Overview
While many books have examined the broader topic of military conflict, most neglect to focus on damage military violence inflicts on regional—and global—ecosystems. The War and Environment Reader provides a critical analysis of the devastating consequences of "war on the environment" with perspectives drawn from a wide array of diverse voices and global perspectives. The contributors include scores of writers and activists, many with first-hand field experience of war's impacts on nature. Authors include: Medea Benjamin, Helen Caldicott, Marjoie Cohn, Daniel Ellsberg, Robert Fisk, Ann Jones, Michael Klare, Winona LaDuke, Jerry Mander, Margaret Mead, Vandana Shiva, David Swanson, Jody Williams and S. Brian Willson.Reviews
"The essays collected here explore the depths and imminence of the crises, and outline directions that must be pursued, and urgently." —Noam Chomsky, Institute Professor and Professor of Linguistics emeritus, MIT
"This Reader offers the most diverse set of voices ever collected together to try to describe those horrors, including essays written over many years about the often-unseen consequences of our actions. Read these stories in the hopes that future ones need never be written." —Peter Gleick, environmental scientist and communicator
"The War and Environment Reader is packed with powerful writings, from classics by Margaret Mead to recent investigations of drone strikes, about why war happens, how it affects us, and how we can stop it. Everyone who cares about humanity's most urgent problem—in other words, everyone—should read this book." —John Horgan, science journalist and author, The End of War
"Gar Smith's War and Environment Reader is a gift to our movement; it is a powerful collection of voices exploring war from many perspectives, and calling for a green and peaceful way forward. Please read this book and join the call!" —Annie Leonard, Executive Director, Greenpeace US; author, The Story of Stuff
"Even if war were moral, legal, defensive, beneficial to the spread of freedom, and inexpensive, we would be obliged to make abolishing it our top priority solely because of the case laid out so powerfully in this book: war is destroying this planet." —David Swanson, Director, World Beyond War; author, War Is a Lie
"This anthology is a much-needed volume of essays on the negative impact that the militarization of our world has on our planet—on the humans, animals, plants, oceans, lands, and air." —Ann Wright, former colonel, U.S. Army, former diplomat, antiwar activistAuthor Biography
Gar Smith is editor emeritus of Earth Island Journal and co-founder of Environmentalists Against War. He lives in Berkeley, California, where he serves as director of the nonprofit Academic Publishing Inc. Smith is the author of Nuclear Roulette: The Truth About the Most Dangerous Energy Source on Earth.