Ending Nuclear Weapons Before They End Us: Opportunities Under The Biden Administration To Take Action

If the last year has shown us anything, it’s that we must listen to health professionals and address public health threats before they become crises, from pandemics to climate change to racial injustice. Nuclear weapons are no different. These deadly weapons do not protect us. Nuclear weapons threaten our health, environment, and very survival while diverting billions of dollars that would be better spent on urgent community needs. 

President Biden has stated that “security and international respect cannot be attained through illegal weapons” and that “as a nation, I believe we must keep pursuing the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons—because that is the only surety we have against the nightmare scenario becoming reality.”[1]

With the recent entry into force of the U.N. Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons and the renegotiation of the New START agreement, PSR-LA has a unique opportunity and responsibility to raise these issues with elected officials and hold them accountable to their words.

In that spirit, please join us for a timely policy briefing on Thursday, March 4 at 8 AM PST to discuss potential policy opportunities under the Biden Administration and to strategize with activists around the world on how best to achieve them. 

With strong leadership from PSR-LA, the Back from the Brink Campaign and our partners at the Nobel Peace Prize-winning International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons are convening this virtual event, which consists of a policy briefing followed by two rounds of interactive workshops covering a range of topics from Nuclear Weapons and Racism to Working with Your Member of Congress. Click here to learn more about the program and to register.  If you have any questions, please contact Alex at ajasset@psr-la.org.

The Challenges and Opportunities Ahead

• Growing Geopolitical Dangers and Emerging Risks, Part 1
   By Zia Mian, Co-director of Princeton University’s Program on Science and Global Security

• Growing Geopolitical Dangers and Emerging Risks, Part 2
   By Michael Klare, Professor Emeritus of Peace and World Security Studies at Hampshire College

•  The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons is the Global Mechanism for Achieving a Nuclear Weapon Free World
   By Beatrice Fihn, Executive Director of the Nobel Peace Prize-winning International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN)

• The Back from the Brink Campaign: A US Roadmap for Nuclear Abolition
   By Denise Duffield, Associate Director of Physicians for Social Responsibility-Los Angeles

• Opportunities for the Biden Administration to Address this Crisis
   By Thomas Countryman, Former U.S. acting Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security

We now have a real opportunity to encourage the Biden Administration to take the strongest stance on nuclear weapons abolition in decades, but we can’t do it alone. We hope you will join us.