Remembrance Day, held each year on November 11, is a day of commemoration for the individuals who lost their lives in the First World War. During this time of remembering, many nations also choose Remembrance Day to honour all the individuals that have died during times of war. One the eleventh day, of the eleventh month at the eleventh hour we shall remember.
The First World War was the 'war to end all wars', 1914-18, and the people that fought during this time did so because they thought they could make a difference. I wonder what the people that sacrificed their lives would think of the world today. Would they be proud of Canada's role of peacekeepers? After-all, they did fight in a war that they were determined would be the last one. What would they think of the soldiers in Afghanistan?
Wednesday, as I attend the Remembrance Day ceremonies at the cenotaph, I will think of the importance of the day, respecting the tremendous sacrifices that all troops give when offering their lives for the freedom of others...sadly thinking of the people around the world who are still fighting over resources, land, and past grievances. I will think of the possible wars to come because there will be so many eco-refugees moving from place to place due to the lack of water, good farmland and the rising sea levels.
As well as remembering past wars, it is important that we work to ensure there are no more future wars. War has an enormous impact on the planet – socially, morally, psychologically, financially and also a devastating environmental impact. We’ve all seen pictures of the horrific battlefields, with scarred trees, burned oil fields, destroyed crops and bomb craters, but there is so much more to it than that.
The twentieth century technology has ensured a more lethal harvest. For example, landmines: planted in millions of war-torn countries across the world, killing and maiming long after wars are over, and denying agricultural use of the land in which they are hidden. Also, it is the testing and manufacturing of the nuclear bomb, which has been responsible for some of the most profound and persistent environmental damage around the globe. Nuclear waste is a global problem that won’t go away, threatening environmental disaster on a huge scale.
The earth’s environment is battered by war, its preparation, practice and aftermath. It is destroyed as an act of war; it is used as a weapon of war; and its destruction is expensive and sometimes irreversible. Its involvement with war is often secret, widely ignored, and easily forgotten – until now.
Just as veterans have offered their lives for a cause they believe in, I can also have the strength and power in me to take on the tasks that face us today, like the global climate crisis, with faith that we can make a difference and together we can change the world.
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