"Written by ... Arthur H. Westing." Includes bibliographical references (pages 207-241) and index.

The human environment -- Temperate regions -- Tropical regions -- Desert regions -- Artic regions -- Islands -- The ocean -- The global ecology. "Among the crucial problems that confront mankind today are those associated with a degraded environment. This book examines the extent to which warfare and other military activities contribute to such degradation. The military capability to damage the environment and to cause ecological disruption has escalated, and there is no sign that the level of conflict in the world is decreasing. The military use and abuse of each of the several major global habitats -- temperate, tropical, desert, arctic, insular, and oceanic -- are evalusated separately in the light of the civil use and abuse of that habitat"--Jacket.