Description
This paper is part of a research project that seeks to conceptualize chemical warfare and the toxic nature of war as a part of current ecological upheavals. Acknowledging how toxicity is a trait and a remnant of war, the paper examines current efforts of Euro-American militaries to “green” themselves and adopt more environmentally friendly practices. Based on empirical investigations of what such efforts encapsulate and what they omit, the paper explores what the notion of “sustainable war” might mean for bodies and ecologies. “Sustainable war”, the paper speculates, is a “green” or “pure” war that achieves its killing without leaving any ecological trace, but it can also be a war that is sustainable because of an indefinite enemy concept (the war on terror) or lack of Euro-American corpses (drone warfare). Ultimately, the paper asks whether one ought to follow Alexis Shotwell in being “against purity”: Perhaps the more ethical war is the unsustainable one.
