The Department of Peace launched its missile!

It’s a conundrum. A paradox.

On the one hand, EarthDay is a heartbeat away. And while climate anxiety is well underway there will also be plenty to celebrate; its counter-affect mobilising mass-scale innovation, solutions and motivation.

On the other hand … in the backstage of hope is another behemoth breathing down our throats; 2 major war zones (Russia-Ukraine, Gaza-Israel) whose toxic fallout is the very antithesis of what environmental restoration is about.

Wikipedia states:
"Military land use needs (such as for bases, training, storage etc.) often displace people from their lands and homes. Military activity uses solvents, fuels and other toxic chemicals which can leach toxins into the environment that remain there for decades and even centuries. Furthermore, heavy military vehicles can cause damage to soil and infrastructure. Military-caused noise pollution can also diminish the quality of life for nearby communities as well as their ability to rear or hunt animals to support themselves.”

So here we all are, straddling two tectonic plates grating against each other with the promise of both environmental restoration, and the peril of environmental degradation. The friction between them further amplifies the "environMental" health hazard’s ticking time bomb.

It’s almost comedic to consider the Military Industrial Complex reducing fossil fuel consumption to become more environmentally friendly. And therein the perplexing human condition. We are a species of incongruous thoughts and actions, of internal tectonic plates constantly challenging our equilibrium.

Whether it's a geopolitical war zone or an individual’s warring nature, these are the kind of wondrously-thunderously powerful "cruise missiles” one wishes Defence Departments of the world would invest more heavily in for the future (Department of Peace, anyone?).

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