OMNI
UN
INTERNATIONAL DAY FOR PREVENTING the Exploitation of the Environment in War and
Armed Conflict
November
6, 2015
Compiled
by Dick Bennett for a Culture of Peace, Justice, and Ecology
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Contents
UN Environment Day Google Search, November 6, 2015
Two Films by Alice and Lincoln Day
Documentary, Scarred
Lands
Documentary, What Are
We Leaving Behind in Iraq
Four Books
Sanders, The Green
Zone, Iraq War and Environment, 2009
Paskal, Global
Warring, 2009
Parenti,
Climate Change and the New Geography of Violence, 2011
Chomsky and Polk, Nuclear
War and Environmental Catastrophe, 2013
Recent Newsletters
FOR’s Dai Dong
International
Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed
Conflict
6 November
6 November
"We must use all of the tools at our
disposal, from dialogue and mediation to preventive diplomacy, to keep the
unsustainable exploitation of natural resources from fueling and financing
armed conflict and destabilizing the fragile foundations of peace."
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
Abandoned war utilities in South Sudan. Photo
credit: United Nations Environment Programme Disasters & Conflicts
Sub-Programme
On 5 November 2001, the UN General Assembly
declared 6 November of each year as the International Day for Preventing the
Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict (A/RES/56/4).
Though mankind has always counted its war
casualties in terms of dead and wounded soldiers and civilians, destroyed
cities and livelihoods, the environment has often remained the unpublicized
victim of war.Water wells have been polluted, crops torched, forests cut down,
soils poisoned, and animals killed to gain military advantage.
Furthermore, the United Nations
Environment Programme (UNEP) has found that over the last 60
years, at least 40 percent of all internal conflicts have been linked to the
exploitation of natural resources, whether high-value resources such as timber,
diamonds, gold and oil, or scarce resources such as fertile land and water.
Conflicts involving natural resources have also been found to be twice as
likely to relapse.
Upcoming reports and
highlights
The United Nations attaches great importance
to ensuring that action on the environment is part of conflict prevention,peacekeeping and peacebuilding strategies
- because there can be no durable peace if the natural resources that sustain
livelihoods and ecosystems are destroyed.
www.un.org/en/.../environmentconflictday/documents.sht...
United Nations
International Day for Preventing the
Exploitation of the Environment in War and ... in War and Armed Conflict; Statements made by members of the UN General ...
www.un.org/en/.../environmentconflictday/.../sgmessage.s...
United Nations
Nov 6, 2014 - International Day for Preventing the
Exploitation of the Environment in War and ... has long been a silent casualty of war and armed conflict.
www.timeanddate.com ›
... › Holidays › UN Holidays
Time and Date
The United Nations' (UN) International Day for
Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict is annually held on November 6. It
aims ...
https://en.wikipedia.org/.../International_Day_for_Preventing_...
Wikipedia
The International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the
Environment in War and Armed Conflict was established on November 5, 2001 by the United Nations ...
www.unep.org/.../details_view.a...
United Nations
Environment Programme
United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) logo ...
Title : International Day for
Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict.
www.unric.org/...un.../27126-international-day-for-preventing-th...
UNRIC
Nov 6, 2011 - United Nations Regional Information Centre for Western
Europe ... theExploitation of the
Environment in War and Armed Conflict (6 November)
www.earthtimes.org/.../preventing-exploitation-environment-war-armed-...
Nov 6, 2012 - In almost any conflict the environment will suffer, but
traditionally this has drawn little attention. ... the Exploitation of the Environment in War and
Armed Conflict ... On 5th November
2001 the UN General Assembly passed a ...
https://www.facebook.com/International-Day-for-Preventing-the-Exploit...
35 likes. Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment
in War and Armed Conflict...
... Community Page about United Nations International Days and Weeks.
https://www.unngls.org/orf/International%20Day.doc
International Day for Preventing the
Exploitation of the. Environment in War and Armed Conflict. 6 November 2005. On 5 November 2001, the
General Assembly ...
See Related Newsletters:
Scarred
Lands and Wounded Lives is
a compelling documentary exploring the under-reported environmental impacts of
war and preparations for war. The film confronts the immensely broad ecological
and human ramifications of everything from technological development and
natural resource exhaustion to weapons testing and modern warfare itself.
Ecosystems around the
world are in distress from forces of humanity’s own making: increasing
population, unsustainable demands on natural resources, habitat and species
loss, and climate change. One of the most destructive of human behaviors – war
– is not commonly included as a contributor to the growing global environmental
crisis.
Yet, in all its stages,
from the production of weapons through combat, military operations pollute
land, air, and water, destroy entire ecosystems, and drain limited natural
resources.
Using archival material
from the Civil War through more recent wars, along with expert testimony and
eyewitness accounts, the film clearly presents the environmental and human cost
of combat, and argues for public scrutiny of the ecological and human impact of
war as essential to a more sustainable – and secure – world.
WHY THE FILM WAS MADE
What prompted this film
is recognition of our deep dependence on the natural world and the significant,
but little-known threat to that world posed by war and preparations for war.
The scale of environmental damage over the last half century is
unprecedented. Falling water tables, shrinking forest cover, declining species
diversity – all presage ecosystems in distress.
These trends are now
widely acknowledged as emanating from forces of humanity’s own making: massive
population increases, unsustainable demands on natural resources, species loss,
ruinous environmental practices. Ironically however, war, that most destructive
of human behaviors, is commonly bypassed.
From the production of weapons through combat to cleanup and
restoration, war entails actions that pollute land, air, and water, destroy
biodiversity, and exhausts natural resources. Yet the environmental damage
occasioned by war and preparation for war is routinely underestimated,
underreported, even ignored. The environment remains war’s “silent casualty.”
Activities that do such
damage cry out for far-reaching public scrutiny. The very sustainability of our
planet is at stake. We can no longer maintain silence about the environmental
impact of war on the grounds that such scrutiny is “inconvenient” or “callous”
at a time when human life is so endangered.
If we cannot eliminate
war, we can at least require a fuller accounting of war’s costs and
consequences, and demand that destructive forces used in our name leave a
lighter footprint on this highly vulnerable planet. It is to this change in
values and actions that this documentary film is directed.
FILM REVIEWS
“Highly recommended. A
powerful documentary on the ecological consequences of warfare…which traces how
military forces have intentionally destroyed ecosystems as a means to win
battles.”
– Video Librarian
– Video Librarian
“Recommended. The
explanations of the experts and witnesses convincingly demonstrate that the
cost of war extends far beyond the actual fighting. Preparation for war and the
aftermath of war add to the destruction of ‘natural security’.“
– Educational Media Reviews Online
– Educational Media Reviews Online
“The extensive research
and skillful presentation by sociologists Alice and Lincoln Day make the film a
surprisingly moving experience. Interviews of scientists, war veterans and
others are carefully interspersed with footage that makes vivid the long-term
damage to the planet that has resulted from military conflicts and activities.”
– Science Magazine
– Science Magazine
“A powerful and haunting
account of war’s silent casualty — the environment. Catalogs the array of
damage from bombs, chemicals, guns and unexploded ordnance.”
– The Chronicle of Higher Education Review
– The Chronicle of Higher Education Review
“The documentary weaves
together eyewitness accounts, interviews, archival footage, and news video from
wars past and present. The images portray a story rarely considered in the heat
of battle: how war pollutes the air, water and land, destroys biodiversity and
drains natural resources.”
– Voice of America
– Voice of America
FULL
REVIEWS
SCARRED LANDS RECEIVED HIGHEST AWARD AT
HOUSTON INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
Scarred
Lands and Wounded Lives: the Environmental Footprint of War was presented with the highest level of
award handed out at the Saturday night,
April 16, awards dinner. The award
plague reads: WORLDFEST - 2011 SPECIAL
JURY REMI AWARD THE 44th ANNUAL AWARD WORLDFEST - HOUSTON INTERNATIONAL FILM
FESTIVAL FILM & VIDEO REMI AWARDS .
ECOLOGY/ ENVIRONMENT/ CONSERVATION
"SCARRED LANDS & WOUNDED LIVES: THE ENVIRONMENTAL FOOTPRINT OF
WAR," ALICE AND LINCOLN
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WHAT WE ARE LEAVING BEHIND IN IRAQ
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SECTIONS
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What We Are Leaving
Behind in Iraq
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Buy
DVDs
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What We Are Leaving Behind in
Iraq
A Photo-Essay produced by Alice and Lincoln Day Featuring the narration and photography of Michael Fitzpatrick
Michael Fitzpatrick is a former U.S. Army
Sergeant, deployed in Iraq from March 2004 to March 2005 and then again from
October 2006 to January 2008. Stationed about 12 miles northeast of Baghdad,
his duties extended to several patrol bases that operated out of different
cities. The 5-year stretch he was there gave him an unusual opportunity to
view changes over time in the environment and activities of the American
military in Iraq. Stationed about 12 miles northeast of Baghdad, his duties
extended to several patrol bases that operated out of different cities.
Fitzpatrick says that before he went to Iraq, he imagined it would look
somewhat like the countryside of rural Northern California where he grew up.
But news agencies had prepared him for neither the dire poverty of the people
nor the toll that war had exacted on their houses, the infrastructure, the
farms, and the land. Everywhere there were damaged buildings and trash
littering public places. As he traveled around on patrols he says he kept
looking for a place that was clean and well maintained, but never found one.
He was particularly dismayed by the scale of
military equipment, ordnance, and dangerous munitions that were left lying
around, a threat to the safety of American soldiers and to Iraqi children and
adults alike. He strongly felt that Americans should be made aware of what
was going on: that "they knew how to destroy, they didn't know how to
restore.”
The some 3,000 photos
that Fitzpatrick took during his two deployments became the inspiration and
basis for this 19-minute photo essay. These provide visual testimony to what
has happened and continues to happen to the environment in countries like
Iraq and Afghanistan in consequence of sustained foreign military presence.
He sums up his deep concerns about the environmental damage that we are
leaving behind in this way: "And remind them that
all this stuff is just sitting around out there, on everyday land, accessible
to anyone. I just walked up on all this stuff and took pictures.”
Fitzpatrick is
currently working on a PhD degree in philosophy at Stanford. When the Days
first met him it was after a screening of their film, Scarred Lands and Wounded Lives --The Environmental Footprint of
War, at the State University of California (Chico), where
Michael was an undergraduate specializing in philosophy and English language
and literature. Thinking that this film captured much of what he had
experienced during his time in Iraq, Michael turned over his entire
"photo library” to the Days to use as they chose. In June 2010, their
production team interviewed him on film talking about his impressions of Iraq
and then, over the next 6 months, the Days used a selection of his photos to
produce this photo-essay.
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·
Film
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Buy DVDs
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Press
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Store
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Donate
Our website: www.scarredlandsfilm.org
has been revised. It now makes available the trailer and full
version for both Scarred Lands and What We Are Leaving Behind.
BOOKS ON PENTAGON, WARS, AND
DESTRUCTION OF LAND AND SPECIES (chron. order)
US MILITARY MAJOR USER OF OIL
Sanders, Barry. The Green Zone: The Environmental Costs of
Militarism. AK P, 2009.
Exposes the environmental consequences of US US
Google Search, Nov. 6, 2015
https://www.afsc.org/.../dr-barry-sa...
American Friends
Service Committee
Oct 18, 2010 - Barry Sanders, Ph.D., author of the Green Zone: The Environmental Costs of Militarism (Oakland, AK Press,
2009) will speak in Indianapolis on ...
justiceunbound.org/book-reviews/book-review-the-green-zone/
Dec 4, 2012 - The Green
Zone: The Environmental
Costs of Militarism by Barry ... The writer Barry Sanders reminds us that we all know the typical
“to do” list ...
www.huffingtonpost.com/barry-sanders/the-green-z...
The Huffington Post
Oct 28, 2007 - In a series of posts this week on HuffPost,
author Barry Sandersdiscusses one of the least-explored but
significant consequences of the Iraq ...
https://www.indypendent.org/.../web-exclusive-review-...
The Indypendent
Jun 25, 2009 - The Green Zone:
The Environmental Costs of Militarism By Barry Sanders AK Press, 2009. As we have become more aware of our effect
on the ...
Global
Warring: How Environmental, Economic, and Political
Crises Will Redraw the World Map
The Cold War was never this hot!
We live in interesting times. The biggest western economic institutions are crumbling, what were once marginalized voices are now dominating international negotiations, and touchstone climate events, such as the monsoon, are failing. Everywhere you look economic, geopolitical and environmental assumptions are being shaken to the core. The world is changing. Fast.
We live in interesting times. The biggest western economic institutions are crumbling, what were once marginalized voices are now dominating international negotiations, and touchstone climate events, such as the monsoon, are failing. Everywhere you look economic, geopolitical and environmental assumptions are being shaken to the core. The world is changing. Fast.
Global Warring examines these trends by
combining insightful economic and political analysis with the most likely
environmental change scenarios. It identifies problem areas that could start
conflicts (access to water and resources in Asia), economic trends that are
shifting the balance of power (China 's
policy of nationalistic capitalism), and geopolitical realignments (the
burgeoning strategic partnership between the United
States and India
Award-winning writer and geopolitical
expert Cleo Paskal makes sense of this overwhelming topic by dividing it into
five sections: how seemingly impervious western nations, such as the United
States, are shockingly vulnerable to hurricanes, storm surges and rising sea
levels, and what that could mean for their internal stability and economic
development; how the thawing Arctic is opening up a whole new arena for power
politics as some of the world's biggest countries wrangle for control over vast
resources, strategic shipping routes such as the Northwest Passage and
geopolitical leverage; how changing precipitation patterns, extreme weather and
water shortages are creating severe disruptions in India and China, and how
that could affect their relations with each other, and the world; how rising
sea levels may shift borders and alter the very notion of statehood,
potentially challenging international law to the breaking point; and, finally,
what could happen in coming decades, and how to avoid the worst of it.
Paskal combines ten years of research; the
latest findings from the Hadley Centre and the United Nations; and interviews
with top political, security and economic strategists with her own extensive
travel as a foreign correspondent. The result is a penetrating, accessible,
compelling, and chilling reminder that Global Warring is not only coming, it's
here.
"In a clear, comprehensive and
alarming analysis, Cleo Paskal underlines the geopolitically disruptive
potential of climate change. Arguably this is the biggest challenge to human
society since the Ice Age or the Black Death and it is not clear we are any
readier to respond adequately to ours than were our unfortunate ancestors
to theirs." -- Guy Stanley, Desautels Faculty of Management, McGill University
Winner of The 2010 Grantham Prize for
excellence in Reporting on the Environment
Christian Parenti, Tropic of Chaos: Climate Change and the New Geography of
Violence, 2011.
Editorial Reviews
From Africa to Asia and Latin
America , the era of climate wars has begun. Extreme weather is
breeding banditry, humanitarian crisis, and state failure.
In
Tropic of Chaos, investigative journalist Christian Parenti travels
along the front lines of this gathering catastrophe--the belt of economically
and politically battered postcolonial nations and war zones girding the
planet's mid-latitudes. Here he finds failed states amid climatic disasters.
But he also reveals the unsettling presence of Western military forces and
explains how they see an opportunity in the crisis to prepare for open-ended
global counterinsurgency. Parenti argues that this incipient "climate fascism"--a political hardening of wealthy states-- is bound to fail. The struggling states of the developing world cannot be allowed to collapse, as they will take other nations down as well. Instead, we must work to meet the challenge of climate-driven violence with a very different set of sustainable economic and development policies.
WARS AND WARMING
Noam Chomsky and Laray Polk study the two supreme dangers
together in Nuclear War and Environmental
Catastrophe ((2013). Chomsky
constantly urges all to study the past, to shore up memory. But which memories? Take Ronald Reagan. Chomsky has a low opinion of Reagan. Yet the nation gave him the longest funeral
of all the presidents. Whom to
believe? To this question Chomsky urges
us all to do the work, study the past, and test your discoveries by your
values. For example, read Rachel
Maddow’s Drift, chap. 2, where Reagan
and Jimmy Carter are contrasted, and consider what kind of nation we would have
today had we followed Carter’s attempt to significantly change US energy
policies in contrast to the US we have today as the result of Reagan’s
disregard of energy and focus on military power. Study, analyze, distinguish, act, Chomsky
urges us. Uninformed people—frightened
and demoralized, easily manipulated.—lose connection with the urgent realities
even of survival, the subject of this book:
“the persistent danger of nuclear war, and the threat of environmental
disaster, already approaching” (p. 79). –Dick
Recent Newsletters 2015 Related to US Wars
Memory Whole 10-18
Indigenous People of Americas Day 10-11
September 11 Families for Peaceful Tomorrows 9-11
UN International Day against Nuclear Tests 8-25
Snowden 8-15
Iran 7-28
US Westward Empire 7
US v. Russia 6-19
FOR’S ENVIRONMENT AND WAR PROJECT
FELLOWSHIP OF RECONCILIATION CREATED DAI DONG IN 1970
In 1970 FOR
connected its old opposition to WWII area/saturation/terror bombing, its
recognition of the catastrophic environmental and human consequences of the
Vietnam War, and of the many US
FELLOWSHIP OF RECONCILIATION- USA
(FOR-USA) SECTION II Series H
DAI DONG, a transitional peace effort linking war and the environment, 1969-1975
12 boxes
(FOR-USA) SECTION II Series H
DAI DONG, a transitional peace effort linking war and the environment, 1969-1975
12 boxes
Arrangement
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Origins of Dai Dong Organizational files; Steering Committee |
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Menton conference of
scientists, 1970 Menton Statement: "Message from 2,100 environmental scientists", 1970-1971 |
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Conferences on the
Environment, Stockhom, 1972: UN Conference; Independent Conference (Dai Dong) |
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Economists' statement:
"Toward a Human Economics", 1972-1974 |
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Energy project, 1972-1974 Field work, 1971-1974 |
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Mailings, literature, general
correspondence |
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Administrative files:
Staff &
Steering Committee meetings & corres.
Staff members in Fundraising Future status of Dai Dong, 1974-1975 |
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END UN INTERNATIONAL DAY FOR PREVENTING THE
EXPLOITATION OF THE ENVIRONMENT IN WAR AND ARMED CONFLICT NOVEMBER 6, 2015
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