Environmental impact of war
At Valley Forge in Pennsylvania, for instance, during the winter of 1777-1778, George Washington's Continental Army soldiers cut down more than 127,000 trees in building their crude log huts, causing both short-term and long-term deforestation.
At the Battles of Saratoga in upstate New York on 19 September and 7 October 1777, soldiers fired more than 660,000 lead musket balls, causing some negative environmental effects that persist into the 21st century.
The Union forces had much better medical and hospital facilities, while the supply system failed so often in the Confederacy that for months at a time soldiers marched and fought barefoot, with little medicine available to their overworked doctors.
Enemies found an advantage in remaining invisible by blending into a civilian population or taking cover in dense vegetation and opposing armies which targeted natural ecosystems.
"[6] While the chemical agents gave the US an advantage in wartime efforts, the vegetation was unable to regenerate and it left behind bare mudflats which still existed years after spraying.
"[5] The uncertain long-term effects of these herbicides are now being discovered by looking at modified species distribution patterns through habitat degradation and loss in wetland systems, which absorbed the runoff from the mainland.
[6] The destruction of forests in Vietnam War is one of the most commonly used examples of ecocide, including by Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme, lawyers, historians and other academics.
The war created a massive migration of nearly 2 million Hutus fleeing Rwanda over the course of just a few weeks to refugee camps in Tanzania and now modern day the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Forests were cleared in order to provide wood for building shelters and creating cooking fires:[5] “these people suffered from harsh conditions and constituted an important threat impact to natural resources.”[12] Consequences from the conflict also included the degradation of National Parks and Reserves.
[17] In August 1945, after fighting World War II for almost four years, the United States of America dropped an atomic bomb over the city of Hiroshima in Japan.
About 70,000 people died in the first nine seconds after the bombing of Hiroshima, which was comparable to the death toll which resulted from the devastating Operation Meetinghouse air raid over Tokyo.
Additionally, the Baltic Sea contains a large quantity of unexploded munitions, including land and naval mines from World War II.
[25][26][27] Some American military personnel complained of Gulf War syndrome, typified by symptoms including immune system disorders and birth defects in their children.
[28] The chemicals used in the ecoterrorist attack affected the shore line of Saudi Arabia, completely destroying it from what it was, and all of the natural resources that were filled within 34 kilometers become contaminated, with visible damages that are apparent to this day.
An estimated 10,000 civilians and insurgents in Malaya also suffered from the effects of defoliants, though many historians agreed it was likely more than 10,000 given that Agent Orange was used on a large scale in the Malayan Emergency and unlike the U.S., the British government manipulated the numbers and kept its deployment a secret in fear of a negative backlash from foreign nations.
Long term exposure to Agent Orange would result in changes in the local, urbanization development, agricultural, industrial lifestyle and so many other factors that sustain the environment.
Long term exposure to Agent Orange has proven to have evolutionary properties to exposed wild animals, as well as modify their genetic DNA, all the while being able to spread throughout lakes, rivers, and forest terrains.
In the case of the United States of America, numerous residents of Nevada as well as the Marshall Islands have received much larger doses of radiation from the nuclear armaments testing that has taken place there.
[61] Yet, U.S. DoD studies using cultured cells and laboratory rodents continue to suggest the possibility of leukemogenic, genetic, reproductive, and neurological effects from chronic exposure.
[57] In addition, the UK Pensions Appeal Tribunal Service in early 2004 attributed birth defect claims from a February 1991 Gulf War combat veteran to depleted uranium poisoning.
[70] Open air burn pits are still used today by military forces as well as civilian populations in places that do not have adequate solid waste disposal services.
[21] The targeting of oil fields and refineries also impacts the atmosphere, with large amounts of carbon dioxide as well as sulphur, mercury, and dioxins being released.
[72] Scholars and institutions like the International Peace Bureau are now increasingly calling for a more holistic approach to security, particularly including an emphasis on the interconnections and interdependencies that exist between humans and the environment.
[73][72][74][75] Not only can war be destructive to the socioenvironment, but military activities produce extensive amounts of greenhouse gases (that contribute to anthropogenic climate change), pollution, and cause resource depletion, among other environmental impacts.
[77] There are also reported impacts on animal behaviour that can cause sublethal fitness costs, with greater spotted eagles flying up to an additional 250 km on migration to avoid areas of conflict in Ukraine.
[78] During the Tigray war of 2020, it was reported over 12 million cattle, goats, donkeys, and other animals were caught in the crossfire and killed, as well as over a billion dollars worth of damages.
[72] Armed forces from around the world were responsible for the emission of two thirds of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) that were banned in the 1987 Montreal Protocol for causing damage to the ozone layer.
[96] As fossil fuel deposits are not evenly distributed around the world, this could lead to a greater push for renewable energy forms as these are typically easier to domestically produce and are not as susceptible to the global economy.
Additionally, the war in Ukraine will likely produce a very large amount of Carbon Dioxide emissions due to high fossil fuel usage for military purposes.
[97] In 2023, many Asian countries have been forced to return to using coal to keep up with energy demands caused by the heat wave in the region, due to the European boycott of Russian oil reducing the availability of liquefied natural gas (LNG).
