Pointless invasion will only fuel more misery

AS Russia raged, all guns blazing, to invade Ukraine this week I couldn’t help but shed a tear over the God awful world we live in and what this outrageous war could mean for us all.

I’m devastated for the people who died and were injured as bombs rained down in targeted airstrikes on the country, as well as those who lost loved ones and had to flee their lives and homes.

It hasn’t been an easy few years, even without this fresh hell.

Already the world is grappling with climate and biodiversity emergencies that are bringing drought and famine to some of the poorest people.

The UK and Ireland have been battered by a seemingly never-ending series of storms, while fuel prices are going through the roof – and we are not out of the Covid woods yet.

In the midst of all the horror now being inflicted on the people of Ukraine, a number of thoughts come to mind. War is dirty in every way. As well as the death and destruction it brings, it is environmentally devastating.

Looking back, I think it’s rather telling Putin was one of the few world leaders who didn’t bother showing up at COP26 to talk about how we save ourselves from the damage we are already inflicting causing climate and biodiversity crises.

Maybe he was already planning to bomb Ukraine and didn’t care for the hypocrisy – we will never know.

What we do know is that war directly costs lives, and thanks to research at the Watson Institute at Brown University in the US, it’s clear war is a key contributor to climate change because of the oil and gas that fuels it.

Their work found the US military alone has created around 1.2 billion metric tons of greenhouse gases since 2001, with more than 400 million metric tons directly attributed to war-related fuel consumption.

While we know their work was based on Pentagon fuel use, climate change and the costs of war for the US, I think it’s fair to say their findings show just how high the price of war is for us all. Aside from the fuel emissions, bombing also causes direct environmental harm through air pollution and the toxic dust people and wildlife are left to breathe.

Water sources can be contaminated and pollution linked to the Iraq war may have caused cancer, birth defects and other health conditions. So, as if the people of Ukraine aren’t already facing enough, the aftermath of what’s being inflicted on them could potentially play out for years to come.

The last thing any of them or us need is this unwanted, unwarranted and frankly disgusting war, especially at a time when world leaders should be pulling together to save the planet for future generations.

But not only that.

Amid the horror of news pages filled to the brim with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine were warnings about how one man’s machismo could literally add thousands of pounds to family fuel bills here.

Russia is one of the world’s biggest suppliers of both oil and gas.

In recent weeks we learned their threat to invade Ukraine had already caused price increases for hard-hit families.

So if this war, as well as those fought over fossil fuels in the past, should teach us anything, it’s that we should all be doing our damnedest to escape the rat wheel oil and gas rich countries have us spinning in.

How will we ever be able to control our own destinies and keep the costs of vital fuels down if a handful of countries the world over have us all in their grip?

The EU is Russia’s largest trading partner, taking almost three quarters of its gas exports and half its oil in 2021.

Maybe if Europe didn’t rely on Russia’s fossil fuels so much, Putin wouldn’t have had the money or power to do what he has done.

THUG Putin

Maybe Putin was already planning to bomb Ukraine

TARGETED Aftermath of attack on Kyiv