Solar Power, War and Oil

How are solar power, war and oil related? Read on....

Over the weekend an editorial was written by Eric Margolis which has the title of "These wars are about oil, not democracy". He makes this statement since new oil and gas pipeline and development agreements have been signed in Iraq and Afghanistan. I'm sure many people are shocked by this statement because we all believed that weapons of mass destruction existed and that Osama would be caught and brought to trial. It is a good editorial and ties some things together if you didn't already know.

So the wars are about oil. Despite our best efforts to secure new supplies through these wars the cost of crude continues to rise. Gasoline is rising dramatically and the damage to the economy is around the corner. How expensive is the war? Follow this link to the National Priorities Project and it has a running counter. Right now it is over 530 billion dollars. There are more costs that are probably not captured here and we still need to account for the economic and environmental damage.

What could we have done that would have cost less, achieved energy independence and probably not killed thousands of people. Implement a solar grand plan as outlined in Scientific American. Sure it is on a 40 year timeline but aren't we planning to wage the war on terror for as long as it takes anyway?

The bottom line is that until we change our political and economic systems we will continue on the same path.

Iraq and the Environment

So what is the cost of war to the environment? The obvious is the resources consumed in waging war. What about the devastation that occurs in the theater of battle?

Iraq is the most publicized war in North America. There are other conflicts around the world but nothing that is gathering the same media attention. To what extent has the current war, and the prior regime's military-industrial strategy, damaged the Iraqi environment?

The Tigris River has supported the lives of people in Iraq and beyond for several thousand years. With dam projects, pollution and, now, dead bodies the river is not what it used to be. Read this article for details.

Additional problems from military waste, depleted uranium used in the US bombing and toxic waste dumps will need additional assistance from UNEP to clean up over 300 sites estimated to need remediation.

I doubt environmental damage were ever a consideration for either Saddam Hussein or George W. Bush. Now the damage is here and time to clean it up. One the bright side, Bush is planning to spend millions on providing jobs for Iraqis to clean the streets.