Environmental impact of war
Study of the environmental impact of war focuses on the modernization of warfare and its increasing effects on the environment. Scorched earth methods have been used for much of recorded history. However, the methods of modern warfare cause far greater devastation on the environment. The progression of warfare from chemical weapons to nuclear weapons has increasingly created stress on ecosystems and the environment. Wars have generally a detrimental effects on environmental policy which can last for 20-30 years after the conflict. When wars create energy shortage and rise of fossil fuel prices, it disrupts global climate action. The military sector is responsible for around 5.5% of global GHG emissions, which are not included in GHG assessments on global and country level.
Historical events
American Revolutionary War (1775-1783)
The American Revolution inflicted major impacts on the 18th-century natural world. 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. In September 1778, British forces raided Martha's Vineyard Island off the Massachusetts coast, killing more than 10,000 sheep, though the raid also produced some "positive" environmental effects. 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.American Civil War (1861-1865)
The American Civil War was largely fought in hot, wet regions with pandemic diseases such as malaria. As a result, sickness rates were high on both sides. More powerful long range rifles and artillery caused high casualty rates of wounding and death. 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. The Union systematically devastated the railway system in the South, and ruined many cotton plantations. Combat operations killed thousands of horses and mules used to pull supplies, artillery and munitions.World War I (1914-1918)
The first World War saw chemicals especially chlorine, phosgene, and mustard gas used heavily. Over 100,000 tons of toxic gas was produced by the end of the war in 1918. For the most part gas masks neutralized advantages. Gas injured many soldiers but it did not change the course of the war. There were no permanent environmental effects.World War II (1939-1945)
drove a vast increase in production, militarized the production and transportation of commodities, and introduced many new environmental consequences, which can still be seen today. World War II was wide-ranging in its destruction of humans, animals, and materials. The postwar effects of World War II, both ecological and social, are still visible decades after the conflict ended.During World War II, new technology was used to create aircraft, which were used to conduct air raids. During the war, aircraft were used to transport resources both to and from different military bases and drop bombs on enemy, neutral, and friendly targets alike. These activities damaged habitats.
Similar to wildlife, ecosystems also suffer from noise pollution which is produced by military aircraft. During World War II, aircraft acted as a vector for the transportation of exotics whereby weeds and cultivated species were brought to oceanic island ecosystems by way of aircraft landing strips which were used as refueling and staging stations during operations in the Pacific theater. Before the war, the isolated islands around Europe were inhabited by a high number of endemic species. During World War II, aerial warfare had an enormous influence on fluctuating population dynamics.
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. Three days after the bombing of Hiroshima, the United States dropped a second atomic bomb on the industrial city of Nagasaki, instantly killing 35,000 people. The nuclear weapons released catastrophic levels of energy and radioactive particles. Once the bombs were detonated, the temperatures reached about 3980 °C / 7200 °F. With temperatures that high, all the flora and fauna were destroyed along with the infrastructure and human lives in the impact zones. The radioactive particles which were released resulted widespread land and water contamination. The initial blasts increased the surface temperature and created crushing winds destroying trees and buildings in their path.
European forests experienced traumatic impacts which resulted from fighting during the war. Behind the combat zones, timber from cut down trees was removed in order to clear up the paths for fighting. The shattered forests in the battle zones faced exploitation.
The use of heavily hazardous chemicals was first initiated during World War II. The long-term effects of chemicals result from both their potential persistence and the poor disposal program of nations with stockpiled weapons. During World War I, German chemists developed chlorine gas and mustard gas. The development of these gases led to many casualties, and lands were poisoned both on and near the battlefields.
Later in World War II, chemists developed even more harmful chemical bombs, which were packaged in barrels and directly deposited in the oceans. The disposal of the chemicals in ocean runs the risk of metal-based containers corroding and leaching the chemical contents of the vessel into the ocean. Through the chemical disposal in the ocean, the contaminants may be spread throughout the various components of the ecosystems damaging marine and terrestrial ecosystems.
Marine ecosystems during World War II were damaged not only from chemical contaminates, but also from wreckage from naval ships, which leaked oil into the water. Oil contamination in the Atlantic Ocean due to World War II shipwrecks is estimated at over 15 million tonnes. Oil spills are difficult to clean up and take many years to clean. To this day, traces of oil can still be found in the Atlantic Ocean from the naval shipwrecks which happened during World War II.
Additionally, the Baltic Sea contains a large quantity of unexploded munitions, including land and naval mines from World War II. Not only do these unexploded munitions pose a threat to boating traffic, but also marine life. When these munitions are detonated below the ocean, whether unintentionally or intentionally in an effort to clear them, marine organisms several kilometers away can be inflicted with direct injury. Organisms greater distances away may still experience injury, such as damage to their hearing range which in some cases is irreversible. One hundred and sixty five thousand naval mines were placed in the Baltic and western sea during World War II, with an estimated 15-30% of these still remaining active.
The use of chemicals during war helped increase the scale of chemical industries and it also helped to show the government the value of scientific research. The development of chemical research during the war also lead to the postwar development of agricultural pesticides. The creation of pesticides was an upside for the years after the war.
The environmental impacts of World War II were very drastic, which allowed them to be seen in the Cold War and be seen today. The impacts of conflict, chemical contaminations, and aerial warfare all contribute to reduction in the population of global flora and fauna, as well as a reduction in species diversity.
In 1946, in the U.S. Zone of Germany, the United States military advised the government to prepare accommodations and employment for the people who were bombed out of their cities. The answer was a special garden program that would provide new land for the people to live in. This included land to provide food needed for the people as well. Forests were then surveyed for good soil that was suitable for crop production. This meant that the forest would be cut down in order to make land for farms and housing. The forestry program would be used to exploit the forests of Germany for future resources and control the war potential of Germany. In this program about 23,500,000 fest meters of lumber were produced out of the forests.
Aluminum was one of the biggest resources affected by World War II. Bauxite, an aluminum ore and the mineral cryolite were essential, as well as requiring massive amounts of electrical power.