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作者：傑奇•艾倫•朱利安諾博士
我們，已經失去了感官和理智：
我們的觸感、我們的嗅覺，讓我們看清自己的能力；
我們，狂暴地強制又壓迫著一切，不為身體與靈魂而停歇，
危害著地球，傷害著自己；
我們叫停。
--丹尼爾•馬丁
正當你自以為已經見怪不怪時，有件事會讓你驚訝。在近五年來，市場行銷發現：如果你把產品冠上「綠色」的稱號，你就可以進入迅速成長注重環保的消費市場。然而，所謂綠色產品的定義仍舊是模擬兩可。
這個稱號已經被用在產品、流程，及人上頭，但最奇怪而且最諷刺的，大概是美國軍方從1994年開始研發的「綠色子彈」。
綠色子彈並沒有設計成殺傷力較小，也不是比較不痛。綠色子彈指的是無鉛子彈。
「綠色子彈」（照片提供 美軍環境中心）
美國報紙在五月大幅報導這則新聞時，似乎並沒有看出「綠色」用在子彈上的諷刺。不過有其他國家看出來了，像是「西澳洲人（West
Australian）」的頭條報導所說：綠色子彈對人類並不是如此地友善。
美國軍方至今大約花費了1,200萬來製造對環境較為友善的5.56釐米子彈。這種子彈是所有步兵都配備的M-16步槍所使用。
每年所有新兵訓練，M-16發射出的子彈估計約有兩億發。而都市的不斷擴充，使得平民百姓與原本孤立的軍方設施越來越近，環境法規因此隨之而來。
『我們希望成為好的環境經理者』軍方發言人凱倫•貝克五月時對「聯合新聞（the
Associated Press）」這麼說。
『軍方試著在測試訓練及環境法規之間尋求兩全之策…雖然資源已經極為受限，我們還是盡力達成兩者的平衡，』安特衛普少將年初在參議院聽證會上說，畢竟，他說：『美國軍方的主要任務是：在軍事衝突中打仗，並且戰勝。』
在給五角大廈的2,960億預算中，只有43億被用在和環境有關的活動上。
美國士兵（照片提供
美國軍方）
子彈中的鉛，在這幾十年來一直嚴重破壞著環境。數以百萬被獵人射中的鳥類和其它野生動物，由於子彈含鉛有毒，因而死得又緩慢、又痛苦。
人類也因而受苦。人們若吃下體內含鉛的野生動物，則毒素就會在他們體內累積。世界各地的靶場，都有人出現鉛中毒的反應，因為他們呼吸了含鉛的空氣，他們還可能不知不覺地將含鉛的泥土帶回家裡。
『非常可能地，在美國一共3200個戶外靶場，都有高度鉛污染的問題。若這些區域要拿來做工業或住宅用途的話，必須要費力地清理才能安全使用。』「環境工作團隊（Environmental
Working Group）」的研究執行長珍•胡利漢說道。
環境工作團隊在今年初發表的研究發現：戶外靶場所排放的鉛，比美國許多其他的主要工業部門更多。
已有數百萬磅的鉛素滲入，污染了地下水，且破壞了生態系統脆弱的平衡。
歷來一直不受眾多環境法規限制的軍力，開始採用鎢來取代M-16步槍子彈中的鉛素。軍方聲稱，在2005年當這種新款子彈取代舊有的含鉛子彈時，這項改變將會去除對土壤的污染。
這看來比較安全，至少在我們發現鎢對環境的不良影響之前。
鉛，只是子彈所製造出的環境問題之一角。用來將子彈密封、防水、上漆以及發射的物質都是有毒的，而且部分還會導致癌症。
演習中的坦克（照片提供
美國軍方）
這些被取代掉的5.56釐米子彈只佔每年小口徑彈藥的一半。在訓練中，軍隊另外還發射了兩億發的7.62釐米和9釐米含鉛子彈，甚至更多的迫擊砲、大砲以及其他大型彈藥。
【文章連載】
■錯失標的－綠色子彈
(上) (下)
全文與圖片詳見：http://ens-news.com/ens/jun2001/2001L-06-27g.html
版權歸屬Environment News Service(ENS)，環境資訊協會(沈怡伶
譯， 蘇崧棱，蔡麗伶 審校)
中英對照全文：http://e-info.org.tw/issue/environ/2001/
environ01092501.htm |
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By Jackie Alan Giuliano, Ph.D.
We who have lost our sense and our senses
Our touch, our smell, our vision of who we are;
We who frantically force and press all things,
Without rest for body and spirit,
Hurting our Earth and injuring ourselves;
We call a halt.
-- Daniel Martin
Just when you thought you might have heard everything, something surprises you. In the last few years, the product marketers learned that if you call something "green," you can gain access to an ever growing market of consumers who are concerned about the environment. The definition of what makes a product green, however, has remained ambiguous.
The term is being applied to products, processes, and people, but possibly the strangest and most ironic use of the term comes from the U.S. Army which has been working to develop the "green bullet" since 1994.
A green bullet is not designed to kill less or to be less painful. A green bullet is a lead free bullet.
Green bullets" (Photo courtesy U.S. Army Environmental Center)
U.S. newspapers didn't appear to see the irony of the
green designation for a bullet when they covered the story extensively
in May. Other nations did, as is shown by the "West
Australian" newspaper's headline for the story that read
"Green bullets not so people-friendly."
The Army has spent about $12 million so far to make a
more environmentally friendly 5.56 mm bullet for the M-16 rifle, a
weapon issued to every Army infantry soldier.
An estimated 200 million rounds are fired each year from this weapon by all soldiers in training. Urban sprawl is bringing civilians to the property line of military facilities that used to be quite isolated. Along with the civilians come their environmental laws.
"We want to be good stewards of the environment," said Army spokeswoman Karen Baker to the Associated Press in May.
"As the Army tries to balance its testing and training mission with its requirement to comply with environmental regulations ... we are pushing already severely constrained resources to the breaking point," Maj. Gen. R.L. Van Antwerp told a Senate hearing earlier this year. After all, he said, "The primary mission of the United States Army is to fight and win in armed conflict."
Of the Pentagon's $296 billion budget, a mere $4.3 billion is spent on environmental activities.
American soldiers (Photo courtesy U.S. Army)
Lead from bullets of soldiers, hunters, and other gun users has been wreaking havoc in the environment for decades. Birds and other wildlife by the millions ingest lead shot from hunters' shotguns and suffer lingering, painful deaths from lead poisoning.
Humans suffer too. Those who eat wildlife with lead in their systems will accumulate lead in their own bodies. Humans at shooting ranges around the world are also showing the effects of lead poisoning as they breathe air filled with lead. They may unwittingly take home to their families lead in the soil from those ranges.
"It's very likely that every one of the 3,200 outdoor firing ranges in the U.S. is so highly contaminated with lead that a massive cleanup effort would be required to make it safe for any other industrial or residential use," said Environmental Working Group (EWG) research director Jane
Houlihan.
A study by the EWG released earlier this year found that that outdoor firing ranges put more lead into the environment than many other major industrial sectors in the U.S.
Millions of pounds of lead have leached into the Earth, poisoning groundwater and upsetting ecosystem delicate balances.
The armed forces, historically exempt from many environmental regulations, have settled on tungsten to replace the lead in M-16 bullets, a move the Army says will eliminate soil contamination by 2005 when the new bullet will have replaced the old lead ones.
That appears safer at least until we discover the currently unknown effects that tungsten may have on the environment.
The lead in bullets is only a part of the environmental problem they create. Chemicals used for sealing, waterproofing, painting the bullet and propelling the slug are toxic, and some are cancer causing.
Tank on maneuvers (Photo courtesy U.S. Army)
The 5.56 mm bullet being replaced accounts for only half the small caliber ammunition used annually. Troops shoot another 200 million rounds of lead based 7.62 mm and 9 mm bullets and even more mortars, artillery and other large ammunition during training.
http://ens-news.com/ens/jun2001/2001L-06-27g.html |
