By Jeanne Trubek
1. The war has killed or wounded over one million people, civilians and combatants, Ukrainians and Russians, and has displaced more than 11 million people.
2. The war has caused more than $56.4 billion in damage to the environment
3. Landscape destruction, shelling, wildfires, deforestation, and pollution have adversely affected 30% of Ukraine’s protected areas.
4. Because Ukraine and Russia are two major suppliers of energy, food, and fertilizer, the war has had a profound impact on global food security.
5. The war has caused major increases in air pollution throughout the region.
6. Wildfires have occurred frequently and spread extensively because of military operations and an inadequate number of firefighters. In 2022, there were 25 times more forest fires than in 2021
7. The war has increased Ukraine’s vulnerability to climate change and complicated its efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions . During the first 12 months of the war, an estimated 21.9 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalents were released due to war-related activities and an additional 17.7 million tons were released from war-related fires.
8. 57% of the people of Ukraine support an end to the war and a start to negotiations NOW.
The U.S. Congress has appropriated more than $174.2 billion in supplemental funding for the U.S. response to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine since February 2022. This funding was enacted through five supplemental appropriations acts. The most recent supplemental appropriation was signed into law on April 24, 2024 and provided nearly $61 billion to address the conflict in Ukraine.
If those funds were redirected from the killing fields to negotiation and freed up for addressing domestic problems, just think of what could be accomplished.
We could have:
9. Improved health care for all.
10. Improved education, from pre-school through community college or trade school.
11. Disaster relief, very needed as we have seen this fall.
12. Affordable housing – genuinely affordable.
13. Housing and social services for undomiciled people.
14. Improved mental health services and support for veterans..
15. Clean air, clean water.
16. Major investments in non-polluting mass transit throughout the country and in other ways to reduce green-house gases
And the biggest reason of all to Stop Killing and Start Negotiating is that every day of war brings us closer to the possibility of world-wide nuclear war! If we want human life on this, our only, planet, to continue, we MUST build cooperation worldwide – to resolve differences without war, to cooperate to address the climate crisis, to cooperate to address starvation around the globe.
It’s time to stop using our resources for destruction.
It’s time to start using our resources to improve the lives of people.
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