What we are doing for nuclear disarmament

Greenpeace was formed in 1971 when 12 people set out from Vancouver, Canada in an old fishing trawler to stop US atmospheric nuclear testing, near Amchitka, Alaska. They had two concerns: green the environmental damage the nuclear testing was wreaking on the fragile Arctic ecosystem; and peace the proliferation of nuclear weapons and threat of nuclear war.

"We do not consider ourselves to be radicals. We are conservatives, who insist upon conserving the environment for our children and future generations of man."

-- Ben Metcalfe, 16 September 1971

 

The Greenpeace ship and crew were arrested by the US coastguard, but the press reports about the expedition put pressure on the US government. Four months later, the US canceled the test series.

Since then we have campaigned against both nuclear weapons and nuclear power. Bearing witness in test zones, supplying scientific data and measurements on human and environmental impacts and by conducting direct non-violent actions to call attention to the problem,and offering a solution.

Today the biggest threat we face is climate change. Our use of oil is not only fuelling climate change, it is fuelling war. Freeing ourselves from oil dependency and tackling climate change are two sides of the same coin. These goals will only be achieved through strong political will domestically, and through international cooperation and conflict resolution based on respect for human rights, democracy and technological progress.

Disarmament and international cooperation

As an international organisation, we campaign globally for multilateral cooperation to end nuclear proliferation and testing, and for global action on climate change.

Greenpeace is working for a world free of nuclear weapons, with each region of the world a nuclear free zone. Region by region these zones will rid entire parts of the world of nuclear weapons and shrink the geographical and political space in which they can play a role. These zones of safety and security also build cooperation and trust amongst peoples and nations. More than 50% of the world is already in nuclear weapons free zones; we need to support those we have and build more.

We are also working to support and build upon international disarmament frameworks such as the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). Almost all countries in the world are members of this Treaty and it remains the only legally binding commitment we have from the five declared nuclear weapons states to disarm.

In the UK we are investigating the government's investment in new nuclear weapons development, conducting citizen's weapons inspections and exposing how this work threatens to destroy both the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.

We are also working with politicians, faith leaders, Nobel Laureates, lawyers, diplomats, academics, community leaders, unions, the medical profession and other NGOs calling for a public debate on the development of new nuclear weapons and the use of aggressive force to maintain imports of foreign resources.

Oil and peace don't mix

Our work in the UK focuses on bringing about genuine peace and security by reducing our reliance on imported energy - if Britain's oil addiction goes unchecked we'll need eight times as much foreign oil by 2030 as we use now. UK & US foreign and military policies are designed to secure 'vital interests', primarily the energy resources concentrated in the Middle East. Depending on Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Iran for our energy may not only lead to increased military conflict but will also fuel climate change. The most sensible UK policy to deal with both energy security and climate change would be to reduce our dependence on foreign oil - simple measures to improve UK transport efficiency can drastically reduce this oil dependency and help break the links between oil, climate change and conflict.

We've also been talking to politicians about decentralised energy locally generated electricity which will allow us to capture and distribute the heat it produces as well as the power. Combined with renewable energy sources this will put us on the path to energy self-sufficiency, real security and stopping climate chaos.

We've been working with councils, meeting with architects, applying economic modelling techniques, inputting into public consultations and making documentaries. The Conservatives, the Liberal Democrats and London mayor Ken Livingstone now all firmly support decentralised energy.