EARTHKEEPING
NEWS
A NEWSLETTER OF THE NORTH AMERICAN COALITION FOR CHRISTIANITY AND
ECOLOGY
Volume Three, Number Two
November/December 1993
Call to Action:
STOP NUCLEAR WASTE AT THE SOURCE
First, support the World Court Project to outlaw nuclear weapons which are perhaps the greatest threat to humanity and the environment.
The Project seeks to secure a ruling from the International Court of Justice on the illegality of nuclear weapons under international law. Organizations leading this campaign, supported by hundreds of citizen organizations and scores of world leaders, include the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, International Association of Lawyers Against Nuclear Arms; and the International Peace Bureau.
Nuclear weapons flagrantly violate all the principles of international law: they cause disproportionate damage and indiscriminate harm to civilians; aggravate suffering to combatants; release asphyxiating or poisonous gas; cause long term and severe damage to the environment; produce genocidal effects, and affect neutral states.
The USA has claimed that there is nothing in international law specifically prohibiting nuclear weapons. We would be unable to continue this claim if the world's supreme judicial body ruled that the use and threat of use of these weapons are illegal. A World Court ruling will resolve this question and will be a fundamental step toward the abolition of nuclear weapons.
Please write to Secretary of State Warren Christopher in November (now) urging him to instruct Madeleine Albright, US Ambassador to the UN, to co-sponsor, or at least vote in favor of, the General Assembly resolution that requests a World Court advisory opinion on the legality of the threat or use of nuclear weapons. Write or phone: Warren Christopher, Secretary of State, 2201 C Street, NW, Washington DC 20502, (202)647-5291 fax: (202)647-7160. (Information from EarthAction, 30 Cottage Street, Amherst MA 01002.)
Second, investigate your own state's public utilities regulatory process. What regulations does your state have concerning hazardous and nuclear waste storage or "disposal"? What are your state's incentives for conservation or increased efficiency? What would it take to uncouple earnings from sales of electricity, in order to increase the utilities' investment in alternative, renewable energy sources such as wind, solar, and biomass?
Help and information for local groups is available from Citizens' Clearinghouse for Hazardous Wastes, PO Box 6806, Falls Church VA 22040, (703)237-2249.
A CHRISTMAS WISHChristmas is so often regarded as a time for children, let us begin afresh to make our Christmas this year one in which our care for our children's future is the sign of our love for them. (from Our World, God's World, by Barbara Wood ) |
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