BRATTLEBORO — Recently, a friend dropped by while she was out campaigning for a local candidate. She was bundled for the cold and wore a small dove pin on her sweater.
When I asked about it, she said it had been made in Cambodia in an area that had been bombed. People who live there collect pieces of shrapnel from the bombs, she explained, and fashion them into dove pins. On the pins inscribed in very small letters is the word “peace” in both English and Kmer.
At times like these when the United States seems to be moving perilously close to another major war in the Mideast, it's wise to remember the toll that bombing takes on civilian populations. Water-processing plants, waste-disposal plants, and bridges are hit, as are caravans of families fleeing the violence; so are schools and hospitals. The uranium-tipped weapons leave contamination that has been shown to cause exceptionally high rates of cancer in surrounding populations over time.
Bombing and war are devastating to the environment and exacerbate the climate crisis.
Meanwhile, due to the warming of the climate, the devastating fires raging in Australia are estimated to have killed more than half a billion animals trying to flee the flames. The fires have destroyed 12.35 million acres and the lives and livelihoods of unknown numbers of people and families.
In order to work towards a sustainable future for the planet and future generations, we need innovative, inventive, and forward-thinking leaders who can forge alliances with the common goal of working together on climate-change issues rather than waging endless wars that are detrimental to life on the planet.