By Joan Blades
Nuclear weapons are the other mega issue we are failing to address. These weapons can end the world as we know it in a day- for all humanity. Mutually assured destruction worked when we had 2 super powers and weapons were tightly controlled. But things have changed. More countries have nuclear weapons. Nuclear weapons have gone missing. Terrorists have become key players on the world stage. And now we have two world leaders that control nuclear weapons playing chicken.
Nuclear weapons must never be used again. We successfully reduced our worldwide nuclear weapons stockpile from over 60,000 to about 15,000 in the later part of last century. Of the remaining ~15,000 weapons a large number are stockpiled or even slated for demolition. Unfortunately this still leaves us with enough nuclear weapons on hand to obliterate “intelligent” life on earth many times over, still let’s appreciate movement in the right direction.
Now it appears that we are moving back toward threats and proliferation- sometimes described as “modernization” in the U.S. This is not a game the world can afford to play. I have a dear friend that believes nuclear war is likely to happen. He and others are attempting to prepare for the worst. I don’t believe being prepared for a world after modern nuclear war is possible. We are given a chance to shape the future. Good people around the world need to step up and give our leaders the foundation they need to continue the process of ending the threat of nuclear conflict.
In the U.S. there are clear steps we can take.
1. Retire the ICBMs (In particular this reduces the chance of accidental nuclear war. We have other more modern nuclear weapons that are far more agile than ICBMs.)
2. Commit to negotiate for the reduction and optimally the elimination of nuclear weapons with N. Korea, with Russia, with Iran, with all countries that hold these weapons.
3. Like chemical weapons nuclear weapons are an abomination. Citizens of the world have lived in fear of nuclear annihilation since the first nuclear bomb was dropped over 70 years ago. We must elect leaders that share a commitment to future generations– nuclear weapons must never be used again. This is our job.
We live in a fabulously beautiful world populated primarily by people that are kind and loving within their home and community. It is time to expand our concept of home to include our planet and all the people we share it with.
Joan Blades is a Founding Partner of Living Room Conversations, cofounder of MomsRising.org and MoveOn.org, as well as coauthor of The Motherhood Manifesto and The Custom-Fit Workplace: Choose When, Where and How to Work and Boost the Bottom Line. Trained as an attorney/mediator with ten years experience as a software entrepreneur, Joan is also an artist, mother and true believer in the power of citizens and the need to rebuild respectful civil discourse and embrace our core shared values.