The Coalition Against Nukes National Day of Action flagship rally will be Saturday, October 1, 2011 at Pier 95 Hudson River Park, NYC, from Noon to 3:30 pm.

Brooklyn For Peace will be there with BFP signs saying “Close Indian Point!” and “Abolish Nuclear Weapons Worldwide!” Please join us!

WHEN:
Saturday, October 1, 2011 from 12:00pm – 3:30pm

WHERE:
Hudson River Park, Pier 95, 12th Ave @ West 55th Street, NYC

And in: California, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Virginia and Washington.

WHY:
The health impacts of Fukushima are far from over. We are forced to watch Japan succumb to a growing medical and environmental catastrophe that will unfold for generations, and may equal or surpass the damage of Chernobyl. Fukushima made it very clear what happens when back-up systems fail government withhold information and Industry is in charge of safety.

The American public must be roused to the danger of the nuclear power industry and the cozy regulatory milieu, including hasty relicensing of old plants, lack of security and permanent storage for radioactive waste, insufficient evacuation plans, billions in taxpayer subsidies, and more.

“Consider the economic consequences of a meltdown at Indian Point from an earthquake. New York, the world’s financial capital, could be rendered virtually uninhabitable,” said Dr. Helen Caldicott, co-founder of Physicians for Social Responsibility and keynote speaker for the NYC Rally.

“Fukushima fallout is traversing the Northern Hemisphere, turning up in milk, food, and water; on tourists in airports, and products in shipping bays around the world,” Caldicott said.

Coalition Against Nukes executive director Priscilla Star lives downwind across the Long Island Sound from Millstone Power Station’s nuclear reactors in Waterford, CT.

“We hear from Japanese people affected by Fukushima every day at the Coalition Against Nukes Facebook page,” said Priscilla Star, executive director. “They’re afraid to abandon their homes and businesses, but afraid to stay while they get increasingly sick with symptoms of radiation sickness,” she said. “They’re frightened for their children and it just breaks your heart.”

“We have 104 nuclear reactors here in the US, as well as earthquakes, tornadoes and hurricanes. We’re just as vulnerable,” Star said.

The Fukushima Daiichi meltdowns inspired this grassroots action. It was intensified by the August 23 magnitude 5.8 earthquake that caused two reactors at Virginia’s North Anna nuclear plant to shut down. Twelve reactors up and down the eastern US reported “unusual events” to the NRC.

Then, on August 28, Hurricane Irene demonstrated powerfully that electrical power and transportation routes can be disrupted over a very large area-for days and weeks.

In New York, Entergy’s aging, leaky, 40-year old Indian Point nuclear reactors, with uncorrected safety concerns yet under consideration for additional 20-year relicensing by the Obama Administration, are located near 2 fault lines, just north of NYC in a very densely-populated area. Twenty million people live within 50 miles of Indian Point in NY, New Jersey and Connecticut.

We stand with the people of Japan who are suffering this ongoing nuclear disaster. We cannot let that happen here!

NYC RALLY SPEAKERS:

• Dr. Helen Caldicott-Keynote: Dr. Caldicott is a pediatrician who has devoted the last 38 years to education about the health hazards of the nuclear age. She is the co-founder of Physicians for Social Responsibility
• Brent Blackwelder, President Emeritus, Friends of the Earth, and the most senior environmental lobbyist in Washington D.C.
• Former US Congressman John Hall represented NY’s 19th District, including Indian Point. Co-founder of Musicians United for Safe Energy-MUSE
• Harvey Wasserman anti-nuclear activist, author of SOLARTOPIA!: Our Green-Powered Earth, A.D. 2030
• Kevin Kamps, Radioactive Waste Watchdog at Beyond Nuclear
• Karl Grossman, investigative journalist, author, and professor at SUNY Old Westbury, recipient of the George Polk, James Aronson and John Peter Zenger Awards
• Alice Slater, Founder of Abolition 2000, NY Director of Nuclear Age Peace Foundation and its UN representative

To join Brooklyn For Peace, email nuclearzero@brooklyn.peace.org or call 718-624-5921. For rally updates, visit the Coalition Against Nukes. To help or volunteer email NYCRally@CoalitionAgainstNukes.org call 631-377-1560.

The recent preparations for Hurricane Irene are only a small part of what would be necessary in the event of a nuclear attack, or a nuclear accident an Indian Point. While this experience is still fresh in our minds, let’s remind Mayor Bloomberg that the only way to keep NYC safe from these disasters is to make it a City of Peace, and to close Indian Point.

Mayor Bloomberg has ignored our request that he join the international campaign to abolish nuclear weapons, saying that “he’s not interested.” How can he NOT be interested? NYC would be a target in the event of a nuclear attack; the resulting destruction would be unthinkable, and is unacceptable.

This is the time to strongly urge that he make NYC a Mayor’s City of Peace.
Sign our on-line petition to tell Mayor Bloomberg to Make NYC a Mayor’s City of Peace! The rapidly growing number of Mayors for Peace is a powerful force generating real momentum toward peace and the abolition of nuclear weapons.Only by an international effort can we protect ourselves and future generations.

The recent earthquake also serves as a wake-up call of the vulnerability of NYC to an accident at Indian Point. Join BFP and other groups in a renewed effort to demand that Indian Point be closed.

Mayors For Peace is a movement of cities worldwide calling for total abolition of nuclear weapons. The idea was first proposed in 1982 by the then-mayor of Hiroshima, Japan, Takeshi Araki. Check out the Mayor’s City of Peace flier.

Mayors for Peace now includes 4,732 cities in 150 countries, including half of all capital cities and all capital cities of nuclear powers except Washington, DC and Islamabad. 160 are in the U.S., including Boston, Hartford, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles and San Francisco. Mayor Bloomberg has not signed up NYC to become a Mayor’s City of Peace.

Please sign our on-line petition telling Mayor Bloomberg to make NYC a Mayor’s City of Peace.

The petition states:

We, the undersigned, ask that you join the campaign for the abolition of nuclear weapons by 2020 and make New York City a Mayor’s City of Peace.

As the mayor of NYC, we ask you to join the international effort to protect future generations. The rapidly growing number of Mayors for Peace is a powerful force generating real momentum toward peace and the abolition of nuclear weapons. To bequeath to our children a cleaner, safer, more peaceful and sustainable world, please join the effort toward genuine and lasting world peace.

Email us: nuclearzero@brooklynpeace.org or call: 718-624-5921

Recognizing the importance of citizen participation to effect change in government policies regarding nuclear weapons as well as nuclear power, the Nuclear Zero Committee has sponsored two Town Halls which have featured experts on nuclear policy responding in an open Question and Answer format.

Experience these two informative events. Read the summaries and view the videos.

We believe that “Nuclear Zero” – an end to nuclear proliferation, and complete nuclear disarmament by all countries including the United States which now possess nuclear weapons – is among the most critical issues of our time. The United States, as the first nuclear power and the only nation to use nuclear weapons to intentionally kill human beings, bears a special responsibility to act immediately, consistently, and cooperatively within the international community, to foster “Nuclear Zero.” Support for a national policy of “Nuclear Zero” will require the education and mobilization of Americans of all ages.

A Town Hall Meeting was held April, 2011, with speaker Randy Rydell, Senior Political Affairs Officer, United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs, was the kick-off event in the campaign to inform the Brooklyn community about this issue. See the Summary of this meeting.

• Sign this online petition to President Obama.

We’ve compiled a list of Movies About Nuclear War, which can be used to educate, organize, and inspire to action. Let us know how these movies affect you.

Please contact us at nuclearzero@brooklynpeace.org with your comments and suggestions, or if you would like to work with us on this issue.

Email: nuclearzero@brooklynpeace.org or call 718-624-5921.