If the biggest single source of world-level ecological ruin is to be identified, this is
most likely to be related to wars, preparations for wars, conflicts, weapons and
sabotage. Of course the most direct cost of war and weapons in the form of loss of
human life is extremely sad, but at the same time the severity of the much less
discussed environmental costs also deserves more attention.
The US Department of Defense has been sometimes identified as the biggest
organizational polluter in the world. A Department of Defense Energy Initiative Report
stated—by some accounts Department of Defense, USA, is the biggest organizational
user of petroleum in world. Another report in Newsweek (17 July 2014) also mentioned
this identity as the biggest polluter and quoted a senior official as stating that the
department has 39,000 contaminated sites. This report mentioned several serious
cases of soldiers and people ruining their health as a result of exposure to this severe
contamination. The defense authorities of the USA have sought exemptions from
environmental laws in the past, within the country as well in foreign bases. The USA is
reported to have about 750 military bases in 80 countries (a lesser number, about 650,
according to US official sources).
Huge defense forces such as those of the USA have very high environmental
costs even when they are not fighting a war, because of their routine movements,
trainings, preparations, as well as the related manufacture and testing of deadly
weapons. The making of several kinds of weapons, from mining of raw materials to
testing, can be extremely polluting, most of all the making of nuclear weapons. While
chemical and biological weapons are banned now, these have been among the most
polluting in the past, in terms of their preparations as well as use.
Nearly 20 million gallons of toxic herbicides were used by the USA in Vietnam War,
destroying forests and badly damaging once beautiful green areas, its flora and fauna,
almost permanently. This led to several hundred thousand deaths and disabilities
among human beings. While the loss of animals and birds was never counted, a study
several years later found that while the number of species of birds was 145 to 170 in
unsprayed areas, it was only 30 to 55 in contaminated areas, and while the number of
species of mammals was 24 in non-sprayed areas it was only 5 in sprayed areas. Even
more harm was caused by the testing of nuclear weapons. UN Rapporteur on toxics
Bashuk Tuncak said that during 1946-58 67 nuclear bombs were detonated in the
Marshall Islands, the equivalent of more than 1.5 Hiroshima sized explosions per day
for 12 years. In French Polynesia there were over 200 nuclear tests during the three
decades 1966-96. All this led to release of vast amounts of radio-activity, with terrible
impacts on local people, flora and fauna in what were very beautiful, unspoiled natural
systems. During the years of the cold war, several nuclear warheads and components
were lost in oceans and mountains, and the radioactivity released by them over the
years must have caused a lot of terrible contamination.
While only a few countries may be at war at any given time, almost all countries
have some threat perception of war and invasion, to a lesser or greater extent. This or
their own aggressive tendencies leads them to accumulate weapons and make war
preparations all the time so that environmental costs also continue all the time. In
addition there are strong tendencies of private gun and firearms acquisition in several
countries, led by the USA. In the USA the number of private owned guns is more than
the number of people living here, and each gun must have its ammunition too. Even at
world level, the number of bullets produced is more than double the number of people.
Apart from various explosions, oil fires and oil spills can be among the most
polluting aspects of war. Nuclear weapons provide the most extreme example of
destructivity combining explosion, fire, immediate heat followed by extreme cold
conditions, weather-disruption and radioactivity. It is well recognized that an all-out
nuclear war (there are over 13,000 nuclear weapons in the world today) can destroy
almost all life-forms on earth and make the earth unsuitable for further continuation of
life in several ways. However an even more limited nuclear war, involving the use of
about 100 or so nuclear weapons (of the type used in Hiroshima) can also be
devastating for life as we know it. In the words of Eric Schlosser, an eminent writer on
this issue, this can “send five million tons of dust into the atmosphere, shrink the ozone
layer by as much as 50%, drop worldwide temperatures to their lowest point in a
thousand years, create worldwide famines and cause more than a billion casualties.”
Even sabotage activities against perceived hostile forces (without being at open
war) can cause immense environmental harm, as is evident from the recent act of
pipeline sabotage. While this was widely believed to be the work of the USA even
earlier, this perception has become stronger following the recent revelations by eminent
journalist Seymour Hersh. The four ruptures in the Nord Stream Pipelines in the Baltic
Sea on September 26-27 2022 led to the biggest-ever single point leak of methane.
This is extremely harmful in the context of climate change. Methane is a very
potent greenhouse gas (GHG) which is about 80 times more harmful than carbon
dioxide over a period of 20 years. Various estimates say that the Nord Stream sabotage
is likely to lead to 100,000 to 500,000 tonnes of methane emissions. The closest
comparison is with the Aliso Canyon accidental leak in California in 2015-16 which
involved leak of about 97,000 tonnes of methane, but it was spaced over a much longer
period of about four months and so less catastrophic. It was accidental, not an act of
sabotage.
The Danish Energy Agency has stated that in the worst case scenario methane
equivalent to a third of Denmark’s entire GHG emissions in a year (2020) could leak
from the Nord Stream pipelines. Iannis Binietoglou, of Danish Clean Air Task Force has
stated, “It dwarfs the previous known leaks.” Marcia Mcnutt, President of US National
Academy of Sciences has stated, “From what I have seen this is an unprecedented loss
to the atmosphere of fossil methane in a very short time from a concentrated source.”
Manfredi Caltagirone, head of UNEP’s International Methane Emission Observatory
said, “This is really bad…most likely the largest emission event ever recorded.” Prof.
Rob Jackson of environmental studies at Stanford University, USA, has stated, “This will
probably be the largest leak ever, in terms of its rate.”
Huge harm was caused to fish and marine life in the Baltic Sea and the life close
to sea, from the huge explosions, the release of highly inflammable methane
immediately and longer term exposure to benzene, a known carcinogenic, and various
trace chemicals present in natural gas. Human health in nearby areas has been harmed
too. The leak triggered by sabotage is much worse than the routine leaks as in the case
of the more violent and very high velocity leak caused by sabotage and detonations the
environmental harm is much higher.
Another aspect that is becoming important in this debate is that of the increasing
threat of space warfare and its impact on environment. There are clear trends of
extension of superpower rivalry for dominance to outer space. The extent to which
private corporations are being given a big role in the space race, particularly by the
USA, makes a mockery of the great sense of responsibility and careful regulations
needed in all developments relating to human activity in outer space. Although direct
space warfare has not taken place so far, militarization of space has been increasing at
several levels to such an extent that the possibility of space warfare becoming a reality
is now quite high.
Space warfare can take place in several forms. One object placed in space can
attack, destroy, damage or disable another object placed in space by another country. A
missile from earth can destroy a satellite of another country in space. Or a weapon from
space can destroy a target on earth. One such hostile act is likely to lead to one or more
hostile acts by the affected party (if the capacity for retaliation exists) and from here on
the situation can escalate with unknown implications and results too frightening to
comprehend.
These possibilities of warfare will increase as rival powers try to catch up with the
present day dominance of space presence and technology by the USA. A review of
space warfare possibilities published in the Scientific American by Lee Billings said, “As
China and Russia aggressively seek to challenge US superiority in space with ambitious
military space programs of their own, the power struggle risks sparking a conflict that
could cripple the entire planet’s space-based infrastructure. And though it might begin in
space, such a conflict could easily ignite full-blown war on earth.”
The biggest danger will no doubt come if nuclear weapons or other weapons are
also taken to space or used in space. This is of course strongly prohibited by the Outer
Space Treaty but still the risk exists.Over 95 per cent of countries of the world favor a strong demilitarization of space and this has already been reflected in several resolutions of the General Assembly of
the United Nations. But the veto power at the Security Council comes in the way of
strong directions needed for this which are acceptable to big powers.
Dr. Michio Kaku, world renowned physicist has written, “ The weaponisation of
space represents a real threat to the security of everyone on earth. …It will greatly
accelerate a new arms race in space…” In addition there is the increasingly serious
problem of pollution of space and more prominently the earth’s orbit. The first aspect
relates to space debris or space junk. This can be in the form of dysfunctional satellites
or the various junk contributed by them or in the process of launching them. This junk
has been increasing rapidly. The number of debris reported to be under observation is
around 18000 but the number of smaller debris is much higher. The number of debris
longer than 10 cm. is estimated to be around 34000, the debris of the length of 1-10 cm.
is 900000 ( 0.9 million) while the number of debris smaller than 1 cm. is estimated to be
around 128 million. As even very small objects can result in serious collisions in space,
the presence of the smaller debris cannot be ignored.
This number of space debris is set now to increase as never before as the
number of satellites in earth’s orbit is entering a pace of unprecedented escalation. This
will pose many problems for constructive use of satellites for development purposes by
late entering developing countries, apart from increasing the danger of collisions.
The second aspect of space pollution is related to light pollution. This did not
become a very serious issue till recently as long as the pace of sending satellites in
space was within manageable limits but with the very rapid pace seen recently the
situation is changing and the number of satellites in space particularly the lower orbit of
earth are likely to multiply by several times within a decade, according to present
projections. Some senior astronomers have said that astronomy as practiced so far will
be jeopardized badly as it will become difficult to study the space and images as they
have done so far due to this excessive light pollution.
Clearly there is a very urgent need to check militarization of space and pollution
of space but the unfortunate reality is that these problems appear to be getting worse in
recent times. This can also be said about other aspects of militarization and weapons
race on environment—the risks are well-known but still the disturbing trends have gone
unchecked.
It is important to realize that the kind of destruction to life nurturing conditions that
climate change can cause over decades can be caused by nuclear war within a few
days or even within a few hours. Therefore it is very important for environmental
concerns to come closer to peace concerns and these two big concerns, along with the
concerns of justice of course, should be brought together to create a powerful,
sustained people’s peaceful movement for a safer world.
Bharat Dogra is Honorary Convener, Save the Earth NOW Campaign. His recent
books include Man over Machine, Earth without Borders, A Day in 2071, Protecting
Earth for Children and Planet in Peril.
