Military and civilian authorities are too often responsible for putting our environment at risk, not just by failing to protect the environment in general terms. Sometimes they are even directly responsible for pollution. One example is the German submarine U-864, which transported mercury when she was sunk during World War II. After 70 years, this is a lasting threat to the North Sea. Other examples are dumped nuclear reactors and lost nuclear weapons, such as on Greenland.

In Sweden, a case hase recently been revealed where tons of poison, including DDT, was deliberately dumped by authorities. Read the testimony by one of the drivers (in Swedish). Also the Swedish military is critisized for other cases, where decontamination has not been done. Not surprisingly, they have their own supervisory authority, which seems to let them get away with it (subscribers of Dagens Industri can read the article in Swedish).