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The Effects to the Environment and Humankind Caused by War

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The effects to the environment and humankind caused by war

Cause and Effect Essay
Professor Kelly Gehlhoff
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for
English 112
English Composition Two

Pueblo, Colorado
May 2012
Abstract

War causes devastating and often irreversible effects to both humans and the earth. Throughout history, armies have burned the enemy’s crops, rivers have been damed, and water supplies have been poisoned, all in the name of war. The consequences these wars have on humankind include death, injury, dislocation, and malnutrition, which falls hand and hand with the destruction of the environment. Warfare is a terrible thing, bombs destroy life, tanks and other military vehicles damage ecosystems beyond repair, battleships pollute the oceans, and chemical and nuclear weapons have the potential to end life on this planet.

The effects to the environment and humankind caused by war
In the recent past there have been tragic results of war on the environment and humans, from World War I to the present day Gulf Wars. The ultimate fear is that war will have taken such a toll on the Earth, its inhabitants, and its natural resources that there will not be a world left for humankind to live in.
Armed forces destroy their own ecosystems, as well those of the enemy, to win wars. Forests may be stripped of all timber to eliminate hiding places and oil wells, fresh water, crops, land and the animals are ruined to prevent their use by the enemy. Both sides exploit their own resources, as well as the seized resources of the other side, to support the war effort (Biswas, 2000). World War I employed trench and artillery warfare; the destruction of French farm land was so devastating that the results can still be seen today. In the battle of the Somme, over 250,000 acres of farmland were so destroyed that

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