Green is a Peace Issue
Climate and Prospects for Peace
"The critical factors for economic and security stability are energy, water, and the environment… When not in balance, people live in poverty, suffer high death rates, or move towards armed conflict." -- Gen Paul Kern, US Army
- See SAP Neighbors for Peace in the Park Bugle's Commentary and Letters to the Editor
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- Going Green for Peace – Read about the new direction for SAP Neighbors for Peace.
Websites
- Sustainable Security – Oxford Research Group
We cannot successfully control all the consequences of insecurity, but must work to resolve the causes, based on an integrated analysis of security threats and a preventative approach to responses. Sustainable security focuses on the interconnected, long-term drivers of insecurity, including: climate change, competition over resources, marginalization of the majority world, and global militarization. More…
- Project on National Security, Energy and Climate – The Pew Charitable Trusts
Educating the public on the critical links between national security and global warming, by bringing together science and military experts to examine new strategies for combating climate change, protecting our national security, increasing our energy independence and preserving our nation’s natural resources. See the video, Climate Patriots.
- Climate change and conflict – International Crisis Group
Long-term changes in climate already have occurred and are projected to continue. The potential consequences include food and water shortages, population shifts and economic losses, which in turn may increase a range of risks to human security, including the risk of deadly conflict. Includes extensive list of links to key resources.
- The Dark Side of Natural Resources – Global Policy Forum
Natural resources often lie at the heart of wars and civil strife. Huge mining and resource companies maneuver for control of enormously valuable oilfields and mineral lodes. Includes many documents and reports from the UN and NGOs on oil, gas, water, minerals, and diamonds.
- Global Witness
Investigates and campaigns to prevent natural resource-related conflict and corruption. Campaigns include natural resources in conflict and climate change and energy security.
Articles
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Is Climate Change Genocide? – Scott James
Rising temperatures are widely believed to be causing the retreat of glaciers and lower river flows, as research indicates is happening in the Andes. Evo Morales, President of Boliva, believes there should be an international court of environmental justice. – Blue Living Ideas, April 25, 2010
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Could global warming cause war? – Brad Knickerbocker
A report warns that conflicts over water and food could intensify as the climate changes. The debate over global warming has focused on the three big "E's": environment, energy, and economic impact. Now it officially enters the realm of national security threats and avoiding wars as well. – The Christian Science Monitor, April 19, 2007
- National Security and the Threat of Climate Change (PDF) – Military Advisory Board
Global climate change presents a serious national security threat which could impact Americans at home, impact US military operations, and heighten global tensions, according to a study released by a blue-ribbon panel of retired admirals and generals from the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines. – The CNA Corp. 2007
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The New Geopolitics of Energy – Michael T. Klare
Envision the global combat environment of the emerging world, one where the struggle is over vital resources, rather than ideology or balance-of-power politics. – The Nation, May 1, 2008
Oil & War
Websites
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Oil and Natural Gas in Conflict – Global Policy Forum
Where there's oil, there's often violence. See how this is playing out in many parts of the world: analysis, articles, documents, studies, organized by global areas.
Articles
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The Best Thing in The World for Big Oil: Why Saddam had to go – Greg Palast
"This war in Iraq has been the best thing in the world for Big Oil and OPEC. They've made the largest profits in the history of the world... it was all planned from the beginning." (Robert F. Kennedy Jr.) For Big Oil, it's not so much a matter of getting oil as it is of controlling oil. – GregPalast.com, August 3, 2006
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Spoils of War – Antonia Juhasz
The Bush agenda for war with Iraq was to set up a US – Middle East Free Trade Area. But contracts have gone to U.S. corporations, not Iraqis. – In These Times, January 15, 2007
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Big Oil and the war in Iraq – Derrick Z. Jackson
It took five years, the deaths of 4,100 US soldiers, and the wounding of 30,000 more to make Iraq safe for Exxon. – The Boston Globe at Boston.com, June 24, 2008
Water & War
Websites
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Water in Conflict – Global Policy Forum
As demand for water hits the limits of finite supply, potential conflicts are brewing between nations that share transboundary freshwater reserves. Key documents and articles.
Articles
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The Truth about Water Wars – Maywa Montenegro
Seven experts debate the past and present existence of water wars, consider the difficulty of owning a fluid resource, and examine the hot spots for future conflict. – Seed Magazine, May 14, 2009
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Water shortages are likely to be trigger for wars, says UN chief Ban Ki Moon –Leo Lewis in Beppu
A struggle by nations to secure sources of clean water will be “potent fuel” for war, the first Asia-Pacific Water Summit heard. – The Times (London), December 4, 2007
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The Secret Behind the Sanctions: How the U.S. Intentionally Destroyed Iraq's Water Supply – Thomas J. Nagy
Documents of the Defense Intelligence Agency prove beyond a doubt that, contrary to the Geneva Convention, the U.S. government intentionally used sanctions against Iraq to degrade the country's water supply after the Gulf War. The United States knew the cost that civilian Iraqis, mostly children, would pay, and it went ahead anyway. – The Progressive, September, 2001
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People/water rights
– Mikhail Gorbachev, Civilization, the Magazine of the US Library of Congress
We stand today on the brink of a global water crisis. The two major legacies of the 20th Century - the population and technological explosions - have taken their toll on our water supply. – StableRoad.org, October-November 2000
The Environment & War
Articles
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Land, Water And Conflict – Jeffrey Sachs
As drylands get drier and violence grows, new crises resembling Darfur will arise. Outsiders tend to attribute violence to religion, culture and politics and overlook the underlying causes of water, food and jobs. – Newsweek, June 28, 2008
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War has historic links to global climate change – Catherine Brahic
Climate change and conflict have gone hand-in-hand for the past 500 years, a study reveals. A clear link between war and changing global temperatures has been identified in historical data. Experts (in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences) predict that current and future climate change may result in widespread global unrest and conflict.
– New Scientist, November 19, 2007
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Environmental effects of warfare – S.M. Enzler MSc
The impact of war on the environment and human health: A timeline of wars and their impacts in Africa, America, Asia, and Europe in the 20th and 21st centuries. – Lenntech, Sept 2006
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War and the Environment: some examples
– Learn Peace
Study and teaching resources about how war has devastated the enviornment in the 20th Century – Peace Pledge Union
Poverty & War
Articles
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Do conflicts cause poverty, or vice-versa? – Raymond Fisman and Edward Miguel
In Africa, an income drop of 5% – a large but altogether common deterioration in economic conditions – increases the risk of civil conflict in the following year to nearly 30%. – VOX, November 29, 2008
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Poverty and Civil War: What Policymakers Need to Know – Susan E. Rice, Corinne Graff, Janet Lewis
Conflicts sap already depleted national resources and further cripple the fragile economies of some of the world’s poorest countries, while claiming millions of innocent lives. – The Brookings Institution, December 2006
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Afghans view poverty as war cause – Reuters
Most Afghans see not Taliban militants but poverty, unemployment and government corruption as the main causes of war in their country. – Irish Times, November 18, 2009
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Poverty: A Cause of War? – Morris Miller
A look at the motives of war-prone political leaders and the ways they have gained and maintained power, even to the point of leading their nations to war. – Peace Magazine, Jan-Mar, 2001
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