Join Us to Count the Nuclear Weapons Money & Redirect It

The campaign to count the proposed 13 billion dollars for Los Alamos National Laboratory to modernize its nuclear weapons infrastructure began on Thursday in Taos.  CCNS joined with peace, disarmament, climate and social justice activists across New Mexico to hand-count the mock one million dollar bills and redirect them to life-affirming projects, such as peace and humanitarian needs, rather than the threat of nuclear annihilation.  Three more New Mexico events are planned – in Santa Fe, Socorro, and Los Alamos – as part of the global Count the Nuclear Weapons Money campaign.

To learn more about the campaign, listen to the interview between Robin Collier, of Cultural Energy, with Sheri Kotowski and Suzie Schwartz, Taos organizers, at http://www.culturalenergy.org/listenlinks.htm#CountNuclearDollars19oct19 and the Move the Nuclear Weapons Money blog at http://www.nuclearweaponsmoney.org/news/13-billion-of-public-money-to-be-counted-for-peace-at-new-mexico-nuclear-weapons-facilities/.

Volunteers are needed to count and redirect the money!  Contact CCNS at 505 986-1973 or ccns@nuclearactive.org .   

On Friday, October 25^th, from noon to 2 pm, in collaboration with Youth United for Climate Crisis Action (YUCCA), you are invited to gather at the State Capitol to bring attention to two existential threats – the climate crisis and nuclear weapons.

Artemisio Romero y Carver, a YUCCA Steering Committee member, said, “While the members of Frontline communities and all members of the human species are under threat from the constantly growing danger of the climate crisis, our government is using their money and resources to make weapons. Weapons whose production requires the creation of ecologically catastrophic waste. By so heavily funding nuclear development, the US government is not just diverting resources from the solution to the climate crisis, but in fact perpetuating an additional existential threat that our generation will have to face[.  I]nstead of spending billions of dollars on death and destruction, we should be using those funds to address critical social needs in our communities, build economic vitality [and] family-supporting jobs that people can be proud to hold, [and] facilitate a just transition to a fossil-fuel and nuclear-free energy future.”  https://www.youthunited4climatecrisisaction.org/

Please join us as we address these two existential threats, count the nuclear weapons money, and redirect it.

On Saturday, October 26^th, from 2 to 4 pm, we will gather with the Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium in the Socorro Plaza Gazebo to count 2.4 billion dollars – the amount of money provided to Downwinders and Uranium Workers under the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act since 2000.  Despite their overexposure to radiation from the first atomic test on July 16, 1945 at the Trinity Site, the Trinity Downwinders have never been included in the compensation program.  https://www.trinitydownwinders.com/

On Monday, October 28th, from 2:30 to 4:30 pm, we will gather in Los Alamos to count 13 billion dollars, the amount proposed to modernize Los Alamos National Laboratory, and redirect it.

To volunteer, please contact CCNS at (505) 986-1973 or ccns@nuclearactive.org .

1.  Saturday, October 26th from 6 pm to 8 pm – the first Candlelight Vigil on the Socorro Plaza in Socorro, NM, hosted by the Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium.  https://www.trinitydownwinders.com/home   Socorro Candlelight Vigil 10-26-19

2.  Monday, November 4th and Tuesday, November 5th, the Radioactive and Hazardous Materials Committee, a NM Legislature Interim Committee, will hold its final meeting of 2019 at the Roundhouse.  The agenda is available here:  https://www.nmlegis.gov/agendas/RHMCageNov04.19.pdf

3.  Monday, November 4th – Thursday, November 7th – The Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium (TBDC) is bringing Joseph J. Shonka, Ph.D., to New Mexico in early November to present his recent lecture “The First Dirty Bomb, Trinity.”

Dr. Shonka worked extensively on the Los Alamos Historical Document Retrieval and Assessment (LAHDRA) study and is an expert on the Trinity test of July 16, 1945. LAHDRA was a ten-year study conducted on behalf of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Chapter 10 of the study focuses on the Trinity test.  https://wwwn.cdc.gov/LAHDRA/

The public is invited to attend these events and hear about why the Trinity test was so dangerous as a result of the radioactive fallout and subsequent impacts to human health.

Mark your calendars!  

Monday, November 4 – 6:00 to 7:30 PM – Centennial Engineering Auditorium at the University of New Mexico – Albuquerque

Tuesday, November 5 – 7:00 – 8:30 pm – Workman Center, Room 101, at New Mexico Tech – Socorro

Wednesday, Nov. 6 – 3:00 – 4:30 PM – Hardman Jacobs Learning Center, Room 210, at New Mexico State University – Las Cruces

Thursday, Nov. 7 – 5:30 – 8:00 PM – The Little Theater, Center for Fine Arts, Northern New Mexico College – Espanola   Registration at 5:30 – Space is limited

4. Thursday and Friday, November 14 and 15th, beginning at 9 am – the New Mexico Environment Department will hold its second hearing on the Ground Water Discharge Permit (DP-1132) for the Radioactive Liquid Waste Treatment Facility at Los Alamos National Laboratory.  The hearing will take place in the historic Fuller Lodge in Los Alamos.  The public notice is available at https://www.env.nm.gov/gwqb/public-notice/#Hearings 

Tags: climate crisis, Count the Nuclear Weapons Money, Cultural Energy, Department of Energy, DOE, just transition, LANL, Los Alamos, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Move the Nuclear Weapons Money, nuclear weapons budget, Radiation Exposure Compensation Act, Robin Collier, Santa Fe, Sheri Kotowski, Socorro, Suzie Schwartz, Taos, trinity downwinders, Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium, Youth United for Climate Crisis Action, YUCCA