War, Weapons and the Environment

By Harry H. Almond, Jr.

This article examines the impact of weapons testing and use on the environment and surveys existing international legal frameworks for addressing the prevention of an environmental catastrophe resulting from war. The author asserts that the perceived gains from conducting hostilities inevitably outweigh the environmental benefits of abstinence. In this article, the author reviews the alternative approaches for protecting the global environment from the effects of war and suggests five theories under which the use of nuclear weapons is indefensible because of ecological concerns. The essay argues in the alternative that 1) nuclear weapons are intolerable because their usefulness is outweighed by legitimate environmental interests, 2) customary international law prohibits the testing of nuclear weapons, 3) the testing and use of nuclear weapons is inconsistent with customary international law as evidenced in arms control and disarmament agreements, 4) nuclear weapons, their development, testing, and deployment are simply illegal, and 5) nation-states must bear responsibility for their negligence, accident, acts or omissions which results in injuries from nuclear weapons.