Our Soil, Roots, and War

“Environmentalism without class struggle is just gardening.” - Chico Mendes

     The definition of war, according to the Oxford Language Dictionary, is “a state of armed conflict between different nations or states or different groups within a nation or state.” This explanation, however, cannot illustrate  the inevitable ecological destruction accompanied with war: the expulsion of carbon emissions into our atmosphere, scarred land, dead wildlife, and dead people. When you google environmentalism, it does not describe social injustices and environmental racism, which are veiled pillars of the entire philosophy’s foundation. Understandably, the connection between these two concepts is difficult to recognize: how could preserving and protecting Mother Nature possibly relate to such a man-made, sanguinary image? But it hits us like a telephone pole: how conflated and induced they’ve evolved by the same, lawless hands. To challenge these hands and perceive this inseparable connection is to shatter the uncomfortable ignorance that we use to construct reality. Something disturbing. Indigestible.

“Is war as old as gravity?” - War & Peace, Ryuichi Sakamoto

     When Greta Thunberg began to act upon this connection, the media abandoned her. As she actively involved herself in protesting for a free Palestine against Israel’s occupation as seen with her many involved attempts to sail to Gaza to deliver humanitarian aid, people began to criticize her recent activities and labeled her as ‘potentially violent’, a far cry from the empowering and righteous advocate we’ve known her for. In a recent interview, after being questioned on the connection between Palestine and climate change, she stated that her focus on climate justice activism, as opposed to the claims of chronically online Twitter keyboard warriors, had not shifted at all. In fact, she embraces and practices the values she preaches: as a climate activist, caring for humans is just as important as caring for our planetary well-being because they’re deeply connected. She states that people cannot pretend to care about the climate crisis while ignoring the suffering and oppression of people today, other discriminations being how data centers are disproportionately affecting communities of color and how smartphones are built from unethical cobalt mining in Congo. In doing so, it becomes point-blank racism. There are concrete examples of how this genocide is affecting our Earth.   According to research from the United Nations Environmental Programme, more than 25,000 tons of explosives have been used on the Gaza Strip since October 2025 (equivalent to two nuclear bombs), and an estimated US $629 million worth of destruction related to trees and agricultural holdings have occurred.This usage of hazardous materials as weapons are extremely toxic to plants and animals, leading to social and agricultural impacts that can last for decades. Destroying all the conditions to maintain and sustain life through ecological warfare and ecocides not only deprives Palestinians of their means of sustaining life, but also affects us as well.

     Natural destruction from warfare threatens to take away our soil and it’s become unacceptable to carry on with agreeable activism in return. Environmentalism doesn’t stop at throwing your plastic bottles into the recycling bin but rather understanding that the genocide and warfare of other people across the world is, and has been, actively destroying the world we live in.

Sources:

1. Environmental impact of the conflict in Gaza. (n.d.). https://www.un.org/unispal/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/environmental_impact_conflict_Gaza.pdf