Nuclear Weapons and the Treadmill of Destruction in the Making of the Anthropocene

Michael Lengefeld

doi:10.5195/jwsr.2020.982

Abstract

This research analyzes the human dimensions of environmental degradation and injustice in the age of nuclear weapons. Human societies are fundamentally linked to global environmental systems and are transforming ecological conditions in dramatic ways, such that the current epoch has been termed the Anthropocene. This article highlights the human health consequences, ecological transformations, and threats to biodiversity imposed by military institutions in the Anthropocene; emphasizing how these outcomes can be traced to specific interrelated sets of processes and generative conditions. I advance the treadmill of destruction theory as one useful theoretical framework for examining these socio-ecological interrelationships. The investigation focuses on the institutional foundations of nuclear war strategy and preparations for nuclear war, and their interactions with ecosystems. I provide an analysis of the American nuclear weapons production process, revealing how a treadmill of destruction emerged after World War II. This analysis of how the developmental dynamics of nuclear weapons have changed over time brings greater clarity to the Anthropocene concept and the distinct role of military institutions in shaping the new era.

Highlights

This journal is published by the University Library System, University of Pittsburgh as part of its D-Scribe Digital Publishing Program and is cosponsored by the University of Pittsburgh Press
I suggest that one way to further the debate over the Anthropocene is through a more careful analysis of the ways in which the developmental dynamics of nuclear weapons production have changed over time
I focus on the institutional foundations of nuclear weapons production in the United States from the Manhattan Project to the present

Summary

Introduction

This journal is published by the University Library System, University of Pittsburgh as part of its D-Scribe Digital Publishing Program and is cosponsored by the University of Pittsburgh Press. The third step illustrates this argument by considering the case of American nuclear weapons development since the Manhattan Project and the human health and ecological consequences of the logic and processes of the treadmill of destruction.

Results

Conclusion