Preventing Exploitation of the Environoment he International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict calls to mind Pope Francis. The day itself is

an initiative of the United Nations. But like Pope Francis when he speaks of threats to human life, to peace or to our environment, the day speaks strongly and makes connections that we may have missed. The naming of this day brings together war and the environment, two things that may seem to be unconnected. The Pope, too, would have gone on to link these different scourges to inequality, which feeds wars and junks the environment.