A bumper crop of Afghan opium was produced in 2007, which is expected to be repeated in 2008. Despite these record poppy crops, farmers are deeply in debt. The average Afghan poppy grower’s per capita income is about $300, and farmers have to borrow money for seeds, fertilizer, food, and basic necessities from traffickers. The farmers are unable to pay their debts when their crops are eradicated, or they are pressured by local governments and westerners to stop growing. Westerners don’t keep promises to provide free seeds for substitute crops, and creditors demand child wives in payment for debts. The growers’ daughters are called “opium flowers“, and moneylenders seek them out in case of crop failure or family emergency.

It is a traditional Afghan custom for a family to pay off a debt by marrying a daughter to a relative of the creditor. Now the practice is being used to pay off debts to drug traffickers. Mr Isamuddin, 68, stopped growing poppies because of a government crack down; further up the valley helicopters sprayed the poppy fields with insecticide. He explained, “”If people here cannot earn enough to feed their families, they will start growing opium again.”

Even though production of Afghan opium is high, world demand has not increased largely. Afghanistan is accused of stockpiling opium, and the US supports aerial spraying programs for eradication. Afghan and British officials oppose aerial spraying, as it would increase support for the Taliban for fear the herbicide would poison growers and their families. The Bush administration supports expansion of eradication programs, whereas Afghanistan wants to emphasize long-term crop substitution for opium poppy plants.

One goal of the drug war is increase prices in order to deter usage, only the ones profiting from such prohibition are the drug traffickers. The farmers have tried other crops, such as wheat, but poppies bring in 10 times the amount and are hardier than grains. It is the only reliable cash crop they know. Opium growers ask for advances on their crops from the drug traffickers, which they are then unable to pay. Sayed Shah was forced to pay his debt to a trafficker with the marriage of his 9-year-old daughter. According to Newsweek:

Shah borrowed $2,000 from a local trafficker, promising to repay the loan with 24 kilos of opium at harvest time. Late last spring, just before harvest, a government crop-eradication team appeared at the family’s little plot of land in Laghman province and destroyed Shah’s entire two and a half acres of poppies… “I never imagined I’d have to pay for growing opium by giving up my daughter,” says Shah…”It’s my fate,” the child says.

Poppy eradication causes many Afghan daughters to be turned into child brides. Whether a farmer loses his crop to Drug War eradication or his substitute wheat crop fails, US policies should not be causing such practices to continue in Central Asia. “Until the end of my life I will feel shame because of what I did to my daughter,” said a former poppy grower. “I still can’t look her in the eye.”

Image: Afghan Hope Charity

As it rages on five years later, perhaps one should spare a moment to reflect on the environmental effects of the war in Iraq.

How much has the war contributed to global warming? We can now debate the war on the scales of environmental justice and evidence is emerging that the damage on the environment and the global warming effects that this war has caused calls for all of us to pause and think.

Here’s some of the evidence, according to an advance report, A Climate of War (pdf), just released by Oil Change International:

1. US spending on Iraq enough for global renewable energy investments
US spending on the Iraq war could cover all of the global investments in renewable power generation that are needed between now and 2030 in order to halt current warming trends.

2. 141 million metric tons of CO2 equivalent (MMTCO2e) emissions since March 2003 and still counting…
• CO2 released by the war to date equals the emissions from putting 25 million more cars on the road in the US this year. These stem from fuel-intensive combat, oil well fires and
increased gas flaring, the boom in cement consumption due to reconstruction efforts and security needs, and heavy use of explosives and chemicals that contribute to global warming.
• If the war was ranked as a country in terms of emissions, it would emit more CO2 each year than 139 of the world’s nations do annually. Falling between New Zealand and Cuba, the war each year emits more than 60% of all countries.
• Emissions from the Iraq War to date are nearly two and a half times greater than what would be avoided between 2009 and 2016 were California to implement the auto emission regulations it has proposed, but that the Bush Administration has struck down.

3. For $600 billion, 9000 wind farms would be a better investment
Just the $600 billion that Congress has allocated for military operations in Iraq to date could have built over 9000 wind farms (at 50 MW capacity each), with the overall capacity to meet a quarter of the country’s current electricity demand.

4. War in Iraq or Renewable Energy: What cost more?
In 2006, the US spent more on the war in Iraq than the whole world spent on investment in renewable energy. According to the UN Environment Programme, $100 billion in investments was poured into renewable energy and energy efficiency in 2006, in comparison with a total of $ 121.8 billion that the US spent in Iraq ($101.9 billion) and Afghanistan ($19.1 billion) plus enhanced security at ($0.8 billion).

5. The debate over $150 billion: 10 years for green or 10 months for war
US presidential candidate Barack Obama has committed to spending “$150 billion over 10 years to advance the next generation of green energy technology and infrastructure”, according to a posting on his website. That is the princely sum that the US spends on the war in Iraq in just 10 months.

An oily reflection on Gallon per Soldier
Each American soldier in Iraq uses 16 gallons of oil per day, in terms of consumption on combat planes, helicopters, and armored vehicles to conduct basic operations — four times as much as soldiers in Operation Desert Storm and 16 times as much as those of World War II. An F-16 fighter uses about 20 gallons of fuel per minute. This translates to 3.5 millions gallons per day or 1.3 billion per year for the 162,000 soldiers in Iraq, 24,000 in Afghanistan, and 30,000 in the surrounding region.

A Priority Gone Awry?
The National Priorities Project estimates that around $501 billion has been spent as of March 2008, based on current expenditure rates. According to economist Joseph Stiglitz, the rate of U.S. expenditure in Iraq is approximately $12 billion a month; this is enough to build 8 million houses, pay wages for 15 million teachers, pay for the child care of 530 million kids, pay for the scholarship of 43 million students, or offer social safety net over 50 years to Americans.

Resources:
Polaris Institute: The Pentagon as Global Gas-Guzzler
Environmentalists Against War: Ten Reasons Environmentalists Oppose an Attack on Iraq

Photo credit: James Gordon via Flickr

“If you have come to help me you are wasting your time. But if you have come because your liberation is bound with mine, then let us work together.” This phrase, from an activist Aboriginal group in Queensland, Australia, seems to sum up perfectly a solar energy movement led by women a world away from Queensland.

Barefoot College, in India, is training middle-aged women from rural villages in Bolivia, Afghanistan, Gambia, Ethiopia, Mali, Cameroon, and Sierra Lione to be solar engineers. After training, the women return to their homes to install solar electricity units with the support of the communities.

Via: Green Girls Global