There's a new DVD about the most urgent catastrophic threat facing our planet. And it features a leader who is determined to do something about it.
As U.S. President Barack Obama says in the video: "This is the moment when we must renew the goal of a world without nuclear weapons."
Take a sneak peak.
The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation created the new DVD. It aims to grow public awareness and involvement in the movement to eliminate nuclear weapons.
Called "U.S. Leadership for a Nuclear Weapons-Free World," the 8-minute educational video shows how the US and the world will benefit by moving beyond nuclear weapons. It follows "Nuclear Weapons and the Human Future," the Foundation's first DVD. More than 5,000 copies have been distributed of this first DVD.
The new DVD comes at a time of great opportunity for progress toward nuclear disarmament. The United States and Russia, which hold 95 percent of the world's nuclear weapons, are in negotiations to cut their nuclear arsenals and renew the START treaty. President Obama is pushing to strengthen the Non-Proliferation Treaty, to ratify the Nuclear Test Ban treaty and to work internationally to control nuclear materials. In April, speaking in Prague, President Obama laid out the goal in direct language:
"Today, I state clearly and with conviction America's commitment to seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons."
Here are the key points about the new DVD, U.S. Leadership for a Nuclear Weapons-Free World
•The DVD is free and can be pre-ordered now, with a projected release date of July 20, 2009. Of course, it can be viewed on-line right now.•On the DVD, people will also be able to view a Spanish-language version as well as the first video "Nuclear Weapons and the Human Future"•The free DVD will be one of the key tools used by the Foundation's volunteer peace leaders around the United States and the world - with these peace leaders showing the DVD in their own communities to inform and motivate their family, friends, neighbors and work colleagues.•"U.S. Leadership for a Nuclear Weapons-Free World" was edited entirely by a volunteer peace leader, Ivan VanWingerden, who is a university student at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo, California.
"Political will and US leadership have been the most significant missing elements for achieving a world free of nuclear weapons," writes Dr. David Krieger, President of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, and a campaigner for nuclear weapons abolition for 27 years.
"Now that these elements are in place, we may be surprised by how quickly the planning and implementation process can proceed toward the total global elimination of these unconscionable weapons."
Earlier this year, Dr. Krieger led a delegation to Washington, DC to present a petition to the White House seeking new leadership for a world free of nuclear weapons. The special appeal was signed by 70,000 people and 100 organizations.
"[President Obama] has taken us a third of the way to the goal by articulating this vision. Now a more detailed plan must be formulated and the plan must be implemented," writes Dr. Krieger.
The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation wants to help bring such a plan, based on this new U.S. policy, to fruition. See the Foundation's Action Plan 2009-2010.
The Foundation wants to use its extensive educational resources (www.wagingpeace.org and www.nuclearfiles.org ) to create strong grassroots support for the goal we share with President Obama.
The Foundation believes that sensible nuclear disarmament -- multilateral, phased, irreversible, verifiable and transparent -- is an essential part of ensuring the future viability of our precious planet Earth.
Anyone who supports the goal of a world free of nuclear weapons can join the Foundation at http://www.wagingpeace.org/ Membership is free. Founded in 1982, the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation is a non-profit, non-partisan international education and advocacy organization. It has consultative status to the United Nations Economic and Social Council and is recognized by the UN as a Peace Messenger Organization. .