Colonies and U.S. territories suffer the worst base environmental damage
Evidence
It is no coincidence that places under colonial or semicolonial rule, such as the Philippines, Panama, Okinawa, and Puerto Rico, have experienced some of the worst environmental damage from U.S. bases. The same disregard for the environment that the military has shown at bases abroad has also been the case on bases in U.S. territories lacking the full protections of the Constitution. — David Vine, Base Nation_ How U.S. Military Bases…, 416
Categorization
Category: Causal Relationships
- XREF: Connects to the book’s broader argument that lack of constitutional protections correlates with harm done to host populations — echoes treatment of Filipinos, Chamorros, and Okinawans.
Related
- Colonial and semicolonial territories suffer the worst base environmental damage. (similarity 0.96)
- Worst base pollution coincides with places lacking full constitutional protections. (similarity 0.93)
- Overseas bases cause environmental damage, crime, displacement, and colonial relations (similarity 0.85)
- Military bases concentrate environmental harm in poorer non-Western communities (similarity 0.85)
- U.S. military base environmental harms fall disproportionately on colonized, poorer people of color (similarity 0.84)
- US bases on Puerto Rico and Okinawa form colonial relationships that impoverish both islands. (similarity 0.81)
- Military bases magnify environmental harm beyond what any civilian concentration causes (similarity 0.79)
- US military bases abroad routinely avoid environmental standards mandated by US law (similarity 0.79)
- Nearly every military base contains toxic chemicals and hazardous waste. (similarity 0.78)
Broader Connections
- Postwar decolonization forced the military to maintain colonies under new guises via bases
#complicates(0.50) — David Vine, Base Nation_ How U.S. Military Bases…, 260