[ Kirki Ori ]
Clean environment
We are born not to fight and not to suffer out of stress and illness. We are to live a happy life on this Earth with our families, friends, relatives, and society. Many people suffer due to their negligence and inborn habits; some people do not know even what is happy and the value of life and few people manage to live a happy life.
The most important factor of happiness is wellness. Everybody wants to live a healthy life and put effort to get it. But there are so many factors that are beyond one’s control, such as the environment. The air, water, climate, and societies are the environment around us to govern our health and happiness.
Therefore, a clean environment is a vital need of time and every one of us must put an optimum effort to achieve a clean environment for the wellness of all on Earth.
Impacts of war on environment
Modern war is the most hazardous inhuman activity that degrades the quality of air, water, and atmosphere, leading to overall environmental pollution. During the war lakhs of barrels of oils are consumed daily by fighter aircraft, missiles, guns, tanks and military vehicles. The atmosphere is covered with a cloud of hydrocarbon and the sound of arms. The debris of damaged arms, vehicles, and buildings is seen all around. The system fails and an anarchy-like situation prevails with excessive military rule and command. Life is paralysed, peace disappears, and happiness vanishes. Fresh air remains a distant dream.
The environment suffering from a war is due to the series of activities from preparation to completion and post-war impacts. The series of impacts of wars on the environment are categorised into three sections for better understanding by the readers. They are pre-war impacts, impacts during the war, and post-war impacts.
Pre-war impacts
A war needs preparation, readiness, and proper planning. In modern warfare, manufacturing of sophisticated weapons, aircraft and military vehicles is given more stress than that to the human force. The process of manufacturing requires more industry and factories, which requires more sources of energy. Testing of weapons, including chemicals and nuclear weapons, is causing tremendous pollution due to the release of more carbon dioxide and other toxic pollutants that affect respiratory and human skin. Apart from human disharmony, aquatic life as well as flora and fauna are greatly harmed. In brief, the search for energy resources is degrading the environment to a great extent.
Impacts during the war
Sophisticated weapons like missiles, guns, aircraft and vehicles all release toxic as well as greenhouse gases into the environment. Vast quantities of fuel are burnt to lead to a release of massive carbon dioxide during high-intensity fighting with modern weapons. Excessive movement of military vehicles and bombing/shelling can lead to maximum damage to the landscape, irrigation channels, water supply lines, and wells. It is not easy to quantify exactly how much carbon dioxide is released during a war, due to restrictions on the movement of civilians and unavailability of experts during the war and the breakdown of the system.
Depleted uranium, the source of radioactive substance, is being used in bullets, bombs, tanks, counterweights, and penetrators on missiles, anti-personnel mines, and other weapons. The most effective conventional anti-tank weapons are designed to penetrate tank armour and produce radiation effects to disable the tank crews.
PFAS substances which are injurious to human health are used as fire extinguisher foam during the war and in many chemical industries as surface protectors. The PFAS may cause cancer and other medical problems due to its property to break down slowly.
Ukraine-Russia war
The Ukraine-Russia war that broke out on 24 February, 2022, is the latest modern war in progress. The latest developed weapons are being used to destroy the enemy. The interrupted weapons backup from the NATO countries has made Ukraine capable of pulling the war for a longer period. The longer the war, the more will be the environmental degradation.
Ukraine is one of the largest grain export countries in the world. Due to a prolonged war, the grain production in the country may slow down and the world may face grain scarcity. The Chernobyl nuclear plant, which generates 1,000 mw of electricity, is already in Ukraine. Therefore, Ukraine is already a radioactive-dense region. If the nuclear power plant is a bomb, more radioactive substances will be exposed to the environment.
Post-war impacts
Weapons and other war materials used during a war leave environmental legacies to a great extent. The cluster of arms and other explosive remnants of war can access soils and water sources with metals and toxic materials. The large volumes of military scrap left can pollute and contaminate soils and groundwater, which may cause acute and chronic health risks to the workers. Wrecked or damaged submarines and offshore oil refineries may cause marine pollution. The radioactive substance from depleted uranium is toxic to humans and other aquatic life. Highly inflammable weapons such as white phosphorous are not only toxic but can also damage habitats through fire. Due to war, the system breaks down, due to which proper waste disposal cannot not be resorted to for many months, even extending to a year or more. The local environmental laws and regulations are ignored, and the administrations may lose their capacity to monitor, assess, or respond to environmental problems. As such, many environmental guidelines and obligations are not addressed, leading to conflicts.
Conclusion
War is a manmade disaster that degrades the quality of environment with life on Earth. As such, the very objective of human peace and tranquillity is defeated and the global happiness index is greatly lowered. Hence the world leaders should be educated diplomatically to opt for India’s policy of peace and nonviolence. (Dr Kirki Ori is an environmental engineer.)
