Transcript Document

Social and
Environmental
Impacts of
Militarism
Arthur H. Westing, 1971
Military Spending
The Nobel Peace Prize-winner and former
President of Costa Rica, Dr Oscar Arias, has
called military spending “the single most
significant perversion of global priorities.”
World military spending:
US $798 billion in 2000.
• 5%- basic social services for whole world.
• 10%- an income above the poverty line for
everybody on the planet.
• <1%- every child on Earth educated.
• 50% of governments spend more on
military than on health care.
• 70% of US arms sales are to developing
countries.
• Weapons spending in Afghanistan over 3
years could have built 400 rural hospitals,
or educated 200,000 children.
Military vs. environmental spending:
• Military budgets vs. total investment in the
environment
– US >11:1.
– Canada >8:1.
• Extremely conservative figures- some estimates
result in ratios of 48:1 and 21:1, respectively.
Cost of global human need programs
Annual cost in Percent of current
billion dollars
military spending
Provide safe clean water
50
6.4
Retire developing
nation’s debt
30
3.8
Provide shelter
21
19
2.7
2.4
15
10.5
1.9
1.3
5
150.5
0.6
19.1
Eliminate starvation and
malnourishment
Provide health care
Stabilize population
Eliminate illiteracy
TOTAL
Cost of global environment programs
Annual cost in Percent of
billion dollars
current military
spending
Provide energy efficiency
33
4.2
Prevent soil erosion
Provide renewable energy
24
17
3.1
2.2
Prevent acid rain
8
1.0
Prevent global warming
Stop ozone depletion
8
7
5
1.0
0.9
0.6
TOTAL
102.0
13.0
Stop deforestation
Every gun that is made, every warship
launched, every rocket fired, signifies in a
final sense a theft from those who hunger
and are not fed- those who are cold and not
clothed.
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Environmental impacts of
militarism during “peacetime”
Land requirements
• Direct military “peacetime” land use750,000 - 1.5 million square km.
• US and former Soviet Union- 2% of land
territory.
• Western Europe- 1-3%.
Land requirements
When Kazakhstan was a Soviet republic,
more land was devoted to military purposes
than to growing wheat.
Airspace requirements
• USA- 30%-50% of airspace used militarily.
• Canada’s Goose Bay is the world’s most
extensive airspace.
• Much of military flying is low level- 20% in
the US.
Low level & supersonic flights
• Dangerous and detrimental to health.
– Acute hearing damage.
– Disturbance of intestinal tract and other organs.
• Disturbs the migration and feeding
behaviour of caribou herds
• Canada ignores protests of the Innu about
the illegal use of their land.
Military energy consumption
• F-15 jet- 908 L fuel/minute at peak thrust.
• F-16 jet- fuel/hour is 2X the annual
consumption of an average motorist.
• F-4 Phantom fighter/bomber- 6,359 L
fuel/hour.
– Supersonic speeds increase fuel consumption
by 20X.
• Battleship- 10,810 L fuel/hour.
Military energy consumption
• 3/4 of energy is petroleum products.
• Account for 1/4 of world’s jet fuel.
• US Defence- 37 million tons of oil/year.
– The Pentagon is the single largest domestic
consumer.
• Globally, more petroleum is used than
Japan- the worlds second largest economyrequires for all of its purposes.
Air pollution and
global climate change
• Emissions from military operations- 6-10%
of global air pollution.
• 1988 Pentagon activities- 46 million tons of
carbon, 3.5% of US total.
• More work is needed to determine military
contribution to climate change.
Toxic contamination
Ex-Soviet Union bases extremely
contaminated.
– Central Bohemia- toxic concentrations in
groundwater 30-50X allowable levels.
– 6% of Czech and Slovak territory
polluted or despoiled.
– 10% of East German territory despoiled.
Toxic contamination
• 96 US bases on the Superfund National
Priorities list. Up to 1000 more sites may
be added.
• Germany spends $700 million/year on
military related environmental cleanup.
• Environmental destruction is certain to be
the most lasting legacy of the cold war.
Nuclear weapons facilities
• Hanford: waste leaked from underground
tanks= 50 nuclear bombs.
• Rocky Flats: plutonium accumulated in
ventilation ducts= 7 nuclear bombs.
• Radioactive wastes dumped by a Soviet
Union facility found in the Arctic Ocean,
1000 miles away.
Radiation health effects
• Radiation causes leukemia, multiple
myeloma, brain tumours, thyroid disorders,
sterility, miscarriages and birth defects.
• Many scientists believe that there is no safe
level of radiation exposure.
Low frequency sonar
• System developed by US Navy to track
submarines.
• Produces very loud sounds- 235 dB.
– Can injure, deafen and even kill cetaceans and
other marine life.
• Disturbs whale communication and
navigation- interferes with acoustic signals.
Environmental impacts
of warfare
General impacts
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Destruction of human habitat.
Destruction of agricultural land and vegetation.
Adverse effects on wildlife.
Possible elimination of species.
Cratering of land.
Disruption of entire ecosystems.
• Can persist for decades.
Vietnam
Arthur H. Westing, 1970
Mangrove forest
destroyed by bombs
Explosives and herbicides
• 14 million tons of high explosives used.
– 20 million bomb craters covering 200,000
acres.
– Craters create breeding grounds for malariacarrying mosquitoes.
• 72 million litres of herbicides sprayed over
35% of South Vietnam.
– Agent Orange- 61% of herbicide volume.
Impacts
• Widespread debilitation of land.
• Decimation of terrestrial wildlife.
• Losses of freshwater fish.
• Elevated levels of dioxin in soil, food,
wildlife and human breast milk and adipose
tissue.
Agent Orange in Vietnam
Before…
Agent Orange Files
…and after
Agent Orange Files
Arthur H. Westing, 1971
Persian Gulf
McCurry, 1991
Oil fires and spills
• February 1991- 752 oil well fires ignited in
Kuwait.
• 35-150 million barrels spilled over 60% of
Kuwait’s surface.
• 4 oil spills into the northern Gulf Sea.
– 4 million barrels of oil spilled.
– 500 km coastline and hundreds of km2 of water
covered.
Air pollution
• Fumes from >1 million barrels.
• 10X more air pollution than all US
industrial/power plants.
• SOx and NOx - created acid rain.
• Toxic particulates- adverse effects on crops
and livestock.
• Affected weather in Hawaii and
Bangladesh.
Contamination
• Pools of oil continue to contaminate air, soil
and groundwater.
• 40% of Kuwait’s fresh water reserves
contaminated.
• 50 million m3 of soil contaminated.
• Depleted uranium will pollute Iraq for many
years.
Costs
• Environmental damage estimated at over 40
billion dollars.
• Contamination of terrestrial ecosystems
reached a scale unprecedented in the history
of the planet.
Former Yugoslavia
BBC, 1999
Water contamination
• Surface water contamination from damaged
industrial plants and poorly planned refugee
camps.
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PCBs
petroleum products
ammonia
ethylene dichloride
hydrogen chloride
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hydrogen fluoride,
nitrous acid
sulphuric acid
heavy metals
sewage
Air pollution
• Air pollution and acid rains resulting from
damage to industrial facilities.
– depleted uranium
– chlorine oxides
– vinyl chloride
monomers (10,600X
permitted levels)
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SOx
NOx
chlorocarbons
hydrofluoric acid
heavy metals
fine particulates
Other impacts
• Degraded agricultural land.
• Disturbance of wildlife in habitats and
migration routes.
• Many protected areas directly impacted by
conflict and/or damaged by refugee camps.
• Environment has low priority in
reconstruction processes.
Afghanistan
BBC, 2001
BBC, 2001
Impacts
• Bombing is destroying already severely
depleted forests.
• Refugee crisis causing irreversible damage.
• Contamination from weapons.
– Depleted uranium, cyclonite and rocket
propellants containing perchlorates.
Wildlife impacts
• Rugged mountain habitat being destroyed,
threatening large mammals.
• Increased poaching- pressure on rare
species.
• Migratory bird routes disturbed.
– Siberian crane migration has dropped 85%.
Environmental impact of
refugees
BBC, 2001
Refugee impact
• Global estimates: 17 million refugees and
25 million internally displaced persons.
• Inadequate infrastructure and resources in
receiving territories.
– Exacerbate existing environmental problems.
– Accelerate soil degradation and desertification.
– Cause deforestation, waste accumulation and
water contamination.
Environmental protection
• Bern Protocols I and II of 1977
• Haven’t received widespread formal
acceptance.
• Need a multilateral treaty committing
nations to ensure that their activities do not
damage the environment.
Some good news
• Public pressure is beginning to change
military attitude towards environment.
• Military facilities and operations now face
stricter legislation.
“A world that wants to make peace with the
environment cannot continue to fight wars
or to sacrifice human health and earth’s
ecosystems preparing for them.”
Michael Renner
Questions?