Twelve PSR leaders from across the country descended on Washington, DC recently to push for clean air, a livable climate, and reductions in toxic pollution from energy generation. They were part of “50 States United,” a lobbying blitz that brought doctors, nurses, clergy, labor leaders, tribal leaders, parents and citizen activists to Washington from all 50 states. Read more »

Nuclear weapons continue to pose an existential threat to human civilization. Their elimination must be our highest priority if we hope to bequeath a sustainable world to our children. Read more »

It's official! According to major finance website thestreet.com, last week's Bank of America shareholder meeting was "dominated by anti-coal activists." Read more »

PSR's Barbara Gottlieb described to Bank of America's CEO and board of directors the health implications of climate change -- caused in part by their loans to the coal industry. Read more »
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The ICAN Civil Society Forum was a triumph of youthful energy and should put to rest fears that young people can not be mobilized to address the humanitarian consequences of nuclear war. Read more »

As the second session of the conference on the Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons opened, the co-chair, Nozipho Mxakato-Diseko, the Director General of the South African Ministry of International Relations and Cooperation, noted the findings of climate scientists such as Alan Robock, who is here with us, and of IPPNW co-president Ira Helfand, to the effect that even a limited nuclear war would cause global climate disruption and an agricultural crisis that would have catastrophic consequences for her own continent of Africa. Her remarks could have come right out of IPPNW’s report Nuclear Famine. This was exactly the right way to frame a session on the long term consequences of the use of nuclear weapons. Read more »

“There are no small mistakes with nuclear weapons.” That simple statement by Chatham House research director Patricia Lewis set the theme for the first day of ICAN’s Civil Society Forum on the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of nuclear weapons, March 2 in Oslo. Read more »

Participants began to gather this evening for the ICAN Civil Society Forum on the Humanitarian Consequences of Nuclear War, and most of the talk has been about the decision by the P5, the permanent members of the Security Council and the owners of the world's largest nuclear arsenals, to boycott the official government conference which begins on Monday. Read more »
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PSR has been speaking out on cutting the nuclear weapons and bloated Pentagon budget for decades. There is now pressure from the deficit reduction actions to cut the military budget but if it is done under the sequester, across the board budget cuts many programs providing support for essential human needs will be cut as well. Because many in Congress wish to protect the military budget, it is essential to reach our elected officials to encourage additional Pentagon and nuclear weapons cuts. Read more »
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Can we make 2013 the year for effective climate action -- and for starters, can we stop the Keystone Pipeline? Read more »

Senator Chuck Hagel, nominee for Secretary of Defense, appeared before the Senate Armed Services Committee and his leadership on the issue of nuclear disarmament came under immediate fire from a few Senators. In particular, Senator Hagel’s work with Global Zero and his co-authorship of the Global Zero U.S. Nuclear Policy Commission of May 2012. Read more »
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On Monday, the symbolism of President Barack H. Obama being sworn in as the 44th President of the United States on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day was inescapable for those who watched. Through the Montgomery Bus Boycotts, the Selma to Montgomery protest, and the March on Washington, Martin Luther King, Jr. brought the tradition of nonviolent civil disobedience to bear on the issue of racial injustice in America. Due to the work of tireless civil rights advocates, the country has changed meaningfully from that day in 1963 when King exhorted a crowd of over 200,000 in Washington DC to dream of an America where racism was vanquished. Read more »

Many of you helped us push Congress to understand that cutting the Pentagon budget is an essential part of any deal to reduce the deficit and should bear a higher burden than proposed cuts on basic human services. If we were to grade the fiscal cliff vote through the lens of that effort, we would have to give Congress a grade of “Incomplete.” Read more »
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Hundreds of physicians and health professionals from all over the world came together at the 20th World Congress in Hiroshima, Japan to dialogue and strategize for the elimination of nuclear weapons and the threat of nuclear war. Read more »
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Areva, the French uranium extraction giant, has proven that protection of the environment and a feasible democratic process in countries where it operates is the least of its concerns. Read more »

What better impetus to cut the nuclear weapons budget than the looming fiscal crisis? If any budget cuts are to be made, our nuclear arsenal should be at the top of that list. Read more »

Dick Mark is consulting director of PSR's Safe Energy Program. He attended an important court hearing on Mon., Nov. 19 Read more »

Tomorrow the United States will hold its 57th presidential election. And amidst all the arguing pollsters and pundits, the partisanship and polarization, there is a message that Republicans and Democrats alike can agree on… get out and vote. Read more »

Are we as a nation finally ready to talk about climate change? A fifth of the US population has been buffeted by a monstrous hurricane. Read more »

It’s obvious that climate change is real and harming our health and infrastructure. Yet our nation has not yet taken decisive action to reduce our carbon footprint and break our fossil fuel addiction. Read more »
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