The Green Zone: The Environmental Costs of Militarism

Environmentalism—it’s the word on everyone’s tongue. Reusable shopping bags, hybrid cars, and green home energy solutions allow us to reduce our carbon footprint, but it’s only the tip of the quickly melting iceberg. In the midst of the movement to save the earth, The Green Zone presents a sobering revelation: until we address the attack that the US military is waging on the global environment, the things we do at home won’t change a thing.

This new investigation by author and journalist Barry Sanders examines in detail the environmental impact of US military interventions overseas. In a period of unprecedented scrutiny surrounding the social and economic impacts of the defense policies of the US government, Sanders explores a completely different aspect of the situation and positions military activity as the single-greatest contributor to the worldwide environmental crisis, looking at everything from fuel emissions to radioactive waste to defoliation campaigns.

Based primarily on research culled from documents released or leaked by the military itself, The Green Zone is the first book to provide a comprehensive examination of the relationship between militarism and ecological destruction. Includes a powerhouse introduction by urban theorist Mike Davis.

Barry Sanders is a Fulbright Senior Scholar Grant recipient, has been nominated twice for the Pulitzer Prize, and is the author of eleven books, including Alienable Rights: The Exclusion of African Americans in a White Man’s Land; A is for Ox: Violence, Electronic Media, and the Silencing of the Written Word; and Sudden Glory: Laughter as Subversive History.