Eighty years ago, the government did not warn or evacuate the estimated tens of thousands living within a 50-mile radius of the Trinity Test blast. The detonation produced more heat and light than the sun, generating radioactive ash that fell for days.
Each year, the Department of Energy (DOE) spends around $10 billion in the Land of Enchantment, roughly equal to New Mexico’s entire state operating budget. Seventy-five percent of that DOE money is for nuclear weapons research, production programs and dumping radioactive waste. This involves expanded production at Los Alamos National Laboratory of plutonium “pit” bomb cores for new nuclear weapons.
Topics at the event will include the status of nuclear weapons programs in New Mexico, the harmful effects of uranium mining, the human and environmental impacts of nuclear testing, the growing national Back from the Brink movement, how young people are engaging with these issues, the role of hope and faith as we face growing nuclear threats, and what we can do now.
Featured speakers include:
- Melissa Parke, Executive Director, ICAN (International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons). ICAN ws the 2017 recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize.
- Dr. Ira Helfand, Immediate Past President, International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (1985 Nobel Peace Prize winners); Physicians for Social Responsibility; ICAN
- Eddie Laiche, Co-founder, Students for Nuclear Disarmament
- Tina Cordova, Co-founder, Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium
- Janene Yazzie, Dine community organizer and human rights advocate who has worked on development and energy issues with indigenous communities across the United States for over 12 years
- Jay Coghlan, Executive Director, Nuclear Watch New Mexico
- Most Reverend John C. Wester, Archbishop of Santa Fe
- Adin Strauss, General Director, Soka Gakkai International-USA
The event is organized by the Archdiocese of Santa Fe, Interfaith Power and Light (NM-EP), Nuclear Watch New Mexico, Soka Gakkai International-USA, and the Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium. For more information, call the Archdiocese of Santa Fe’s Office of Social Justice and Respect Life at 505.831.8205.