TonThis is a century where humanitarian disasters and environmental disasters converge.The collapse of the climate has moved millions of people away from their homes, and it is likely Expelled hundreds of millions of people. This Madagascar’s famine is distressing It is currently the first to be named by the United Nations Probably caused Due to the climate emergency. This will not be the last time.Big cities find themselves severely short of water because The aquifer is drained. Air pollution Kills 10 million people every year. Synthetic chemicals in soil, air and water have an incalculable impact on ecology and humans.
But the reverse is also true. Humanitarian disasters, or more accurately, the government’s cruel and irrational response to disasters are triggering ecological disasters. This is most obvious in the construction of the boundary wall.
Currently, with the help of 140 British military engineers, Poland began to build a 5.5-meter-high steel wall on the 180-kilometer-long border with Belarus.This British military assistance It will help ensure a new arms deal worth approximately £3 billion between the UK and Poland.
The wall is described as a “security” measure, but it is not to protect Europe from threats, but to protect some of the most vulnerable people on the planet’s urgent need: especially Refugees from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan Escape persecution, torture and massacres. They were cruelly exploited by the Belarusian government and used them as political weapons.Now, in the middle of winter, they Stuck at the border, Starved to death, with nowhere to go.
When the Berlin Wall fell, we were promised, which marked the beginning of a new era of freedom. instead, There are more rising walls than falling wallsSince 1990, the border wall built in Europe is six times longer than the wall in Berlin.Worldwide, the number of fence borders has Rise from 15 to 70 Since the end of the Cold War: There are now 47,000 kilometers of hard frontier.
For those trapped on these borders, the cruelty of capitalism is almost indistinguishable from the cruelty of communism.
The humanitarian impact of these walls is well documented. But their ecological impact is also devastating.Roads and farmland isolate wild animals, but there is nothing Cut off certain species It is as effective as a border wall. Just as we understand the importance of ecological connectivity better than ever, we are dividing and separating habitats at an unprecedented rate.
We now know that even in large reserves, wild animal species can Heading for extinction If they cannot disperse and mix with people from other places. Their genetic diversity narrows, reducing their reproductive success rate and making them more susceptible to disease. As conditions change, obstacles will prevent them from moving. The situation is changing Due to the climate collapse, soon. In many cases, the trapped population is doomed to failure.
Among other severe effects, the new wall between Poland and Belarus will Cutting the Bialowieza Forest, The largest ancient woodland in the European lowlands, divided into two.A temporary barrier made of entangled barbed wire has been erected in the middle of the forest to stop the movement of the famous bison, wolf, wild boar, lynx, deer, moose and other wild animal populations, and to prevent bears Just beginning to return From recolonizing the forest.
However, Despite best efforts Research by scientists such as Dr. Katarzyna Nowak of the Białowieża Geobotanical Station has shown that large-scale ecological consequences have been widely ignored. The Polish separation wall did not conduct an environmental impact assessment, which violates the EU Habitat Directive and international treaties.
Similar disasters are happening all over the world. The border fence erected between Slovenia and Croatia in 2015 can Leading to gradual extinction Lynx in the Denalik Mountains. Along its length, the corpse of a deer who died tragically after being hooked by its cruel barb was found.
Barriers between India and Pakistan Cause a crash In the population of Kashmir markhor (a rare and extraordinary corkscrew horned wild goat). The longest border fence in the world separates China, Mongolia and Russia from each other.they have Isolated wild ass remnant population, Mongolian gazelles and other endangered species in the grassland.The Trump Wall that separates the U.S. from Mexico is Threats to several rare mammal species, And pygmy owls, Flying too low to overcome obstacles. In the prosperous and depressed ecological environment of the desert, people survived by recolonizing areas after being driven away by drought. In many cases, this wall will make this impossible.
Dating back at least 100 years ago, there is a right-wing environmentalism that equates immigration with pollution. Madison Grant is one of the founders of the American Conservation Movement, and he helped build a national park network. He was also the author of the book “The Pass of the Great Race” published in 1916, which Adolf Hitler described as “My Bible.”
Grant believes that in protecting the ecosystem of North America, he is Protection domain The Nordic “master race” was “surpassed” by the “valueless race type” in the United States.As secretary of the Zoological Society, he helped ensure that a kidnapped Congolese man, Ota Benga, was In a cage with the apes On display at the Bronx Zoo.
In 2018, Fox News host Tucker Carlson announced: “I actually hate trash, which is one of the reasons why I am so opposed to illegal immigration.” Europe’s extreme right suddenly shifted from denying the environmental crisis to using it as a Arguments to exclude immigration. It claims that people from other places do not agree with “our” environmental ethics.This slander is easy to deny: investigations have long shown Poorer countries have greater public concerns about the environment.
These attitudes not only conflict with all the virtues of environmentalism—its sympathy and consideration for all people and all non-human life—but the isolation and containment policies they promote are ecologically disastrous. Although border walls have caused a lot of death and suffering, and are only partially effective in achieving their purpose of excluding people, they are completely effective in excluding many other species.
It’s not that anyone who cares about people needs more arguments to oppose the vicious policy that separates us from each other. But there are more arguments, and they are powerful. The border wall is accelerating the extinction crisis and rendering the ecosystem unable to survive. Just as humans have no borders, so do wild animals. There is no conflict between caring for the earth and caring for the people of the earth. In fact, you can’t live without another.
