Scarred Lands and Wounded Lives: The Environmental Footprint of War

Release date: October 18, 2007 |

Climate change, falling water tables, shrinking species diversity — these environmental threats are all well known. Filmmakers Alice and Lincoln Day will discuss the often-overlooked environmental consequences of war and the preparation for war on Thursday, October 18, at 7:30 p.m. in Buchner Hall of Goucher College’s Alumnae/i House.

The Days will also show excerpts from their film Scarred Lands and Wounded Lives: The Environmental Footprint of War, a documentary that demonstrates how armed conflict — from the production of weapons through combat to the cleanup and restoration — pollutes land, air, and water; destroys biodiversity; drains natural resources; and diverts financial and intellectual resources away from addressing environmental concerns.

This event is free and open to the public. Contact Wendy Belzer Litzke, special assistant to the president, at 410-337-6042 or wendy.litzke@goucher.edu for more information.

Through interviews and personal accounts with scientists, field workers, military personnel, and people whose lives have been directly affected by the environmental consequences of war, Scarred Lands traces the entire arc of war. 

The film is set in developed nations such as the United States, which, although spared from recent combat on its own soil, nonetheless faces long-term consequences of weapons testing and nuclear waste. The film also visits Bosnia, Kuwait, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Sudan — countries that have suffered extensive environmental damage resulting from heavy armed conflict or enduring tribal hostilities.

Alice and Lincoln Day, who are the film’s co-producers, writers, and directors, have been working for decades on projects focusing mainly on peace, population, and the environment. The idea for Scarred Lands came as a result of the Days’ participation in the Environmental Film Festival in Washington, D.C., over many years. They found that the festival covered a wide range of other threats to the environment, but nothing drawing attention to the damage that results from armed conflict.