Foe tae toed 4 — Wednesday, March 6, 1991 ~ North Shore News The eco-system another victim of Saddam’s rei LONG BEFORE the shooting started in the Gulf war, there were warnings galore that the environmental conse- quences of a fight to the finish with Saddam Hussein would be horrific. In effect, the Iraqi tyrant was going beyond the ancient concept of human shields, He was holding ‘an entire eco-system hostage. The American-led coalition has indeed done a brilliant job of destroying Saddam’s war machine. But there is an echo of the famous line from Vietnam, where villages had to be wiped out in order to save them. , Saddam has suffered military defeat. Alas, the hostage eco-system got killed in the process. How ‘‘successful”’ was the operation when the collateral damage includes a Persian Gulf clogged with crude and some 500 oil wells burning in Kuwait? We won the war but lost the en- vironment. Also virtually lost in the welter of big bold headlines proclaiming victory were the iittle stories buried deep inside most papers — and hardly mentioned at ali on television or radio — about the fires raging in Kuwait. Of course there’s a silver lining. A Canadian outfit, Safety Boss Ltd., bilied as Canada’s foremost oil well firefighter, has been hired by the Kuwaiti government to ex- tinguish the fires. It is expected tc take from six weeks to four months to put out each fire. with the entire project taking a least a year, and costing hundreds of millions of dollars. The money is beside the point. A year of burning oil wells is going to have a major en- vironmental impact. Kuwaiti crude typically has a high sulphur con- tent. : In the normal course of events, some two million tonnes of sulphur is pumped annually from the country’s wells. It would not take much of that being burned off to acidify local topsoil and water. Back in January, Iran reported black rain falling, with a ‘‘blanket of black smog” polluting drinking water in the Khonj region. The buildup of such smog over places like Kuwaiti City and Basra could result in enormous casualties, well beyond anything that happened in London back in the "50s and ’60s, when ‘“‘killer smogs"’ rolled in, tainting water so badly that its acidity approached that of battery acid. Thousands died. The thick cowl of smoke from 500 well fires burning for a year will create a kind of perpetual darkness, lowering temperatures dramatically. The long-term ef- fect, of course, will be quite the opposite, namely the release of vast quantities of greenhouse gases and an acceleration of global warming. In addition to all the carbon dioxide being released, there will be tremendous amounts of methane gas, which is 20 times more powerful as a greenhouse gas. Some scientists predict that the sooty smoke might rise as much as 10 kilometres and spread out over the middle latitudes of the Nor- thern Hemisphere. As for the waters of the Persian Gulf, a United Nations report says that the 120-kilometre oil slick is moving along the Saudi Arabian coast, spreading a million barrels of crude. “Extensive damage to sensitive Bob Hunter eco-systems is already evident,’’ meaning that coastal fisheries have been affected, as well as the habitat of several endangered species. Again, there is talk of at least a year being required to clean up the mess, and decades being re- quired before the Gulf can recov- er, if, indeed, it ever really recov- ers at ail. The legacy of the war is en- vironmental disaster, exactly as predicted by the many voices that - were raised against the use of crushing force. The bitterest irony is that the damage was inflicted with the ap- proval of the United Nations, the same body that just recently issued a 1,300-page report on the greenhouse effect, which included the prediction that the Earth’s temperature will rise by up to 4°C within the next 50 years unless drastic steps are taken to cut down on carbon eznissions. Global warming on this scale means that vast regions of the now-lush Mediterranean will become desert, places like England can expect outbreaks of malaria as fieids turn into swamps, and world grain supplies must in- evitably coliapse, meaning that Third World countries would be overrun by starving environmental refugees. This nightmare scenario is no longer the realm of science fiction. Neither is it a mere theory any longer. It is the accepted truth, as concluded by the world’s top scientists. Yet here is the same UN that sees disaster on the horizon sanc- tioning an attack in the Mideast designed precisely to keep the oil wells flowing so that fossil fuels may continue to be burned, and burned cheaply. The most shocking comment I heard in the course of the war was a radio interview with a Saudi of- ficial who vowed to keep the price of oil as Jow as possible, no mat- ter what happens, ‘‘otherwise there would be serious moves toward conservation and the de- velopment of alternative energy sources.’’ Wouldn’t want that, would we? None of the Arab states gives a damn about preventing the greenhouse effect. First of all, they know that they are selling off a non-renewable resource, so why not saueeze every penny out of it they can be- fore supplies are exhausted? As for the future, I’m sure chey write STRICTLY PERSONAL n it off as the will of God or the will of Allah. What is galling is that a similar blindness or fatalism or apathy grips the minds of policymakers in the West, and even in the hignest international circles. The Gulf war was not ‘‘won.”* Saddam was simply defeated. The Gulf itself, its air, its water, its sands, were lost. ~ 7; wall’ coverings ntial & commercial: . iS wo a . NY RS Horizontal Blinds on) Take a Celebrity home... For less! Want to impress your neighbors? Take a Celebrity home! These 1“ custom mini-blinds are made of quaiity components that can’t be matched by ready- made blinds. You'll love the fashion look, the low sale price, the custom features: © Sleek 1” headrail Spring-tempered aluminum ® ‘Trouble-free’ operation ® Over 40 high fashion colors. 25% OFF , 20% OFF ALL BLINDS PALL ORAPERY FABRICS CAPILANO DRAPERIES Celebrating our 15th Anniversary 114A West 15th St. 988-5621 North Vancouver Spa Lady Malibu Hot Tubs Playsystems Canada