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 billion dollars

Percent of current military spending

Provide safe clean water 50 6.4

Retire developing nation’s debt

30 3.8

Provide shelter 21 2.7

Eliminate starvation and malnourishment

19 2.4

Provide health care 15 1.9

Stabilize population 10.5 1.3

Eliminate illiteracy 5 0.6

TOTAL 150.5 19.1

Cost of global environment programs

Annual cost in billion dollars

Percent of current military spending

Provide energy efficiency 33 4.2

Prevent soil erosion 24 3.1

Provide renewable energy 17 2.2

Prevent acid rain 8 1.0

Prevent global warming 8 1.0

Stop deforestation 7 0.9

Stop ozone depletion 5 0.6

TOTAL 102.0 13.0

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”

• Direct military “peacetime” land use- 750,000 - 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.

Land requirements

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 economy- requires 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

• 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

Mangrove forest destroyed by bombs

Arthur H

. Westing, 1970

• 14 million tons of high explosives used.– 20 million bomb craters covering 200,000

acres.– Craters create breeding grounds for malaria-

carrying mosquitoes.

• 72 million litres of herbicides sprayed over 35% of South Vietnam. – Agent Orange- 61% of herbicide volume.

Explosives and herbicides

• 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.

Impacts

Agent Orange in Vietnam

Before…

Agent O

range Files

…and after

Arthur H. Westing, 1971Agent Orange Files

Persian Gulf

McC

urry, 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.

• 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.

Air pollution

• 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.

Contamination

• Environmental damage estimated at over 40 billion dollars.

• Contamination of terrestrial ecosystems reached a scale unprecedented in the history of the planet.

Costs

Former Yugoslavia

BB

C, 1999

– PCBs– petroleum products– ammonia– ethylene dichloride – hydrogen chloride

– hydrogen fluoride, – nitrous acid– sulphuric acid– heavy metals – sewage

• Surface water contamination from damaged industrial plants and poorly planned refugee camps.

Water contamination

– depleted uranium– chlorine oxides – vinyl chloride

monomers (10,600X permitted levels)

– SOx – NOx

– chlorocarbons– hydrofluoric acid – heavy metals– fine particulates

• Air pollution and acid rains resulting from damage to industrial facilities.

Air pollution

• 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.

Other impacts

Afghanistan

BB

C, 2001

BB

C, 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

BB

C, 2001

• 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.

Refugee impact

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?