldwide network of Scientists Against War and the Destructive Use of Science has just been launched. [lxxii] The papal encyclical Laudate Si, has been adapted into a movement.[lxxiii] Islamic scholars have drafted A Covenant For the Earth. [lxxiv] The appetite for fighting wars is waning [lxxv]  Somehow, those who see the links and yearn for a safe clean cooperative world need to find ways to communicate and have their voices heard because, as David Boyd, the UN special rapporteur for human rights and the environment, said: “Armed conflict pushes humanity even closer to the precipice of climate catastrophe, and is an idiotic way to spend our shrinking carbon budget.” [lxxvi]

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Caroline Hurley is a former health administrator who now lives in a sustainable community. Her writing has appeared in Village Magazine, Books Ireland, Counterpunch, L.A. Progressive, Arena (Au) and elsewhere. She is a member of the Irish Chapter of World Beyond War.

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Endnotes

[i]https://grist.org/health/climate-change-has-killed-4-million-people-since-2000-and-thats-an-underestimate/

[ii]https://www.counterpunch.org/2024/01/31/solving-climate-change-or-else/

[iii]https://insideclimatenews.org/news/03032024/un-official-state-repression-of-environmental-defenders-threatens-democracy/

[iv]https://wmo.int/media/news/climate-change-indicators-reached-record-levels-2023-wmo

[v]https://www.counterpunch.org/2024/03/15/greenland-cascading-30-million-tons-per-hour/

[vi]https://www.pressenza.com/2024/02/is-khaki-the-new-green/

[vii]https://www.transcend.org/tms/2024/03/so-theyre-experimenting-with-military-robots-in-gaza-now/

[viii]https://ceobs.org/the-environmental-consequences-of-the-war-against-ukraine-preliminary-12-month-assessment-summary-and-recommendations/

[ix]https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/jan/09/emission-from-war-military-gaza-ukraine-climate-change

[x] https://theraven.substack.com/p/in-a-world-of-troubles-confronting?publication=

[xi]https://www.desmog.com/2024/01/30/fossil-fuel-industry-sponsored-climate-science-1954-keeling-api-wspa/

[xii]https://www.jonathonporritt.com/from-cop-28-to-cop-29-the-road-to-hell/

[xiii]https://www.onegreenplanet.org/animalsandnature/methane-vs-carbon-dioxide-a-greenhouse-gas-showdown/

[xiv]https://edition.cnn.com/2023/12/14/climate/sweden-methane-nord-stream-pipeline-climate/index.html

[xv]https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/jan/09/first-thing-israel-war-gaza-immense-effect-climate-catastrophe

[xvi]https://ceobs.org/ticking-boxes-are-military-climate-mitigation-strategies-fit-for-purpose/

[xvii]https://www.instagram.com/reel/C3I0E_CJ6-t/

[xviii]https://www.veteransforpeace.org/take-action/climatecrisis

[xix]https://responsiblestatecraft.org/biden-war-strategy/

[xx]https://ceobs.org/does-reporting-military-emissions-data-really-threaten-national-security/

[xxi]https://www.against-inhumanity.org/2023/12/08/beyond-the-green-tanks/

[xxii]https://www.pressenza.com/2024/03/global-warfare-summit-summons-national-priority/

[xxiii]https://www.ethicalmarkets.com/new-rules-will-force-u-s-firms-to-divulge-their-role-in-warming-the-planet/

[xxiv]https://www.tni.org/en/publication/climate-collateral

[xxv]https://acleddata.com/conflict-index/

[xxvi]https://tomdispatch.com/the-october-7th-america-has-forgotten/#more

[xxvii]https://www.dezeen.com/2024/03/07/gaza-urbicide-edwin-heathcote-opinion/

[xxviii]https://www.counterpunch.org/2024/02/14/there-is-no-place-for-the-palestinians-of-gaza-to-go/

[xxix]https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/israel%E2%80%99s-actions-are-ecocide-well-genocide

[xxx]https://www.npr.org/2024/02/09/1229625376/domicide-israel-gaza-palestinians

[xxxi]https://grist.org/international/the-war-zone-in-gaza-will-leave-a-legacy-of-hidden-health-risks/

[xxxii]https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/drc-bleeds-conflict-minerals-for-green-growth/

[xxxiii]https://www.counterpunch.org/2024/02/28/israels-cruelty-is-by-design-an-interview-with-joshua-frank/

[xxxiv]https://ips-dc.org/climate-militarism-primer/

[xxxv]https://www.truthdig.com/articles/biden-touts-lie-that-endless-war-is-good-for-the-economy/

[xxxvi]https://asbp.org.uk/events/demolition-to-deconstruction

[xxxvii]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NzeHlVLxTU&list=PLwYnpej4pQF7IIubTTDBh3k8YXYhCS3Jl&index=11

[xxxviii]https://drawdown.org/sectors/buildings

[xxxix]https://solar.lowtechmagazine.com/2024/03/how-to-escape-from-the-iron-age

[xl]https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-61580979

[xli]https://www.dezeen.com/2024/03/15/david-chipperfield-design-doha-forum-talk/

[xlii]https://jacobin.com/2024/01/israel-gaza-war-environmental-impact

[xliii]https://www.rte.ie/news/middle-east/2024/0229/1435211-white-phosphorus-israel/

[xliv]https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-03-short-term-exposure-high-air.html

[xlv]https://insideclimatenews.org/news/26022024/un-chemours-pfas-north-carolina/

[xlvi]https://peaceandplanetnews.org/poisoning-gaza/

[xlvii]https://blog.ucsusa.org/lilly-adams/for-people-who-have-been-poisoned-by-radiation-the-fight-continues-in-2024/

[xlviii]https://www.ethicalmarkets.com/a-florida-neighborhood-says-an-old-factory-made-them-sick-now-developers-want-to-kick-up-toxic-soil/

[xlix]https://www.truthdig.com/articles/israels-decimation-of-gaza-spurs-efforts-to-make-ecocide-an-international-crime/

[l]https://ceobs.org/unea-6-passes-resolution-on-environmental-assistance-and-recovery-in-areas-affected-by-armed-conflict/

[li]https://earthbound.report/2024/03/19/book-review-fevered-planet-by-john-vidal/

[lii]https://climate.nasa.gov/vital-signs/carbon-dioxide/?_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8HpRVv9oVuSCF0VZQsQUZzqFhGtkLyw06Pme5RT0S-5vbMKKeT7887JYALC3WjAsIKVkac

[liii]https://www.ethicalmarkets.com/this-chart-of-ocean-temperatures-should-really-scare-you/

[liv]https://www.vice.com/en/article/mbmkz8/us-military-could-collapse-within-20-years-due-to-climate-change-report-commissioned-by-pentagon-says

[lv]https://climateandsecurity.org/a-security-threat-assessment-of-global-climate-change/

[lvi]https://www.declassifieduk.org/who-wants-to-bomb-iran/

[lvii]https://thedisorderofthings.com/2024/03/08/sex-power-play-at-europes-largest-arms-fair/#more-18558

[lviii]https://www.pressenza.com/2024/01/l-vatikiotis-on-ukraine-the-fate-of-the-war-has-been-decided/

[lix]https://www.transcend.org/tms/2024/02/full-speed-ahead-on-the-global-titanic/

[lx]https://www.truthdig.com/articles/these-economists-say-you-cant-decouple-emissions-from-growth/

[lxi]https://systemicdisorder.wordpress.com/2023/12/20/so-long-and-thanks-for-all-the-hamburgers/

[lxii]https://grist.org/regulation/eu-ecocide-law-environmental-crime-international/

[lxiii]https://www.rte.ie/news/europe/2024/0227/1434583-nature-restoration-law/

[lxiv]https://tomdispatch.com/the-great-unwinding/#more

[lxv]https://go.ind.media/webmail/546932/1443913468/775ab7998320b1babd820a27fbbdff01a0c55f1607dadd8d5bbe888ca632d8be

[lxvi]https://www.socialeurope.eu/reset-finance-a-new-financial-agenda-for-the-eu

[lxvii]https://inequality.org/research/a-fresh-approach-to-limiting-ceo-pay-and-saving-our-environment/

[lxviii]https://www.socialeurope.eu/beyond-just-transition-ecology-at-work

[lxix]https://www.socialeurope.eu/renewing-the-welfare-state-europes-green-trump-card

[lxx]https://consortiumnews.com/2024/03/20/patrick-lawrence-authorized-atrocities/?eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=b27c4409-fa66-4d93-97d0-d02b9bb652b8

[lxxi]https://www.counterpunch.org/2024/01/12/the-state-of-capitalisms-climate-system/

[lxxii]https://richardfalk.org/2024/03/07/ascientists-form-a-global-anti-war-anti-genocide-network-from-hiroshima-to-gaza/

[lxxiii]https://www.laudatosi.org/laudato-si/laudato-si-movement/

[lxxiv]https://earthbound.report/2024/03/05/al-mizan-an-islamic-covenant-for-the-earth/

[lxxv]https://www.gallup-international.bg/en/48127/fewer-people-are-willing-to-fight-for-their-country-compared-to-ten-years-ago/

[lxxvi]https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/jan/09/emissions-gaza-israel-hamas-war-climate-change?mc_cid=751d5966dd

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