Environmental Security
Posted: Saturday, December 19, 2009
by Rose-Marie Chaperon
Chaperon Consulting, LLC
Everywhere in the world environmental security has been an increasing issue in world affairs. Currently there is little coherence around the world about its definition, threats, and policy responsibilities. The greatest area of disagreement regarded when policy leadership should come from national governments vs. international organizations. Before we can evaluate how important this is to our national security we must demonstrate what all is at stake. We have to defend against the pollution of our air, water, land and the abuse of our natural resources. I believe it is patriotic to protect our environment for the benefit of future generations. I believe and think that government should set ethical boundaries to keep a polluting corporation responsible for its actions (Flanders, 2009) . We should develop new, clean energy sources to keep our children safe and to add needed jobs to our economy. Environmental security and economic security are synonymous. I would say that security requires a fundamental level of economic, environmental, and physical well-being; a healthy economy and a healthy environment go hand-in-hand (Renner, 1994) . Society must find solutions that protect the environment and its natural resources while allowing for the development required sustaining living standards in a growing world population.
Hurricane Katrina is often called a natural disaster, as if it was all nature's fault, not man's fault. Lives could have been saved if the government acted when they were told. The reality, of course, is that federal, state and local governments ignored warnings from scientists for years, both that climate change would lead to increased storm activity, and that destruction of wetlands outside of New Orleans had hurt the city's natural defenses against a storm surge (Flanders, 2009) .
Finally a federal district judge ruled that the Army Corps of Engineers was indeed responsible for part of the devastation in New Orleans' Lower Ninth Ward and parts of St. Bernard Parish. The failure of the Corps to recognize the hazards wetland destruction had created was "clearly negligent on the part of the Corps
Still this day, many third countries in the world are still trying to find ways around their environmental issues. The Third World refers to the poorer and undeveloped countries of the world; these countries have extremely poor environmental situations. These countries such as Haiti, Somalia, pollution is unrestricted. Moreover; countless other environmental problems are also not addressed by the government. Countries in Latin America, Eastern Europe, Africa, and Asia are the greatest victims of this environmental inequality. In addition to problems created by development and industrialization, poorer nations also suffer environmental difficulties caused by poverty and war, among other causes.
What makes it harder for these countries to survive is that Often, rich Western countries take advantage of the dilemma of Third World countries. They dump garbage and hazardous waste in developing countries (Caroline, 1999) . First World companies might also build plants, which emit considerable pollution, in Third World nations to avoid the regulations and money issues these companies would face at home.
The list of environment issue is countless and most of them are due to human activities, all of these issues have a correlation to economic security almost anywhere in the word. The list in almost indefinite, just to list a few we have: climate change issues, conservation, energy, Genetic engineering, Intensive farming, Land degradation, nuclear issues and many more. Can we ever solve these issues in our lifetime, maybe not? Are there things we can do to prevent them? Perhaps yes? Do we have the resources available? Maybe we do!. The question remains is it too late? In my opinion it is, because we have destroyed the earth already.
REFERENCE
Caroline, D. M. (1999). Polution Problems in Thirld World Countires. The Enviroment a Global Challenge , 3.
Flanders, L. (2009). Man Made Disaster in New Orleans. Las vegas: The Notion.
Renner, M. (1994). ENVIRONMENTAL SECURITY: A DOD PARTNERSHIP FOR PEACE. new York: Kent Hughes Butts.
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