Save Our Shrapnel

Introduction

Massive loss of life usually occurs during war, and we also take for granted the devastating environmental impact of war. Please spare a second thought for it on the International Day of Peace on September 21st. There’s hope, but we must act now.

How do we define war?

“War, what is it good for?” “Absolutely nothing!” Edwin Starr’s 1969 hit single still rings true today, but let’s be honest, there has never really been a time in human history when we were not launching something at each other: from rocks to boulders, from arrows to spears, from boomerangs to catapults… Historically, war was principally fought over control of resources such as water, food, trade routes, etc. Of course, there have been many other reasons including religion, personal vendettas, political conflict, or ideology such as communism or fascism. Nowadays though, we seem to fight over Gold, Oil or Drugs and  the Military-Industrial complex has a lot to answer for in terms of environmental disasters: from lead bullets to depleted uranium ammunition, from bombs to missiles, from grenades to rockets, from Agent Orange to DDT, from naval mines to land mines, from tanks to APCs, from drones to fighters, from submarines to aircraft carriers, and the list could go on and on… You cannot have a war if the enemy cannot defend themselves, right? That would be a massacre, so both sides are usually armed by the same unscrupulous companies. Apart from this being a humanitarian disaster in itself, from an environmental point of view the impact of the use of these weapons of mass destruction is disastrous for the environment, because these machines and weapons were never designed with ecology in mind, nor are the long term impacts of their use considered until long afterwards.

What happens in war (and what should not)?

War has always meant a great waste of money, resources and lives. As a matter of fact, the United States military has bases in nearly every other country and spends around $700 billion every year, which is almost as much as all of the other countries combined. That means every living American pays more than $2,100 per year in taxes to maintain it, which could obviously be much better used for education, welfare or health care. During its 245 year history (since 1776), the US military has been at war for 228 years, and their carbon emissions alone would make it the 47th most polluting country in the world. Modern warfare has also weaponized technology on the battlefield with a wide array of supposedly “smart devices”, like guided bombs, unmanned drones, etc. Music has also been weaponized for many years too, most famously celebrated in Vietnam War films where helicopters fly in low playing loud music to frighten the locals, not to mention its use in modern torture where heavy metal is played loudly to prisoners. Cyber warfare is also a hot topic as countries battle each other with cyber attacks, fake news and even election interference via social media platforms. Controversy surrounds satellite and mobile phone networks (including 5G), as surveillance is increasing worldwide under the guise of improving telecommunications. Conspiracy theories  will continue to circulate as long as scientific reports concerning safety and testing continue to be mostly inconclusive, but many governments are still allowing companies to install masts approximately 300 metres apart. We should not forget militarized crowd control via Active Denial Systems, which use very powerful directed 5G technology. Sadly, I envision a future similar to that of the “Terminator” films.

What happens after war?

Once the warring is over, and the casualties of war have been counted, a real environmental disaster begins to unfold. The war machinery is often simply abandoned on the battlefield, or worse, finds its way into the hands of rebels and terrorist organizations, often plunging the war-torn country into civil war. We are talking about tonnes and tonnes of expendable equipment, ammunition, fuel, oil, clothing, food, etc, and I do not recall seeing too many clean up operations to remove the junk left behind. Farmers often return to their lands and their livelihoods after all this and find them, oh, and maybe land mines! That is, farmers, their children and their livestock discover them even years after they were deployed (In 1997, the Ottawa Treaty banned them and almost all countries accepted, except the USA, Russia, China and a few others). Old unstable ammunition, grenades and bombs are regularly pulled out of battlefields and many old farm workers report shrapnel wounds. I even found an old grenade buried in my garden, and the police bomb squad had to come and destroy it. Cities that were carpet-bombed, like London, Dresden, Rotterdam, Saigon, etc unearth unexploded bombs more often than we can imagine (Fortunately, that practice was outlawed in 1977). They may also be unlucky to find that biological warfare or chemical weapons have been used, although most of these are banned too, and recently, white phosphorus and depleted uranium ammunition were used in Syria. Vietnam is still suffering from the after effects of DDT, Agent Orange and Napalm. Anyway, this contaminates the soil and water making farming virtually impossible, causing crop failures, and people and their animals to get sick and die. Nuclear weapons have only ever been used in war by one country and its effects are still being felt in Japan today. Since 1945, at least 2,624 devices have been detonated, and radiation levels are rising all over the globe. Radioactivity is leaking into the sea from several sources (including old nuclear submarines, radioactive material dumping grounds, Bikini Atoll testing and disasters like Fukushima and Three Mile Island). This is spreading worldwide in ocean currents, probably causing wildlife to develop cancer, mutate or worse, and obviously, human health is probably affected too. So, there you were thinking sharks were bad, but they are not the only dangerous thing at sea, as naval mines are constantly being discovered around coastlines like that of Great Britain, and much like land mines in Afghanistan and Korea, nobody knows for sure how many were made, or even where they were deployed. Fishermen often pull them up in their nets and they often break away from their moorings, finding their way to shipping channels or beaches and their delicate condition means they explode easily, causing havoc, but that is, after all, what they were designed to do in the first place.

How does humanity benefit from war?

Peace (Relative): It is difficult to say we benefit, because war is tragic, but historically the winner of a war got the spoils. Nowadays, the threat of war diminishes the threat of war actually occurring, because we have come to a stage with the evolution of weaponry that we could destroy our entire planet in a matter of minutes.

How to Save Our Shrapnel?

Individually: We must try to find diplomatic solutions to all types of conflict, and violence should be the very last resort, not the first.

Collectively, including Governments: We have to hold those accountable for violent crimes, which occurs frequently and especially during war. The Geneva Convention protects the rights of civilians and soldiers alike.

Unpopular opinion: We should stop invading other countries for their resources, oh, and then abandoning them at a moment’s notice after we have “pillaged their village”. It makes us no better than the Vikings. We have been warring over GOD (Gold, Oil, Drugs) for too long now, but I imagine we will soon start fighting over fresh water and land for growing crops as Climate change wreaks havoc on the planet, so protecting it from further environmental disasters and cleaning up our mess must be top priorities.

 

Disclaimer: Whilst every effort has been made to check the veracity of the information contained within, certain limitations could result in not all data being current or completely accurate. Please feel free to contact us if you feel particular data needs updating.

Save Our Shrapnel Test

Here are 10 questions...

How it started

How it's going

SOSquiz Glossary of Terms (with links to Wikipedia)

 

5G technology

6th mass extinction (Holocene Extinction)

Abyss

Active Denial System

Activism

Adolescence

Ad hominem

Ad Populum

AEEA (Asociación Española de Educación Ambiental)

Agent Orange

Agrochemical industry

Alcoholism

Algal bloom

Algorithm

Alzheimer’s disease

Animal testing

Anorexia nervosa

Anxiety

Arable land

ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network)

Artefact

Asbestos

Atmosphere

Atmosphere of Earth

Atmospheric methane

Bacteria

Bad faith

Bank

Battlefield

Begging the question

Bill Gates

Biological warfare

Bisphenol-A

Bitcoin

Black carbon

Black sites

Blue whale

Body piercing

Bot

Bottom trawling

Brain

Burden of proof

Burnout

Cancer

Carbon

Carbon Dioxide (CO2)

Carbon dioxide in Earth’s atmosphere

Carbon Footprint

Carbon Monoxide (CO)

Carcinogen

Carpet bombing

Casualty of war

Central Nervous System

Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

Cetaceans

Challenger Deep

Chemical weapon

Chemotherapy

Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs)

Civil war

Climate change

Clinical Psychology

Clothing

Clothing Industry

Coastal erosion

Coastline

Cockroach

Common sense

Communism

Computer network

Conservation

Conspiracy theory

Consumerism

Contamination

Controversy

Copy and paste

Coral bleaching

Coronavirus (Covid-19 or SARS Cov-2)

Corruption

Cosmetics

Cosmetic Industry

Covid-19

COVID-19 recession

Cyber attack

Cyber warfare

Dark Web

DDT

Dead zone

Deepwater Horizon

Deep sea mining

Deforestation

Dementia

Depleted Uranium

Depression

Developed countries

Developing country

Dietician

Doctor

Domestic violence

Drinking water

Drought

Drunk driving

E number

Earth

Earth Overshoot Day

Eating disorders

Education

Eco-anxiety

Eco-friendly

Ecology

Economic sanctions

Economy

Ecosystem

Electric motor

Electric vehicle

Electromagnetic radiation

Electronic Waste

Elon Musk

Energy industry

Engine Efficiency

Environment

Environmental Disaster

Environmental education

Environmental impact of war

Environmental Issues

Environmental Report

European Union

Experience

Extinction

Extreme weather

Factory

Fallacy

False Dilemma

FAQ

Farmer

Fascism

Fast fashion

Fast food

Fauna

Fertilizers

Fibre

Fight Club

Fight or flight response

Flood

Flora

Food additive

Food allergy

Food industry

Food wastage

Food-drying

Forbes

Formaldehyde

Fossil fuel

Fossil fuel industry

Fracking

Free content

Friends of the Earth

Fungicide

Gross Domestic Product (GDP)

Geneva Convention

Global dimming

Global warming

Glyphosate

Government

Great Barrier Reef

Greenhouse effect

Greenhouse gas

Greenpeace

Greenwashing

Greta Thunberg

Groundwater

Guided bombs

Habitat destruction

Hasty Generalizations

Healthy diet

Heavy metals

Herbicide

Holocene Extinction

Horsepower

Human digestive system

Human impact on the environment

Humanitarian disaster

Humanity

Hybrid vehicle

Hydrothermal vent

Infectious Diseases

Infertility

Insecticide

Intensive farming

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)

Internal combustion engine (ICE)

International waters

Internet

Internet forums

Internet service providers (ISP)

Internet Troll

IPCC’s 6th Report

Knot

Lady Elliot Island

Land mine

Landfill

Larvacides

Lead poisoning

Lead–acid battery

Leather

Leather tanning

Light pollution

List of fallacies

Livestock

Long Covid

Luxury goods

Magnetic nanoparticles

Malnutrition

Marine diesel oil

Marine pollution

Massacre

Meat Industry

Mesothelioma

Microbiome

Microplastics

Microsoft

Mid-ocean ridge

Migration

Military-Industrial complex

Mindfulness

Mining

Mood disorders

Mooring

Museum

Napalm

NASA

National Geographic

National Security Agency (NSA)

Nature

Nature (Journal)

Neonicotinoid

NOAA

Noise pollution

NOx

Nuclear power

Nuclear weapons

Ocean acidification

Oceanography

Organic farming

Overfishing

Ozone

Ozone layer

Palm oil

Parabens

Parkinson’s disease

Particulate Matter (PM 10, 2.5 & UFP)

Peripheral

Peripheral Nervous System

Pesticide

Petroleum Industry

Petroleum Jelly

Pharmaceutical industry

Photosynthesis

Phthalates

Phytoplankton

Plastic

Plastic pollution

Plate tectonics

Plogging

Pollution

Polypropylene

Pornography

Post hoc

Poultry

Poverty

Precipitation

Preservative

Pressure

Prestige

Psychological impact of climate change

Psychotic disorders

Quality of life (QOL)

Quiz

Radiation

Rechargeable electric battery

Recycling

Renewable energy

Retail therapy

Road traffic safety

Sailing Yacht A

Salinity

Saliva

Sea

Sea level rise

Seabed

Seawater

Seawise Giant

Sensitive skin

Shelf life

Shoemaker

Shrapnel

Skin

Sleep

Social media

Soil

Soil erosion

Solar power

Soviet submarine K-222

Speed

Stomach

Straw man

Stress

Suicide

Surfers Against Sewage

Surveillance

Sustainable Fashion

Synapse

Synthetic fibres

Taboo

Talc

Tang Ping

Tattoo

Tectonic plates

TED (conferences)

Territorial waters

Tesla, Inc

Textile Industry

The Lancet (Journal)

The Matrix

Tornado

Toxic waste

Transport

Trivia

Troposphere

Ultrafine particles (UFP)

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO)

Unmanned drones

Urban Heat island

Urban sprawl

Vaquita

Vendetta

Victoria

Volcano

Wall Street

War

Wastewater

Water table

Water vapour

Weapon

Weapons of mass destruction

Weather

Western world

White phosphorus

Wildfire

Wildlife

Wireless radiation

World Health Organization (WHO)

World Oceans Day

World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF)

World Wide Web (www)

“Year without a summer”

Zooplankton