War's devastating impact on Earth

IT SURPRISES me that, in all the debate about the causes of climate change, no-one seems to have added into the equation the results of all-out war.

The devastating effects on the environment of continual bombing from long and short range, the destruction of oil fields, industrial plants, sewers, water supplies and crops, let alone humans and other living creatures, has to be taken into account.

The resultant diseases and abnormalities affecting those in the war zones add to the horror.

The use of Agent Orange by the US airforce in Vietnam, for example, has had a lasting effect on both people and soil. Who knows what will be the long-term consequences of the Yugoslav, Iraq and Afghan wars on the surrounding countries and its inhabitants?

I remember learning of long-term historical climate freezes that may have been caused by volcanic eruptions and the subsequent atmospheric pollution.

Natural events may be unavoidable, but wars are not. If governments really want to save the planet, then ending the devastating results of needless and continual wars should be top of their environmental agenda.

JEAN TURNER
Kingston upon Thames