War ecology

Abstract

War conflicts cause profound damage to the environment, which man too often does not take into account, but which leave deep scars on the Earth. In a brief excursus, starting from the taking and destruction of the biblical city of Shechem up to the modern wars of the past decades, some of the damages caused by the armed struggles are narrated. Even the preparation for war alone has in too many cases caused serious alterations to natural ecosystems, such as the destruction of entire forests to build large war fleets in the past or the nuclear irradiation of sites not too far from human settlements to test hydrogen bombs.