Friday, June 7, 2024 | 2 a.m.
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About a year ago, the Russian government committed an ecocide against Ukrainian citizens, blasting the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant, which holds water equal to the Great Salt Lake. Industrial lubricants, fertilizers and chemicals poured into the waterfront town of Kherson, leading a distraught President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to tell reporters, “Life is ruined.”
The attacks continue unabated, polluting Ukraine’s water resources with heavy metals and oil products. In May, the Russians launched drone attacks on the city of Kharviv and the Sloviansk Thermal Power Plant. In the meantime, threats to the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plan remain. That’s because there is insufficient water to cool the plant’s six units — a function of Russia knocking out the Kakhovka dam.
According to Ukraine’s Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources, Russia’s invasion has resulted in more than 3,700 crimes against nature and the environment. As a result, fires and military operations have led to 180 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions, costing tens of billions of dollars.
The State Emergency Service adds that Russia has dropped nearly 500,000 explosives on Ukrainian cities that have been “neutralized” during the war. But this is no way to live — especially a population that yearns for greater ties to the West and unconditional freedom.
“The Russian Federation has turned the most picturesque peninsula, an ecological natural pearl of the Black Sea, into a militarized base,” Oleksandr Kornienko, the first deputy chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, said in a speech.
Russian President Vladimir Putin longs for a return to his country’s “glory days” during the Soviet empire. He thinks Russia and Ukraine are historically tied and its link to the West is a bridge too far; NATO cannot perch outside his door — just as the United States didn’t want Russian missiles in Cuba.
Does that justify war — the killing of thousands of innocents and environmental destruction? Ukraine is an independent country that holds democratic elections, unlike Russia. If Putin annexes the Ukrainian areas it now controls, it is a threat to the free world and the former Soviet satellites. Witness Russia’s aggression in Georgia. It could soon be the tiny country of Moldova and the Baltic states of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.
Russia is not just a menace to world peace. The current government also poses a risk to the environment and food security.
The University of Notre Dame spearheaded Russia in a Changing Climate study. The theme: Russia has no plans to transition to cleaner energy. This move would help it integrate into the 21st-century economy, allowing it to live peacefully with its neighbors.
Russia, instead, uses its oil and gas prowess as a political weapon — a way to control not only Ukraine but also Western Europe, which is weaning itself from Russian fossil fuels while also going increasingly green. However, Russia can still use the oil and gas revenues to bankroll its war effort.
The long-term cost to Russia and the global economy is high. Russia is the world’s largest country, warming at unprecedented rates and causing heat waves, droughts and wildfires. While it is known as an oil and gas exporter, it is also one of the world’s most notable wheat and grain producers. Climate change affects not just Russia’s economy but also global food security.
Decarbonization and economic diversification would benefit the Russian population — but Putin sees almost no advantage. “No one knows why the Russian government does anything, but it now has an economy centered on the war effort. It is not considering climate change and carbon reductions in 2030 or 2050,” said Susanne Wengle, a professor of political science at Notre Dame.
Thankfully, the Congress stood up for the cause of freedom, sending weapons to Ukraine. However, Russia has inflicted endless destruction — not just to world security but also to the global ecology. Unfortunately, we will live with this damage long after Putin is gone.
Ken Silverstein has covered energy and the environment for years. He wrote this for InsideSources.com.
