From the legend of the Romans’ salting of the fields of Carthage, to Iraq’s burning of Kuwait’s oilfields, to Israel’s bulldozing of Palestinian olive groves, wanton acts of environmental destruction have long been a military tactic.
But while armies and their leaders have been held to account for the human victims of their violence, the natural world has been a silent victim, often overlooked and disregarded, even when its destruction has had a material impact on the lives of the people it supports.
