“Limited” Nuclear War Would Result in Abrupt Climate Disruption and Global Starvation

New scientific work demonstrates that even a “limited” nuclear war would cause abrupt climate disruption and global starvation.  A limited nuclear war is defined as a conflict confined to one region and involving a small fraction of the world’s nuclear arsenals. But such a conflict would be neither limited nor regional and despite statements to the contrary, it would be an event on a planetary scale of death and destruction.  Global food insecurity and famine from reduced crop, marine fishery and livestock production due to climate disruption from nuclear war soot injection.  https://www.nature.com/articles/s43016-022-00573-0

The Nobel Peace Prize awardee in 1985 was the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War.  https://www.ippnw.org/  The Physicians summarized the new report by the Rutgers-led international research team, headed by Lili Xia, which clearly demonstrates that there is no such thing as a minor or small nuclear war.  The damage would be catastrophic.  https://ippnweupdate.files.wordpress.com/2022/08/nuclear-famine-2022.pdf

The researchers established six possible scenarios for a limited nuclear war in an urban area based on a 2010 world population of 6.7 billion people.  The number of weapons used in the scenarios varied from 100 to 4,400 with an explosive range of 15 to 100 kilotons resulting in five to 150 million metric tons of fallout soot, which would cool the planet.  The scientists estimate that 27 million to 360 million people would die directly from the bomb blasts.  After two years of famine, the number of people in danger of death would range from 255 million to over 5 billion – or three out of four people.  https://www.nature.com/articles/s43016-022-00573-0

In their summary, the Physicians concluded by saying, “In the case of a nuclear war, there is no possible treatment after the fact.  We must focus on prevention.  And the only way to ensure that nuclear weapons are never used is to eliminate them completely.  The United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on July 7, 2017, and which entered into force on January 22, 2021, provides the legal and moral foundation for the eradication of nuclear weapons. https://www.un.org/disarmament/wmd/nuclear/tpnw/

In the interest of public health, [the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War] thus present this summary of important new data about a potential species-level threat to humanity.  The cure for this is prevention.  The prevention is to renounce and abolish nuclear weapons.”  https://ippnweupdate.files.wordpress.com/2022/08/nuclear-famine-2022.pdf

If you haven’t contacted the White House to urge the Biden Administration to sign the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, please do so today at https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/ ; the Switchboard at 202-456-1414; Comment Line at 202-456-1111; TTY/TTD Visitor’s Office at 202-456-2121; and TTY/TTD Comment Line at 202-456-6213.

To get involved, check out the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) at https://www.icanw.org/

1. Friday, August 5^th from noon to 1 pm – Join the weekly peaceful protest for nuclear disarmament on the corners of Alameda and Guadalupe in downtown Santa Fe. Celebrate the successful historic First Meeting of State Parties to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons and the Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference negotiations at the United Nations (Aug. 1 to 26, 2022).  Attend to discuss next steps toward nuclear disarmament!

2. Friday, August 19^th, Federal Register publishes Notice of Intent to Prepare a Site-Wide Environmental Impact Statement for Continued Operations of the Los Alamos National Laboratory. The notice states there will be a 45-day comment period about the “scope” of the draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS).

“This document is scheduled to be published in the Federal Register on 08/19/2022 and available online at federalregister.gov/d/2022-17901, and on govinfo.gov”  https://public-inspection.federalregister.gov/2022-17901.pdf

Mark your Calendar with these upcoming events! 

3. Tuesday, September 6^th – New Mexico Interim Radioactive and Hazardous Materials Legislative Committee in Grants, NM. https://www.nmlegis.gov/Committee/Interim_Committee?CommitteeCode=RHMC

4. Wednesday, November 16, 2022 Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) four-part Public Hearing at the Santa Fe Community Convention Center, 201 West Marcy, Santa Fe, NM.

• First part: “Nuclear Safety at Area G, “ from noon to 2:30 pm;
• Second part: “National Security Missions and Nuclear Safety Posture,” from 4 pm to 6 pm;
• Third part: “Improving Safety systems, Safety Management Programs, and Oversight,” from 6:30 to 8:30 pm; and
• Fourth part: “Public Comments and Wrap-up,” from 8:45 to 9:45 pm.

For more information:  https://www.dnfsb.gov/public-hearings-meetings/november-16-2022-public-hearing

Tags: 1985 Nobel Peace Prize, climate disruption, famine, global starvation, ICAN, International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, IPPNW, Lili Xia, Physicians for Social Responsibility, PSR, Rutgers-led research team, TPW, UNGA, United Nations General Assembly, United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, “limited” nuclear war