War and sustainability. Two words that cannot go together. One is focused on ruthlessly destroying, and the other is focused on keeping it alive despite everything. But this does not prevent the two concepts from having a vital connection with each other.
Humanity continues to threaten its own existence with its unbridled greed and ruthlessness. Let alone talking 20, 30 or 50 years from now, we are discussing how we will protect our basic right to life today, thanks to psychopaths all over the world who make fatal decisions for humanity with these primitive instincts.
Yes, it might sound silly to talk about wars in terms of sustainability while people are dying. But in fact, isn’t it time to talk about the most devastating issue, such as war, on the axis of sustainability?
War has a critical and existential importance on the axis of sustainability, especially for the protection and continuation of human life. If we call sustainability the aim of providing a healthy future for all humanity, then war is basically the subject of the subject; that is, a concept that directly refers to people and their lives.
Atomic bomb brutality!
In 1945, at the end of the Second World War, nuclear weapons were used for the first time in Japan. A uranium bomb called Little Boy was dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, followed by a plutonium bomb called Fat Man on Nagasaki on August 9.
The initial impact of the atomic bombs was a blinding light accompanied by a giant heat wave. Dry combustibles caught fire, and all people and animals within half a mile of the explosion sites died instantly. Many structures collapsed. Even structures designed to withstand earthquakes were blown up in Nagasaki. Many water lines are broken. The fires could not be extinguished due to water shortages, and six weeks after the explosion, the city was still without water.
A series of small fires in Hiroshima combined with the wind to create a firestorm. Within days of the explosions, radiation sickness began to show its ugly face. Many more people would die from it in the years that followed.
100,000 people died instantly in Hiroshima, and 40,000 in Nagasaki. In the following years, the number of people who died from radiation exceeded 300,000.
The explosions caused air pollution from dust particles and radioactive debris flying around and fires burning everywhere. Many plants and animals were destroyed in the explosion or died within minutes of the radioactive precipitation.
The radioactive sands clogging the wells used to obtain drinking water caused an insoluble drinking water problem. Surface water sources were contaminated, especially with radioactive waste. Agricultural production suffered.
In a nutshell, animals and the environment, along with humans, died or suffered great damage.
The scars of the war in Vietnam still exist!
During the Vietnam War, a massive herbicide program was implemented to break the forest cover that housed the guerrillas and deprive Vietnamese villagers of food.
Vietnam lost 1.5 million of its citizens and a third of its territory as a result of poisoning. A chemical called Agent Orange, applied between 1962 and 1971, was particularly harmful. An estimated half a million children are born with dioxin-related abnormalities. Agent Orange continues to threaten the health of Vietnamese people today.
While the Americans left 58 thousand dead in the region, a significant part of the soldiers who returned to their country from Vietnam after the war experienced problems that went up to suicide.
Congo Civil War and massacres!
In the former Zaire, known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Congo civil war took place. More than 3 million people died, mostly from disease and starvation. More than 2 million people became refugees. Only half of the people had access to clean drinking water. Many women were raped. This led to the rapid spread of sexually transmitted diseases such as HIV-AIDS.
Refugees began hunting endangered wildlife to feed and sell. Elephant populations in Africa have drastically declined as a result of ivory hunting. A survey by the WWF showed that the hippo population in a national park had dropped from 29,000 thirty years ago to just 900 in 2005. UNESCO has listed all five parks as ‘world heritage sites in danger’.
The shame list of humanity is growing!
There have been many wars in the world at different times, in different geographies and for hollow reasons that ended in tragedy, and unfortunately they continue to be lived. On the one hand, humanity pushing the upper limits of its civilization with technological developments, on the other hand, cannot give up its most primitive ‘killing’ instinct.
For a sustainable and healthy future, humanity must first prevent this madness (and those who are crazed) within itself.
So, #NoToWar in all circumstances and conditions!
Sources
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnam_War
https://www.lenntech.com/environmental-effects-war.htm
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/nov/06/whats-the-environmental-impact-of-modern-war
https://www.un.org/en/observances/environment-in-war-protection-day
