Google CEO Identifies Top Two World Priorities

Google boss Eric Schmidt has identified what he believes are the world's two biggest challenges. And neither of them are named Microsoft.

In an interview on NPR's "All Things Considered" last week, he said:

"If you assume that the two largest issues in the world are the possibility of death by nuclear bomb -- nuclear proliferation -- and climate change over a 50- to 100-year period in terms of the number of people they're going to affect," Schmidt says, "[for] at least one of the two most important things in the world, we can help."

Google and General Electric launched a new partnership this week designed to promote renewable energy, and to encourage the development of a "smart" national electrical grid which would make it easier for renewable energy sources to be tapped.

They promised to lobby in Washington for this "new and smarter grid.".

I applaud these efforts. Both companies have made significant efforts not only to recognize the climate crisis but to try to create new business models to help renewable energy grow.

But can we afford to work on the second most important issue in the world and ignore the first?

Climate change must be addressed. But let's face it, nuclear war would be climate change on steroids. An exchange of 50 nuclear weapons each between India and Pakistan would trigger a nuclear winter that would immediately create a worldwide crisis of starvation as crops began to fail.

Right now, there are intimations of a new Cold War as our relations with Russia deteriorate. Iran and North Korea continue to remind us that we can't expect other countries to go without nuclear weapons when we hang on to 9,000 of our own.

Eric Schmidt is right to order our world priorities. The nuclear status quo is dangerous. If we do nothing, the chance of a nuclear weapon being detonated only grows higher.

So I would like to invite Mr. Schmidt to join me in supporting concrete steps the United States can take to make the world safer. Here are seven:

• De-alert. Remove all nuclear weapons from high-alert status, separating warheads from delivery vehicles.

• No First Use. Make legally binding commitments to No First Use of nuclear weapons and establish nuclear policies consistent with this commitment.

• No New Nuclear Weapons. Initiate a moratorium on the research and development of new nuclear weapons, such as the Reliable Replacement Warhead.

• Ban Nuclear Testing Forever. Ratify and bring into force the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty;.

• Control Nuclear Material. Create a verifiable Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty with provisions to bring all weapons-grade nuclear material and the technologies to create such material under strict and effective international control.

• Nuclear Weapons Convention. Commence good faith negotiations, as required by the Non-Proliferation Treaty, to achieve a Nuclear Weapons Convention for the phased, verifiable and irreversible elimination of nuclear weapons.

• Resources for Peace. Reallocate resources from the tens of billions currently spent on nuclear arms to alleviating poverty, preventing and curing disease, eliminating hunger and expanding educational opportunities throughout the world.

These seven steps are part of a major public education campaign by the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation. The Foundation is gathering signatures on a campaign called: US Leadership for a Nuclear Weapons-Free World -- An Appeal to the Next President of the United States. The names will be delivered to the White House on Inauguration Day January 20, 2009.

Are you with us, Mr. Schmidt?

Comments

[Davidji]

I assert that the two world priorities are the unsustainable population growth and the unsustainable pursuit of profit growth. They feed off one another and give rise to the issues of climate change and nuclear threat. It seems we (humanity) aren't yet equipped to confront these two causes and instead are focussing on the symptoms.

Do we the courage to address these two 'elephants in the room'?

[Steven Crandell - Huffpost Blogger]

Population growth and the pursuit of profit unconnected to its human and environmental consequences must be acknowledged and addressed.
What makes the nuclear weapons issue different is the immediacy of the threat and its catastrophic nature.

[Davidji]

I agree with the immediacy of the nuclear threat issue and that it desreves our immediate attention.
I question whether it is any less important than the threat of pursuit of profit growth - not just profit.
Is it not possible that what it'll take for unilateral disarmament is also what it'll take to provide an alternative to the pursuit of profit growth?
I recognise the complexity and believe if we give it harmonised thought we can find solutions.
See my last blog post at http://david-deane-spread.blogspot.com/ for a possible pathway.

[Semaj51]

In regards to the seven steps listed above:

De-alert. Very possible, as long as adequate steps are made to provide survival for the weapons against a first strike.

No First Use. Again, very possible and the correct response to all weapons of mass distruction.

No New Nuclear Weapons. Good idea, but hard to maintain internationally (look at the ‘none’ nuclear weapons development in North Korea and Iran).

Ban Nuclear Testing Forever. Good idea but the ‘forever’ aspect will be difficult to manage.

Control Nuclear Material. Under what international control will this be placed? The first rule for all international controls and treaties is that the enforcement is only as good as the paper it is written on. And fissile material can be found at any nuclear plant or lab.

Nuclear Weapons Convention. The only true, effective method to eliminate all nuclear weapons is to create an organization or force which have the power and the will to enforce this treaty. As long as a country has the ability or fear of nuclear blackmail, it will be in their interests to keep these weapons.

[Steven Crandell - Huffpost Blogger]

You raise some interesting points.
Here is some more detail about the seven steps.
http://www.wagingpeace.org/menu/action/urgent-actions/appeal_to_next_pres/moredetail.php#alert
And here is an essay by long-time nuclear disarmament expert Dr. David Krieger on the subject (April 2008) which might offer some background:
http://www.wagingpeace.org/articles/2008/04/02_krieger_us_global.php?krieger

[Semaj51]

I have read both articles and noted the more expansion on details on why and how to implement these steps. But I have a serious reservation for most of these steps. Who, or what is going to make sure that all the kids on the block play fair....

The greatest aspect of nuclear weapons is not their explosive effects, but that of simple fear. There are no weapons available, except for the other two legs of WMD triad, which can counteract nuclear weapons. These are the last result weapons. And if every country would agree to these steps and carry them out, it will only take just one country to destroy all this.

The only way I can see to truly eliminate nuclear weapons is by creating an organization or force which can not only "force" compliance, but more importantly has the ability to use this force. And this will lead to other aspects not directly related to nuclear weapons better to be discussed in another day.

And here is something I just remembered. The US has agreed and complied with treaties for chemical and biological weapons. If I recall, we are using our nuclear weapons as a threat against any other country which may use such weapons.

[rhw314]

It's interesting that Schmidt implied there is nothing that can be done about the nuclear weapons threat. Sure, google can't physically dismantle the world's 26,000 nuclear warheads. But Steven is right - with the support of influential individuals like Eric Schmidt and cutting-edge companies like google, the existing movement to abolish nuclear weapons could make its goal a reality.

[Steven Crandell - Huffpost Blogger]

I agree. There is a big lie that underpins our defence policy -- that weapons of mass destruction are there to keep us safe. We are taught to distrust our common sense and ignore the fact that nuclear weapons -- which target civilians -- are a catastrophic threat to human life and the environment. In the shadow of this big lie, and living with the acid irony that WMD are somehow "good" for us, many people believe nothing can be done to eliminate nuclear weapons.
But something can be done. The first step, as you point out, is to indentify the incorrect assumption. Business leaders like Eric Schmidt and companies, like google, which seek to address human problems, have an important role to play. They can help build solutions to our global problems by focusing their high-profile attention on potential solutions. Nothing teaches like a good exemplar.

[NL207]

The top world priority is freedom. Without it, none of the rest mean a da** thing.

Without freedom, Google would not even exist./