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War and the Environment

War and the Environment. War and the Environment. Passive Use of Environment Collateral Effects Use of Environment as a Weapon Environmental Modification to Aid Own Operations or Impede Enemy Eco-Terrorism Military actions may include some or all of these components to varying degrees.

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War and the Environment

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  1. War and the Environment

  2. War and the Environment • Passive Use of Environment • Collateral Effects • Use of Environment as a Weapon • Environmental Modification to Aid Own Operations or Impede Enemy • Eco-Terrorism • Military actions may include some or all of these components to varying degrees.

  3. The Choke Point

  4. The Choke Point

  5. Collateral Damage • No Military Intent to Cause Damage • Rutting by Vehicles • Cratering (Bombturbation) • Fire • Injury to Plants and Animals • Threat to mountain gorillas from civil war in Africa • May actually be less damaging to flora and fauna than normal commerce, development and agriculture. • Chemical Contamination • Nuclear Accidents • Accidental release of chemicals or radiation, as opposed to chemical or nuclear warfare. • Vandalism

  6. Vehicle Damage, Bosnia

  7. Battle Damage, Kuwait

  8. Battle Damage, Kuwait

  9. Vandalism

  10. Vandalism

  11. Buddhas of Bamyan

  12. Collateral Protection • Siegfried Line • Former East European Frontiers • Military Reservations • Political Power to Resist Development • Vested Interest in Preserving Realistic Training Environment

  13. Former East German Frontier

  14. Vehicle Damage, Germany

  15. Collateral Protection, California

  16. Environmental Modification to Aid Own Operations or Impede Enemy • Small-Scale: Virtually all Military Construction • Large-Scale: • Aid Own Operations • Deprive Enemy of Cover • Improve Own Mobility • Impede Enemy Operations • Impair Enemy Mobility • Deprive of Supplies

  17. Earthworks, Fort Ticonderoga

  18. St. Lawrence River, Quebec

  19. Earthworks, Quebec

  20. Alcatraz, California

  21. Environmental Modification to Aid Own Operations • Deprive Enemy of Cover or Sanctuary • South Vietnam - Defoliation • Improve Own Mobility • Tactical: • River modification - Civil War • Strategic: • German Autobahns • U.S. Interstate System • Suez and Panama Canals

  22. Island Number Ten and New Madrid, 1862

  23. Vicksburg Canals, 1863

  24. Red River Campaign and Bailey’s Dam, 1864

  25. World War I and Highways • Railroads insufficient for Army’s needs • Army turned to truck convoys • Civilians found convoy routes featured such revolutionary innovations as: • Route Markings • Regular Maintenance • Snow Removal

  26. Pershing’s Map, 1922

  27. The Interstate Highway System

  28. I-70, Glenwood Canyon, Colorado

  29. I-70, Glenwood Canyon, Colorado

  30. The Suez Canal

  31. Suez Canal • Connections between Nile and Red Sea dug in ancient times • Modern canal by Ferdinand de Lesseps 1858-1869 • Easy terrain • Principal winner: Britain enabled to extend military reach • Red Sea organisms invading Mediterranean

  32. The Suez-Panama Connection • De Lesseps took on the job of building a canal across Panama • Nobody else could have kept the project going as long as it did • 22,000 died before project abandoned in 1893 • French actually excavated about 1/3 of canal • Built railroad across Panama

  33. The Nicaragua Alternative

  34. Continental Divide, Nicaragua

  35. Volcan Momotombo

  36. Nicaragua or Panama? • French lobbied hard to have the U.S. take over their route in Panama • An ill-timed postage stamp killed the Nicaragua route • French investors in Panama bought out

  37. The Panama Canal • U.S. and Colombia sign treaty in 1901 to build canal • Colombian Senate refuses to ratify • U.S. backs separatist revolt in Panama

  38. How U.S. Succeeded • Disease control • Life support for workers to ensure long term commitment • Get a Bigger Hammer • Bigger equipment • U.S. experience with railroads

  39. New Lock Construction

  40. Gaillard (Culebra) Cut

  41. Deepening the Canal

  42. Rio Chagres

  43. Dredging

  44. Dredging

  45. Gatun Locks

  46. Gatun Dam

  47. French Trench

  48. Prepared New Channel

  49. The Future? • Largest ships cannot use the Panama Canal despite improvements • Sea Level Canal? • Panama? • Nicaragua? • Environmental Impacts?

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