On Wednesday night, Jim Lehrer moderated a 90 minute presidential debate that included a reference to Big Bird, but no mention of climate change, the environment, or any meaningful discussion of energy. While it is easy to dismiss the debates as one more part of the “silly season” of elections, this is one of the most significant opportunities that our political leaders have to shape our national discourse and educate the broader public. Read more »

Our Health Voices for Clean Air Campaign focuses on air quality, and raises awareness of the link between stationary polluting sources such as coal fired power plants and human health. Read more »

What were you doing at 8:15 this morning? We can all probably recount different narratives of our morning routines. Wake up, brush teeth, shower, breakfast, commute, work. You go through the motions and hardly give it a second thought. Read more »

In 2008 we learned about world financial meltdowns and institutions too big to fail. Institutions that required taxpayer bailout; the same taxpayers who had just suffered personal losses due to the financial meltdown. Maureen and I just finished a long day trip to Fukushima with an international group of IPPNW physicians organized by the Japanese affiliate, JPPNW, and are now traveling back to Tokyo. Read more »
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There is no safe world in which either nuclear weapons capabilities or reliance on nuclear energy can exist. They are inextricably linked both through the science of supply and the politics of power. And as modern history has continually reaffirmed, since the very inception of the nuclear age, the human race is both unequipped to safeguard against this awesome force and unprepared to deal with the consequences. Read more »

Maureen and I walked through the Hiroshima Peace Park late at night. We approached the Cenotaph (empty tomb). Sighting through the open center of the Cenotaph parabolic shape that houses more than 100,000 names, we could see the eternal flame and beyond the iconic A-Bomb Dome, precise alignment of profound significance. Read more »

Wow...there are several pages missing from American history books. I knew to expect more information that I had ever learned in school, but could not fully prepare for the emotions I felt. Imagine scorch marks of a ladder in a wooden fence. It was the place of where a ladder stood seconds before the blast. Such power vaporized it and all is left is a black mark. And next to that ladder is the outline of a human being. A human being, just like you or me. Read more »

Peace culture - a novel concept introduced today at the IPPNW Student Congress. Not a culture of peace, a culture defined by peace. Inspiring words today from keynote speaker Steve Leeper, the chairman of the Hiroshima Peace foundation. His message was not that this is something we need to aspire to; rather it’s something we can no longer afford not to attain. We need to graduate from the war culture, the dominance hierarchy that we live in, to peace culture. We need to evolve as a global society. Read more »
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As I sat reading John Hersey’s recounting of individual experiences in his book Hiroshima on the transpacific flight, I was struck by how much the event sounded like a natural disaster. It was a horrible event that devastated an innocent civilian population. But unlike tsunamis, floods, earthquakes and hurricanes, this wasn’t unfortunate chance- this was preventable. Read more »
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ICAN meeting began this morning. Extra-ordinarily exciting presentation of the progress ICAN has made to date. In just 5 years since its inception, the campaign has succeeded in making a Nuclear Weapons Convention a mainstream issue throughout the world (if not yet here in the US…). Read more »

Walking from the Hiroshima bus station to the Conference Center, the path goes directly past the A-Bomb Dome and the hypocenter, the point directly beneath the where the bomb went off. Ground Zero. It is a little after 8 AM on a hot August morning, so like that other August morning 67 years ago. I keep looking up at the sky as so many thousands of people did that other morning, and I imagine the sudden bright flash that was the last thing they ever saw. Read more »
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It seems a little strange returning to Japan after 23 years. I attended the Ninth World Congress of IPPNW which was held in Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1989. I was a medical student at the time. I had been Medical Student Liaison for IPPNW in 1985 when we won the Nobel Peace Prize, but it had been several years since I left the central office and was nearing the end of my medical school training. IPPNW still meant a lot to me and I endeavored to make the protection of the planet one of my primary goals in life. Read more »
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More than four decades ago, the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) entered into force. Its implementation is still faced with legitimate critics from non-nuclear weapons states and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) on the basis that nuclear weapons states are not doing enough to advance the debate on disarmament. Read more »

A hundred and fifty of us gathered on Sunday night, Aug. 5, at Ashley Pond in Los Alamos, New Mexico, at the exact spot where long ago the Hiroshima Bomb was built. Right at 5:15 p.m -- 8:15 a.m. Monday morning, Aug. 6 in Japan -- we heard live, thanks to the wonders of the Internet, the ringing of the Peace Bell in Hiroshima. Read more »

Long-time PSR member Dr. Wendy Ring has embarked on a cross-country bike tour across the northern states to raise awareness about the need for action on climate change. Read more »
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In the wake of another thoughtless, unspeakably violent crime with tragic, unnecessary fatalities, it is once again time for the people of the United States to address the issue of gun violence in our country. Read more »

The Title XVII Loan Guarantee Program (1703) is a part of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, and was established to provide loan guarantees for ‘innovative energy technologies’. Read more »
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The Affordable Care Act is a hopeful step towards a more equitable and accessible health care system for ALL Americans. Read more »

On June 8, 2012, the US District Court of Appeals threw out the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s (NRC) so-called ‘waste confidence’ decision. The lawsuit, brought by the state of New York and four environmental groups (Natural Resources Defense Council, Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League, Riverkeeper, and Southern Alliance for Clean Energy) will fundamentally impact NRC licensing proceedings and environmental analysis as well as any future decisions on nuclear waste management. Read more »
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On Tuesday (June 12th), the Obama Administration alleged that Russia is sending attack helicopters to President Bashar Assad's regime and warned that the Arab country's 15-month conflict could become even deadlier. Read more »
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