"Our survival as a planet depends on drastically curbing greenhouse gas emissions in the very near future. Our survival also depends on completely eliminating the danger of nuclear weapons. By fortunate coincidence, the resources (federal funding, private funding, scientific and technical expertise, jobs and infrastructure) currently being wasted on nuclear weapons can be shifted to the production of green technologies to address the climate crisis."--Timmon Wallis, NuclearBan.US.
The threat of planetary catastrophe from both nuclear weapons and climate change seems to be rushing toward us at lightning speed. Can we act in time?
In his book Warheads to Windmills, Dr. Wallis explains in detail how, by eliminating the enormous cost of its dangerous and unusable nuclear weapons, the U.S. can provide the money necessary to jump-start the switch from carbon to clean, renewable energy by 2050. It will free up hundreds of scientists to focus on new technologies and on retraining workers who will have thousands of clean-energy jobs available as the Green New Deal is making the necessary changes. In addition to cutting the huge amount of contamination weapons production adds to the atmosphere, their elimination will go a long way to changing the international feelings of animosity and fear to cooperation among nations, which will be critical to the success of meeting the climate goal.
In the 1980s, "people power" earned credit for banning both chemical and biological weapons. But as the Cold War ended, people put their heads in the sand. We hoped the 15,000 nuclear weapons held by the U.S and Russia, some on hair-trigger alert, would be safe from serious accidents or terrorist attacks. Our mega-corporations were busy making money for stockholders and hoped people wouldn't notice the environmental problems they were causing.
Now melting ice, out-of-control burning in the rainforests, the devastating Dorian hurricane, and a 16-year-old Swedish girl are waking the world up to the enormity of the climate emergency. And a young Swedish woman who accepted the Nobel Peace Prize in 2017 for the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons is leading the push to ban the bomb as we face the prospect of another nuclear arms race with Russia.
Greta Thunberg captured the world's attention when she spoke before a United Nations meeting of world leaders asking them to listen to the children and to safeguard their future. Now she is bringing her message to the U.S. after crossing the Atlantic in a sailboat to attend student-organized school strikes Sept. 20-27, where she will demand that adults listen and take action immediately on the climate emergency.
Beatrice Fihn, executive director of ICAN, says the goal is to make nuclear weapons as unacceptable to the world as chemical and biological weapons. She reports that 122 non-nuclear nations have signed the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons and are urging the nine nuclear nations to sign in a group that they don't need the bombs for deterrence. On Aug. 31, Kazakhstan, where 110 nuclear bombs were tested during the Cold War with horrific health consequences, became the 26th nation to ratify the treaty. It will be illegal worldwide to possess, build, or prepare to build nuclear bombs when 50 nations have ratified it.
Warheads to Windmills offers us this challenge and this opportunity: "We can pull together as a planet, pay for a Green New Deal, eliminate nuclear weapons, and prioritize justice. This is not optional. Our children are speaking out to demand sensible action to safeguard our future. "--Timmon Wallis
Do we love them enough?
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Jean Gordon of Little Rock is founder of Arkansas WAND (Women's Action for New Directions).
Editorial on 09/13/2019