Warheads to Windmills: How to Pay for a Green New Dealwas officially launched in Congress on June 20th, with the endorsement of the Sierra Club and support of Representatives Jim McGovern and Barbara Lee. Rep. Jim McGovern has been a staunch supporter of both the Green New Deal and the campaign to eliminate nuclear weapons. He suggested that a Congressional hearing could “make these connections, how we can transition from one industry to another.”MORE
In the most recent episode of the At The Brink podcast, members of the Bulletin's Science and Security Board join other scholars, advocates, and policy makers in clearly outlining the destabilizing costs and effects of nuclear modernization (testing).Listen here.
BE INFORMED AND TAKE ACTION WITH PEACE ACTION AND CONGRESS
TRUMP ENDANGERS WORLD BY REJECTING OPEN SKIES TREATY AND DISCUSING RESUMPTION OF US NUCLEAR WEAPONS TESTING
U.S. nuclear weapons testing, in 2020
Jon Rainwater, Peace Action
5-28-20
6:45 AM (9 hours ago)
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.
to me
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.
Dear Peace Action supporter,
Last week, Trump announced that he is pulling the U.S. out of the Open Skies Treaty, a multilateral agreement among 34 countries that allows countries to conduct reconnaissance flights in order to provide transparency regarding military activities.
This latest reckless move makes the world significantly less safe, as the entire point of the Open Skies Treaty is to allow for reconnaissance flights at short notice to lessen the uncertainty about a nation’s military intentions, acting as a safeguard against a potentially devastating miscalculation.
Our ally Congressman Ro Khanna denounced the move, telling The Nation magazine “If there was ever a moment to strengthen our international ties, this is it. The last thing the world needs is more instability. This decision undermines global arms control efforts, and only makes war more likely.”
It does not just make war more likely - it makes nuclear war more likely.
As you may know, preventing nuclear war was what we were founded to do, and our job is now as important as it’s ever been since we began in 1957. Friend, with your help we can fight these dangerous moves taking us back to a Cold War nuclear status - please pitch in what you can today!
I wish the tragedy of Trump’s recent abhorrent nuclear policies stopped there, but it doesn’t. There is also now discussion inside the White House about resuming U.S. nuclear weapons testing. The Washington Post broke the story that the prospect of restarting testing came up in a meeting with officials from top national security agencies earlier this month.
While it’s reported that a decision to resume testing hasn’t yet been made, a senior administration official was quoted saying the proposal is "very much an ongoing conversation."
The danger to our safety from a move like this can’t be understated. Any U.S. nuclear weapons test creates an open invitation for all other nuclear-armed nations to resume testing.
Think about this scenario - with no shared aerial reconnaissance and the signature reading of a nuclear weapons test, we’re potentially just a matter of minutes from a mistaken catastrophic nuclear exchange!
And it’s important to remember, a singular nuclear blast could kill at least 3x the number of people COVID-19 has accounted for, within just minutes, and several times more as the radioactive fallout from the blast spreads.
Thank you for helping stop this nuclear nightmare,
Jon Rainwater Peace Action
P.S. Testing a nuclear weapon also has immediate health impacts on Americans. The 2nd most heavy fallout U.S. test was an underground explosion which released radiation that traveled from Nevada to states as far away as Nebraska, Iowa, South Dakota, and Illinois. Help us ensure this never, ever happens again with a gift of any size today.
Peace Action P.O. Box 8637 Silver Spring, MD 20907 United States
TAKE ACTION WITH BEYOND THE BOMB AND CONGRESSTO STOP NUCLEAR TESTING
Join us to meet with members of Congress to oppose Trump’s belligerence!
Beyond the Bombcampaigns@beyondthebomb.orgvia email.actionnetwork.org 7-27-20
9:01 AM (1 minute ago)
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.
to me
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.
ACTION
Dick,
We hope this message finds you well. Although it’s certainly a difficult time, we’re as committed as ever to speak truth to power. That’s why, over the last month, we’ve been meeting with members of Congressto demand that they support sensible nuclear weapons policies. And, that’s why we’re calling on you to sign up for a meeting with your members of Congress.
We need to dramatically rearrange our priorities - to stop investing in death and start investing in life. We simply cannot afford to spend trillions of dollars on nuclear weapons. Our issue is an urgent one. On May 22, it was reported that the Trump administration is considering resuming nuclear testing for the first time since 1992. We shouldn’t be escalating tensions with other countries; we need to de-escalate for the sake of the entire world. Our elected officials in Congress must step up to challenge the Trump administration’s belligerent policies.
LEARN ABOUT THE FIRST AND THE 200 ATOMIC BOMB TESTS AND TAKE COMPENSATORY ACTION WITH NIRS AND CONGRESS
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.
Take action for the Downwinders8-9-20
Nuclear Information and Resource Servicevia mail.salsalabs.net
8:03 AM (1 hour ago)
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.
to me
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.
Dear Dick,
This week we commemorate two tragic anniversaries: The dropping of the first atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, and the release of the second bomb on Nagasaki three days later.
These come on the heels of yet another tragic anniversary: The first atomic bomb test, called ‘Trinity’, was conducted in south central New Mexico on July 16, 1945. The communities affected by this test are still living with the consequences of Trinity and over 200 similar nuclear weapons tests—and they haven’t been fully recognized or compensated yet for their decades of pain and suffering.
In 1990, Congress passed a law meant to compensate victims of atomic bomb testing, but it doesn’t go nearly far enough and will expire in 2022. A bill in the House of Representatives—H.R.3783, the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act Amendments of 2019—would expand compensation more fully to those affected by the tests. But Rep. Jerrold Nadler, chair of the House Judiciary Committee, hasn’t even scheduled a hearing for the bill yet.
The current law compensates residents in parts of Nevada, Utah, Colorado and Arizona who were Downwinders from the Nevada Test Site, but it expires in two years. The new law would extend this compensation to Downwinders in New Mexico, parts of Idaho, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands, and to uranium workers who joined the industry after 1971. It would also extend the compensation fund to 2045.
Compensating the Downwinders is especially important now that we’re in the middle of a pandemic. Because of their exposure to radiation from nuclear tests, Downwinders suffer from more preexisting conditions and are more immunocompromised than average Americans. This makes them more vulnerable to the effects of Covid-19 than other populations.
This week we mourn the victims of Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and the Trinity test. But we can do more than just mourn. We can start setting things right. Compensating the Downwinders is the first step in the right direction.
Thanks for all you do,
The NIRS Team
Diane D'Arrigo Luis Hestres Denise Jakobsberg Tim Judson
MORE ABOUT TRINITY from the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (8-10-20)
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.
Trinity Photographic Essay
Einstein Circle member David Wargowski, who is also on the advisory board of the Atomic Photographers Guild, is publishing hundreds of photographs on his social media accounts to mark the 75th anniversaries of the nuclear weapons era. Visit his work on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram.
Bulletin columnist Sara Kutchesfahani dives into the 1945 Franck Report, in which seven prominent scientists urged President Truman not to use the atomic bomb on Japan. And she imagines what Eugene Rabinowitch, principal author of the report and Bulletin co-founder, might have said about Hiroshima and Nagasaki if he were alive today. Read more.
TAKE ACTIONS WITH THE WAR RESISTERS LEAGUE
We Want a Nuclear Disarmament Race
War Resisters League8-10-20
8:15 AM (4 minutes ago)
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.
Dear Friends,
To create a safer world and begin the process of healing, the United States – which unilaterally began the nuclear arms race 75 years ago and is the only country to have used nuclear weapons in war -- is obligated to issue an apology to the Japanese and Korean people, make reparation payments to the atomic bomb survivors (hibakusha), and, declare nuclear weapons to be a crime against humanity, immediately. The United States should also unilaterally begin a nuclear disarmament race by dismantling its nuclear weapons without waiting for treaties with other countries to do the same.
* lobby Congress in support of the UN’s 2017 Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons
* write letters to your newspaper, do a blog, post messages and photos in social media
* participate in or organize vigils, pickets, boycotts, marches, rallies, nonviolent direct action in your community to create what John Lewis termed “good trouble”
* consider openly refusing to pay some or all of your income taxes for nuclear weapons and war (for more information, see www.warresisters.org and www.nwtrcc.org), and instead reroute those taxes to help fund organizations and community efforts seeking to create a better world
We hope you'll also consider...
Reading Early Opposition to the Atomic Bomb Came From Black America from WRL member Dan Park
It's possible to end war, but it will take all of us. War Resisters League needs every single person to stand with us in the fight against US imperialism, militarism, and the expanding war machine during a time where fascists are in power across multiple countries. Like what you're reading? Forward this email to a friend. New readers can subscribe here.
If you really need to take a break, you can click here to unsubscribe – and we hope you'll join us again!
US Congressman Ted Lieu writes that "The lessons learned from this pandemic make the case for re-thinking the United States’ national security framework to decide which investments truly improve US national security and which seek to win yesterday’s wars." Read more.
END UN INTERNATIONAL DAY AGAINST NUCLEAR WEAPONS TESTS, NEWSLETTER #5
