WAR AND THE ENVIRONMENT

Gian Lee Carlo G. Quiban

J 112: Reporting on the Environment

What is War?War is a condition of armed conflict between two or

more parties (usually states). The emergence of the modern form of war as an organized and goal directed activity stems from the development of the European state system in the early modern period. War has a formal or quasi-legal character in that the declaration of a state of war need not necessarily be accompanied by an outbreak of hostilities. In the post-Cold War era it has been common to refer to ‘new’ wars. These have been characterized, variously, as being linked to intra-state ethnic conflict, the use of advanced military technology, and the involvement of non-state actors such as terrorist groups and guerrilla movements. (Heywood, 2011)

What is War?A state of armed conflict between different nations or

states or different groups within a nation or state. (Google)

A state of open, armed, often prolonged conflict carried on between nations, states, or parties. (Webster)

The period of such conflict. (Free Dictionary)The techniques and procedures of war; military

science.A condition of active antagonism or contention: a war

of words; a price war. (Free Dictionary)A concerted effort or campaign to combat or put an end

to something considered injurious: the war against acid rain. (Free Dictionary)

Some notable wars in history…Peloponnesian War (Gr.)Trojan War (Gr.)The American Civil War (US)World War I (Rus., US, Fr., UK, Ger., It., Hng.,

Rom.)World War II (US, UK, Rus., Ger., Jpn., It.)Cold War (USSR, US, UK)US War against Iraq and Afghanistan (US, Irq.,

Afg.)Arab Spring (Leb., Syr., Egy., Tns., Lby., Om.)

The Cost of War…

The American Civil War

What wars have in common…Wars are expensive. (Heywood, Global

Politics, 2007)

Wars cause detrimental effects to the societal framework—how people interact with each other and relative relationships. (Schumpter, 2010)

Wars cost lives, millions of lives.

But there are two things that wars in the Early Ages and recent generations differ from…Wars before use swords, shields, catapults,

the worst gunpowder and dynamites. Wars now use nukes, missiles, torpedoes, heavy ammunitions.

Wars before leave cities, economies, people, infrastructures dead. Wars nowadays, leave not only the same things dead but also the environment.

Nagasaki Nuclear Bombing(August 9, 1945)

WAR PROFILING

German troop advance on the French border

Peloponnesian War

War fought by Athens and alliances and the Peloponnesian League led by Sparta during 431-404 BC.

It claimed thousands of Greek soldiers in the process, destroyed many cities and ruined the Greek society.

World War I

Began with the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand (Aut) by a Serbian soldier, Gavrilo Princip.

An alliance was created by Germany, Austria and other Baltic states against France, UK and Italy.

World War II

A competition between the Allied Forces (US, Rus. and UK) and the Axis Powers (Ger. Jpn. And It.)

Germany, in the leadership of Adolf Hitler, a Nazi (National Socialist) wanted to maximise the benefits given to workers.

Cold War

The war that succeeded the Second World War. It was a competition between the United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR).

It took place from 1945 to 1990.Caused by the hard headedness of Harry S.

Truman and his denial to understand the Russians’ socialist lifestyle.

Arab Spring

It is a revolutionary wave of civil wars and protest in the Arab nations (Tun., Egy., Syr., Leb., etc.)

It started in December 18, 2010.Turmoil for greater mass power.

SAMPLE ENVIRONMENTAL NEWS ON WAR

Invasion of South Korea by Communist North(June 25, 1950)

The Environmental Impact of the Vietnam War

Imagine a television newscaster announcing daily developments in the Indochina war by saying: "And in Quang Tri Province today, U.S. bombers knocked out 5,000 trees and killed 35 water buffalo while a South Vietnamese armored column rolled over 300 acres of rice paddies. North Vietnamese shelling disrupted 18 irrigation systems and demolished a forest known for its rare jungle parrots.“

Such a bulletin is not likely. The human toll in Vietnam is so staggering—the mayhem so terrible—that accounts of what is done to the land rarely receive the attention they deserve.

Mike Kiernan, Mother Earth News

No accurate records have been kept to determine the exact extent of the ecocide committed in Indochina. But Dr. Arthur Westing, a professor of biology who interrupted his teaching at Windham College, Vt., to lead an expedition of scientists to South Vietnam, estimates that The U.S. Air Command alone has created 26 million craters with its bombing of South Vietnam over the last eight years.

The U.S. Army admits that chemical herbicides have been sprayed over one-seventh of South Vietnam's total land mass in strengths ten times more potent than ever used for commercial application in the United States.

Although the Army stopped massive doses of herbicides in early 1971, scientists say it will be years before they can estimate the damage done. At present they fear the herbicides will eventually cause birth defects, plant mutations, death and deformity.

The irony is that the land in North Vietnam remains in relatively better shape than the land in the South. The truth is the U.S. has reaped far greater havoc on its ally than on its enemy.

Senator Gaylord Nelson, whose complaints throughout 1969 and 1970 helped force the military to phase out the use of chemical herbicides, has introduced the Vietnam War Ecological Assessment Act of 1972. The bill provides that the U.S. finally get down to the task of determining exactly what has been done to Vietnam's environment. The bill, however, is so unpopular in the Senate that it's not likely to get a hearing.

The Truth About Smokey the BearSmokey the Bear, the legendary forest ranger, has become the government's merchant prince of conservation. Smokey, who first appeared twenty years ago wearing dungarees and a weather-beaten hat, now can afford Brooks Brothers suits. The latest government report on Smokey's earnings reveals that the bear made more than $200,000 last year in royalty payments for his creators the Department of Agriculture.

http://www.motherearthnews.com/nature-and-environment/vietnam-war-zmaz72soztak.aspx#axzz2ZL8LBpvV

Smokey, who works hard for his two hundred grand a year, peddles enough items to fill several counters in a department store. The government has sold forty Smokey the Bear commercial licenses and his approving face appears on dolls, comic books, milk jugs, belts, T-shirts, ash trays and a wide range of other items.

The government refers to Smokey's lucrative sideline as "an orderly commercial educational support program." A more appropriate phrase might be: commercial overkill

Syrian War bears Environmental CostThe ongoing war in Syria is taking an

environmental toll on the region’s water outlets, according to the Waste Free Oceans Foundation (WFO), an initiative aimed at efficient waste management to prevent marine pollution.

The organization released a statement to highlight the environmental hazard carried by the uncollected garbage of Syria’s Latakia, which consequently causes litter to build up on nearby Mediterranean shores, including near the southern Turkish province of Hatay’s Samandağ district. 

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/syrian-war-bears-environmental-cost-foundation.aspx?pageID=238&nid=47202

Some 53 percent of all Turkey’s marine litter is caused by foreign sources, the WFO said, adding that the lack of services had resulted in “mountains of garbage” to appear on the streets of Latakia.

“The destination of all that garbage ends up being, unfortunately, the sea. The waste put to sea pollutes all our Mediterranean shores, starting with Hatay,” the statement said, adding that the area was one of the key habitats for Caretta Caretta and Chelonia Mydas sea turtles. 

“The turtles can’t make it to the beaches to lay eggs due to the waste, and the eggs that are hatching on the beach fail to make it to the sea,” WFO Middle East and Africa Director Yavuz Eroğlu said. “We can’t, however, take up any initiatives due to the ongoing war.”

Sources (Information):Heywood, Andrew. Global Politics. 2011.Heywood, Andrew. Politics, Third Edition. 2007.Kiernan, Mike. Environmental Impact of the

Vietnam War. http://www.motherearthnews.com/nature-and-environment/vietnam-war-zmaz72soztak.aspx#axzz2ZL8LBpvV

Peleo, Amador IV, MA IR. Lectures in POLSC 180: Introduction to International Relations. UP Department of Political Science.

Syrian Wars bear Environmental Cost. http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/syrian-war-bears-environmental-cost-foundation.aspx?pageID=238&nid=47202

Thucydides. History of the Peloponnesian War. http://classics.mit.edu/Thucydides/pelopwar.html.

Sources (Photos):War - http://www.zeitgeistsyria.com/war/Iraq War: 190,000 lives, $2.2 trillion -

news.brown.eduWar: Overview and Introduction -

http://www2.vcdh.virginia.edu/civilwar/index.php?section=Exhibits&page=War

Korean War – Pictures - http://www.warhistoryonline.com/war-articles/korean-war-pictures.html

In Times Of War - http://www.loc.gov/wiseguide/dec11/war.html