2 Ecology, War, and Nuclear Testing in the Pacific …
23
Fig. 2.1 Islanders viewing unexploded WWII ordnance in Waor Village, Nissan Atoll,
Bougainville/PNG (Photo taken during fieldwork by J. M. Luetz)
tale against the effects of war and the need to work towards peace (Barker 2013,
2017; Krieger 2017; Moruroa Files 2021).
Following the end of World War II, the United States commenced sustained testing
of nuclear weapons in the so-called “Pacific Proving Grounds” (Fig. 2.2). According
to Martin (2018),
As the rest of the world worried about the possibility of atomic violence, Marshall Islanders
lived it. Between 1946 and 1962, the [United States Atomic Energy Commission (AEC)]
conducted 105 atmospheric and underwater nuclear weapons tests at the Pacific Proving
Grounds, releasing the equivalent power of more than seven thousand Hiroshima bombs.
(p. 581, attributed to Jackson 1993)
Accounted differently, the Marshall Islands “experienced the equivalent of 1.6
Hiroshima-sized bombs every day for the twelve-year period between 1946 and
1958” (Barker 2017, p. 193). The long-term, devastating effects of these nuclear
tests in the Pacific on both U.S. veterans as well as on the natural environment have
been amply documented in the literature (Minutaglio 1994; Gwynne 2012; Martin
2018). Furthermore, these nuclear tests have imposed a profound impact on the
region and its people (Davis 2005; Barker 2013; ICAN 2014, 2017). Notably, the
land became contaminated by high levels of radiation, which meant that it was no
longer safe for habitation or food production (Barker 2017). Davis (2005) notes how
involuntary islander relocations were justified on the grounds of both the presumed
U.S. ethnocentric superiority and the region’s ascribed geographic peripherality:
23
Fig. 2.1 Islanders viewing unexploded WWII ordnance in Waor Village, Nissan Atoll,
Bougainville/PNG (Photo taken during fieldwork by J. M. Luetz)
tale against the effects of war and the need to work towards peace (Barker 2013,
2017; Krieger 2017; Moruroa Files 2021).
Following the end of World War II, the United States commenced sustained testing
of nuclear weapons in the so-called “Pacific Proving Grounds” (Fig. 2.2). According
to Martin (2018),
As the rest of the world worried about the possibility of atomic violence, Marshall Islanders
lived it. Between 1946 and 1962, the [United States Atomic Energy Commission (AEC)]
conducted 105 atmospheric and underwater nuclear weapons tests at the Pacific Proving
Grounds, releasing the equivalent power of more than seven thousand Hiroshima bombs.
(p. 581, attributed to Jackson 1993)
Accounted differently, the Marshall Islands “experienced the equivalent of 1.6
Hiroshima-sized bombs every day for the twelve-year period between 1946 and
1958” (Barker 2017, p. 193). The long-term, devastating effects of these nuclear
tests in the Pacific on both U.S. veterans as well as on the natural environment have
been amply documented in the literature (Minutaglio 1994; Gwynne 2012; Martin
2018). Furthermore, these nuclear tests have imposed a profound impact on the
region and its people (Davis 2005; Barker 2013; ICAN 2014, 2017). Notably, the
land became contaminated by high levels of radiation, which meant that it was no
longer safe for habitation or food production (Barker 2017). Davis (2005) notes how
involuntary islander relocations were justified on the grounds of both the presumed
U.S. ethnocentric superiority and the region’s ascribed geographic peripherality: