Sign the petition: Demand Congress prohibit funds for nuclear testing!
Congress
According to breaking reports, the Trump administration may end the moratorium on nuclear weapons tests and begin exploding nuclear bombs — for the first time in decades.
This would be a dangerous, reckless action. If the U.S. resumes nuclear testing, for any reason, we can be certain that other nuclear-armed nations like Russia, China, India, and Pakistan will follow in these footsteps. With multiple nuclear-armed governments competing for advantage, dangerous new weapons systems ready for development, and risks of nuclear conflict (intentional or otherwise) at an all-time high, it would trigger a global nuclear arms race. The darkest days of the Cold War would look quaint by comparison.
The good news is Trump can't resume nuclear testing on his own. Testing these weapons takes money, and the U.S. Congress would need to authorize this spending. They can starve the administration of the funds they need. But Congress needs to take action by passing legislation to prohibit funding for nuclear testing. Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) has introduced the Preserving Leadership Against Nuclear Explosives Testing (PLANET) Act which would prohibit the use of funds for an explosive nuclear weapons test.
Sign the petition: Demand Congress prohibit funds for nuclear testing!
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To:
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[Your Name]
I am writing to urge you to support the PLANET Act, which would prohibit funds for an explosive nuclear weapons test. The health and safety of our global community depend on it!
Why no new nuclear tests? Here are 5 reasons that resuming nuclear testing is dangerous and wrong:
(1) The widespread nuclear tests of the 1950s, 60s, 70s and 80s — underground, underwater, and in the atmosphere — took a staggering humanitarian and environmental toll all over the world. People of color, Indigenous communities, military personnel, and vulnerable workers suffered especially at the hands of leaders all too eager to flex their genocidal capabilities. It is estimated that, to this day, hundreds of thousands of these victims, survivors, and their families continue to suffer this legacy of disability, trauma, disease, and death. We can't let history repeat itself.
(2) The environmental and humanitarian consequences of nuclear testing are one of the major reasons why the international community committed to a moratorium on testing. The world has shown that it is DONE with nuclear tests — 184 countries have signed an international treaty banning these tests. Over the last several decades, only North Korea has defied this global consensus and continued explosive tests (and recently even Kim Jong Un has stopped).
(3) Over the last 60 years, the world has made steady progress to stop the spread of nuclear weapons and lower the risks they'll be used. New nuclear testing and a global arms race will unravel all of this work and put hundreds of millions of people in harm's way. This week alone, the Trump administration has abandoned the Open Skies Treaty, which has helped avoid the kind of mistakes and misunderstandings that risk nuclear conflict between the U.S. and Russia, and signaled a plot to trash New START — the only agreement left that's keeping both countries from pursuing massive nuclear build-ups.
(4) The U.S. and the world are currently experiencing an unprecedented global crisis with COVID-19 which has shown us that our national priorities are seriously misplaced. Investing in massive nuclear arsenals has left us vulnerable to real public health and national security challenges like pandemics and climate change. We should be testing for COVID-19, not nuclear devastation.
(5) Nuclear testing has inflicted direct and lasting harm on people and communities. It poisons the food we eat, the water we drink, even the air that we breathe. Not just for people in the U.S., but for everyone, everywhere. The effects of nuclear testing are far-reaching and long-lasting. U.S. nuclear testing would put the entire world at risk.
This is absolutely the wrong move at any time, but particularly in the middle of a deadly pandemic that's ravaging vulnerable populations, killing hundreds of thousands of people, destroying millions of workers' livelihoods, and tanking the global economy. Now is the time for society to act together — civil society groups, faith leaders, policymakers, and everyday people.