Nuclear Age Peace Foundation

Tag: Santa Barbara

  • Santa Barbara City Council Passes Revised Legislative Platform Supporting the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons

    Santa Barbara City Council Passes Revised Legislative Platform Supporting the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons

    For Immediate Release

    Contact:   Sandy Jones  (805) 965-3443; sjones@napf.org

     

    Santa Barbara–On June 18, 2019, the Santa Barbara City Council voted 6 to 1 to include in the new, revised legislative platform for the city, language that supports the prohibition of nuclear weapons, subject to Congressional oversight.

    The city’s legislative platform serves to summarize the Council’s official position on a variety of state and federal policy issues and authorizes City representatives, most commonly the Mayor, to take action on pending legislation on behalf of the City. It also enables the City to act quickly when advocacy is needed.

    This particular revision to the legislative platform was introduced to the City Council by the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation (NAPF), a non-profit, non-partisan organization based in Santa Barbara whose mission is to educate, advocate and inspire action for a peaceful world, free of nuclear weapons.

    The platform language is based primarily on the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, which was adopted at the United Nations in 2017 and would outlaw the use, threat of use, production and possession of nuclear weapons. Including this language in the legislative platform puts Santa Barbara at the forefront of nuclear abolition, along with other cities that have adopted similar language including Ojai, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C and Baltimore.

    Rick Wayman, NAPF’s incoming CEO, spoke at the City Council meeting, stating, “This treaty is the direction in which the world is moving and it’s incumbent upon us as citizens–as human beings–to do everything within our power, both individually and collectively, to prevent nuclear weapons from being used.”

    He continued by explaining, “City and state governments do not set foreign policy. But this issue transcends foreign policy. As anyone who has experienced a nuclear explosion will tell you, the devastation is beyond imagination. And the ability of first responders to deal with this situation is non-existent. Cities are the targets of nuclear weapons.”

    “For far too long, the world has teetered on the brink of nuclear war and it continues to this very minute. It’s up to all of us to change that course. By adopting this language as part of its legislative platform, the city of Santa Barbara would be doing a great service to its citizens and to the world.”

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    If you would like to interview Rick Wayman, NAPF’s Deputy Director, please call the Foundation at (805) 965-3443 or (805) 696-5159; A photo of Wayman is below.

    The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation’s mission is to educate, advocate and inspire action for a peaceful world, free of nuclear weapons. Founded in 1982, the Foundation is comprised of individuals and organizations worldwide who realize the imperative for peace in the Nuclear Age. The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation is a non-partisan, non-profit organization with consultative status to the United Nations. For more information, visit wagingpeace.org.

  • 2019 Fundraising and Development Intern

    2019 Fundraising and Development Intern

    The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation is hiring a Fundraising and Development Intern for Summer 2019.

    Interns will join our dedicated team of seven staff at our Santa Barbara headquarters to work on meaningful projects that advance our mission of educating, advocating, and inspiring action for a just and peaceful world, free of nuclear weapons.

    We don’t expect our interns to have detailed knowledge of the physics behind nuclear weapons, nor to have years of relevant work experience. What we are looking for are highly-motivated, enthusiastic individuals who are dedicated to our mission and who want to make a real, lasting difference in the world.

    Our Development & Fundraising Intern will assist in raising funds for the Foundation’s projects and daily functions. It’s ideal in development to be a people-person who can communicate clearly and comfortably with people of many backgrounds. We highly value collaboration at NAPF, and this intern will work closely with the Director of Development on a day-to-day basis.

    Projects will include:

    • Writing concisely and creatively: Helping to write appeal letters and grant applications;
    • Researching strategically: Interviewing donors and researching potential funding sources;
    • Planning and organizing: Helping to plan a summer party in Santa Barbara and our 36th Annual Evening for Peace;
    • Being a supporter extraordinaire: helping with more routine tasks such as mailing letters and logging donor info into our fundraising database.

    Skills/Qualifications:

    • Studying marketing, communication, or business a plus;
    • Ability to write clearly and persuasively is essential;
    • Self-motivation, organization, and the ability to stick to deadlines is essential;
    • Ability to take ownership of a project by thinking critically and independently, while also following instructions;
    • Experience with event planning, fundraising, or special project campaigns;
    • Comfort speaking with and relating to people in highly social situations.

    For more details on our internship program and for application instructions, visit our Paid Internships page.

    You can also view the position descriptions for our other summer internships:

    Research/Writing Intern

    Communications Intern

    Peace Literacy Intern

  • 2019 Research and Writing Intern

    2019 Research and Writing Intern

    The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation is hiring a Research and Writing Intern for Summer 2019.

    Interns will join our dedicated team of seven staff at our Santa Barbara headquarters to work on meaningful projects that advance our mission of educating, advocating, and inspiring action for a just and peaceful world, free of nuclear weapons.

    We don’t expect our interns to have detailed knowledge of the physics behind nuclear weapons, nor to have years of relevant work experience. What we are looking for are highly-motivated, enthusiastic individuals who are dedicated to our mission and who want to make a real, lasting difference in the world.

    Our Research & Writing Intern will assist NAPF staff members – primarily President David Krieger and Deputy Director Rick Wayman – in research and writing on key issues related to nuclear weapons and nuclear disarmament. The Research & Writing Intern will also be encouraged to pursue self-directed projects that contribute to the Foundation’s goals.

    Projects will include:

    • Writing articles for the Sunflower Newsletter;
    • Writing articles for wagingpeace,org and other publications;
    • Monitor relevant policy, current events, and legislative developments;
    • Updating the content on nuclearfiles.org;
    • Reviewing new articles and books.

    Skills/Qualifications:

    • Exemplary analytical and writing skills;
    • Understanding of international law and international disarmament processes;
    • Ability to meet deadlines;
    • Self-directed and highly motivated.

    For more details on our internship program and for application instructions, visit our Paid Internships page.

    You can also view the position descriptions for our other summer internships:

    Fundraising/Development Intern

    Communications Intern

    Peace Literacy Intern

  • The Renewable Switch: Environment-Friendly Energy Available Now to South Coast

    Renewable energy has come of age. A recent report on the state of the renewable energy industry concludes: “Dramatic improvements in performance, as well as government incentives, have resulted in reduced costs that are quickly making renewable energy technologies competitive with traditional forms of electricity generation . . .”

    The report adds that the cost of electricity from solar photovoltaics and wind is only one-tenth what it was 20 years ago. (Report, “The Changing Face of Renewable Energy,” available at www.navigantconsulting.com.)

    Large wind projects already produce energy at costs competitive with natural gas-powered electricity plants, and this will only continue to improve as the cost of natural gas increases and as demand for this finite resource increases. It is only a matter of time before solar, biomass and other renewable energy technologies achieve cost parity.

    It is becomingly increasingly apparent that the real obstacles to leaving the unsustainable fossil fuel era are largely political and legal in nature and less and less economic or technical. Accordingly, legal tools are being crafted throughout the country to help usher in the sustainable renewable energy era.

    Communities across America are now choosing to pursue greater energy independence through renewable and more environmentally friendly technologies, and these same choices are now available to the Santa Barbara region.

    California, in the last year alone, has enacted major energy legislation that has brought our state to the forefront in developing renewable energy. This legislation includes SB 1078, which mandates that California obtain 20 percent of its energy needs from renewable sources by 2017; AB 1493, which aims to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions from cars and trucks beginning in 2009; and AB 117, the “Community Choice” law. AB 117 allows cities and counties, beginning on July 15, 2003, to combine their residents’ electricity needs to negotiate long-term power contracts directly with energy companies and to administer state-funded conservation and efficiency programs currently administered by investor-owned utilities.

    Community Choice will allow existing investor-owned utilities to maintain all their operations except power procurement negotiation and state-funded conservation and efficiency programs. That is, the incumbent utility will still meter customers, still bill customers, and still earn similar profits to those it currently enjoys.

    For achieving real, on-the-ground, economic and environmental benefits in a fairly short time frame, Community Choice may be the most promising of the new laws for communities like Santa Barbara and the rest of the South Coast.

    Under similar laws passed in Massachusetts, Ohio and California (in a similar, now defunct, program), communities have achieved significant cost savings by negotiating power contracts through renewable energy providers.

    California’s version of Community Choice may allow local governments to save money on their power bills and to obtain state funds to achieve greater conservation and efficiency, leading to additional savings. In addition to taking advantage of economies of scale, combining different types of electricity users (commercial, industrial and residential) will allow local governments to create an attractive “load profile” — the pattern of electricity use throughout the day, which providers like to be as constant as possible — to help negotiate savings.

    Other than the financial benefits Community Choice may bring, local governments will be able to negotiate power contracts with energy suppliers who can provide a significant percentage of renewable power.

    In the past, developing renewable energy generation has been hindered by a “chicken and egg” situation due to the difficulties in penetrating a market controlled by traditional fossil fuel power suppliers. Now, as demand for renewable power grows due to communities opting for it through Community Choice, energy suppliers will be enabled and motivated to bring online new renewable energy projects that are often stalled for lack of reliable contracts to sell such power. There are currently such projects being proposed in Santa Barbara County that may be aided through implementation of Community Choice.

    By promoting the development and use of renewable energy, California’s communities will be doing their part to curb the dangers of global warming, reduce asthma and other air-related health problems in our children, and ameliorate the problem of nuclear waste generation by reducing the need to build new nuclear power plants and creating green power to replace electricity from existing nuclear plants.

    Implementing Community Choice will not be an overnight endeavor and the proposed benefits are not written in stone. But this new legislation is tremendously promising and provides a substantial tool for communities suffering under the twin burdens of a budget crunch and a desire to help create a sustainable future.

    We believe that Community Choice bears consideration by both local governments and community organizations like the Community Environmental Council’s Santa Barbara County Regional Energy Alliance for adoption and implementation.

    It may prove to be the ultimate “win-win” in the quest to obtain energy that rests easy on our pocketbooks as well as our consciences.

    * Tam Hunt is a Santa Barbara attorney; Bud Laurent is CEO of the Community Environmental Council; Peter Jeschke is CEO of MEI Power Corp.; Kristen Morrison is coordinator of the Renewable Energy Project, with the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation.

  • One-on-One with Kristen Morrison

    Recently, Kristen Morrison, a senior at UCSB and Renewable Energy Coordinator with us here at the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, addressed the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors asking them to block any and all shipments of spent nuclear fuel and radioactive waste traveling through Santa Barbara County on its way to Yucca Mountain in Nevada. Compressed within Kristen’s 20 minutes of comments to the county Board of Supervisors were 1 year of volunteering with the Foundation, a number of leadership trainings, coursework on environmental issues as well as the echoing encouragement and support from family and friends. Ultimately, the county Board of Supervisors agreed with Kristen and the other concerned citizens working on this important issue, voting unanimously to oppose the Department of Energy’s plans to ship toxic waste through the county. I spoke with Kristen about her project:

    Why do you feel this issue is important?

    Currently nuclear energy produces 20% of our nation’s power. When it was first established back in the 50’s it was thought to be clean, safe, and cheap. Today nuclear energy has proven to be the opposite. After billions of dollars in research, and an endless supply of lethal radioactive waste it is safe to say the nuclear energy has only proven to be expensive, dirty and dangerous. Therefore we feel it is important to educate the public about the reality of nuclear energy and instead work toward a future of renewable energy. Yucca Mountain is proposed to be the US’s first nuclear waste repository, which will inevitably perpetuate the nuclear power industry. 77,000 tons of radioactive waste is scheduled to be shipped from over one hundred reactors across the country. Therefore if we are able to block waste transportation the Yucca Mountain project will be shut down and ultimately lead to the halt of nuclear energy production.

    Why did you feel it was necessary to speak with the County Board of Supervisors about toxic waste transportation?

    There are many channels of communication that will get our message across. Legislation is an important part of progressive social change. The Board of Supervisors is the governing body in the county with the legal voice to speak to higher legislative bodies of our government. Addressing the Board of Supervisors represented a key stage in our escalation plan and general campaign efforts.

    How did you start your campaign called “Don’t Waste Santa Barbara”?

    I started this campaign last summer with another UCSB student named Marissa Zubia. At the time, she was the Renewable Energy Coordinator and I was a volunteer here at the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation. Frequently, the Foundation hosts speakers on peace and security issues and other pressing concerns of our time. Through this speaker series, Marissa and I met a local activist named Dave Fortson with the Santa Barbara County Action Network. Dave shared his thoughts on the importance of young people getting involved in the community for the betterment of society. Combined with all the positive energy that’s already here at the Foundation, Dave’s charisma and devotion sparked our interest and the next thing I knew Marissa and I were dreaming up all the ways we could make a difference. We both were interested in the same issues of environmental justice and ecological consciousness so we came up with the campaign idea “Don’t Waste Santa Barbara”, which serves to educate the people of Santa Barbara on dangers of high level radio active waste transportation through our city. We drafted a county resolution to oppose the transportation of high level radioactive waste through Santa Barbara County. It took us about 3 months to get on the Board of Supervisor’s agenda, but after many phone calls, research, and writing we were finally in.

    Were there any unexpected setbacks or obstacles along the way?

    Absolutely! There were many challenges and hurdles that made us both second guess what we were doing, and more than once we had to remind one another how important even the smallest contribution is to making a difference. Even though our work is merely a drop in the bucket, it is that drop that will become part of a very large flow moving toward a better world. Another wonderful aspect which encouraged us the whole way through was having a good time. We laughed a lot and became good friends.

    How did you prepare?

    We hosted an educational forum with four expert speakers, discussing the dangers of nuclear waste storage and transportation. We met regularly with our mentors and project board members, strategizing ways to get our message across. We contacted Santa Barbara city council members who encouraged us to write a county resolution opposing nuclear waste. District Supervisor, Gail Marshall, endorsed our resolution and the next thing we knew we were on the agenda to present it to the entire county.

    Can others take what you did in Santa Barbara and do it where they live?

    Being proactive in the community is essential everywhere, whether rich or poor, small or large. I was surprised by the positive response that I received as a student standing up for what I believe in and speaking out. A lot of times, we as young people get the message that society doesn’t want to hear from us and won’t respect what we have to say, but it is hard for them not to respect you when you research your issue and develop a convincing, passionate argument.

    Can they really stop the shipments or is this more of a symbolic victory?

    The resolution serves as the county’s declaration to stop the waste. It is not law; however, if enough communities across the nation create the same resolution the government would be forced to recognize the people’s will and thus it could be turned into a law.

    What is next for you?

    We would like to expand our campaign to the state level. For example, we’re researching whether other counties in California, if any, are pushing on the same issues. We may then work with them to form a statewide alliance

    Congratulations and good luck, Kristen!

    Are you a young person organizing for change in your community? Do you have a success story that you would like to share? We want to hear from you! Send us your success story. Write me at youth@napf.org.

  • Ants Marching

    Published at Common Dreams & the Santa Barbara Newspress
    Originally Published in the Ventura County Star

    From a distance, an anthill looks like an inanimate mound of earth. Yet when from up close, you see movement – ants busily working for the greater good of their ecosystem, ants who bear the brunt of hard labor, carrying many times their body weight in food for the colony, working in unison.

    From a distance, Santa Barbara looks like this anthill. We might appear comfortably inert, insulated from the economic injustices which have plagued nearby areas like Ventura and Los Angeles Counties, but looking closely, we are a community in motion.

    The agricultural laborers, workers and pickers who sustain the local economy are like the ants: diligently working, yet often out of sight or unappreciatedly trampled underfoot. The People’s March for Economic Justice scheduled for Saturday, April 27 here in Santa Barbara will highlight the diverse groups working toward achieving a sustainable economy, a living wage and workplace justice in our community. This march aims to show the commitment, the momentum and the ongoing winnable struggles which affect everyone.

    Among the groups involved are the United Farm Workers, the Coalition for a Living Wage and two groups looking to challenge the role of the University of California’s involvement in less-than-humanitarian endeavors – the UC Nuclear Free Campaign and Students for a Free Tibet.

    Nearly fifty local groups have endorsed this march, overwhelming evidence that many people in Santa Barbara County are interested in economic justice and informed about the issues. Yet many people still live at a distance, believing that our anthill is just fine as is.

    Student groups disagree. Students for a Free Tibet and the student members belonging to the UC Nuclear Free Campaign support the local struggles for economic justice by challenging the UC school system’s involvement with BP Amoco petroleum investments in Tibet and the inappropriate relationship between the University of California and the Department of Energy regarding oversight and management of the nuclear weapons research facilities and laboratories.

    Michael Coffey of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation says that “these issues – human rights in Tibet and the military-industrial-academic complex – directly affect what goes on locally in the Santa Barbara Community.” He continued by saying, “We must support those who sustain our local economy by challenging the fundamentally undemocratic policy and practice of overseeing nuclear weapons research and development by the largest employer in Santa Barbara County, UCSB.”

    The need to de-link the University of California from the nuclear weapons industry is inextricably linked to the People’s March for Economic Justice. More than $6 billion in taxpayer dollars supports the relationship between UC and DoE, money which would be much more wisely spent on education, healthcare and social services infrastructure. Rather than funding the machinery of death, we should allocate our resources toward promoting a better quality of life for all people.

    The United Farm Workers from Ventura County will be present at the march to explain the situation with their employer, mushroom mogul Pictsweet, owned by United Foods, Inc. For nearly fourteen years the workers have tried to gain a contract, and in September 2000 initiated a boycott of Pictsweet products hoping to influence the management to come to the negotiating table. The workers want safer working conditions, a raise to accommodate the rising cost of living, a forum for mediating conflicts on the job and most of all, respect.

    The Pictsweet workers are encouraged and excited to be participating in this march.

    “Our community is in movement,” says United Farm Workers organizer Brendan Greene. “We are working to change our community, to better our community for ourselves and our families. We want everyone in Santa Barbara to see our struggles and our hard work and to become a part of our campaigns for justice.”

    A living wage for Santa Barbara County residents is tremendously important. UCSB instructor and Ph.D. candidate Keith Rosendal analyzed local data about the economic structure of our community and found that rents in Goleta have increased by 33% and over 20% in Santa Barbara, highlighting a need for affordable housing for all local residents. He learned that since 1996 more than 21% of people living in Santa Barbara County have no health insurance, compared to the national figure of 13%, and that the growth of jobs in Southern California has occurred in areas which pay very little – in the service and agricultural sectors. These statistics are a mirror held up to our faces: what kind of a society can accept the disparity of allocation of resources and access to important things like healthcare, decent wages and respect!

    Marches symbolize motion, movement, progress. Our community Economic justice ought to be attainable for all members of our society, which will require support and solidarity in Santa Barbara.

    The power in nonviolent action is unity, diversity and recognition of the delicate web of interconnectedness which binds all the issues together at the People’s March for Economic Justice.
    *Leah C. Wells serves as the Peace Education Coordinator at the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation.

  • Creating a Center for Humanity’s Future: Celebrating Creativity in the Coming Age

    The idea of a great circle around the world, with people of all ages speaking and listening to one another … presenting an Annual Report on the State of Humanity … a fountain of joy and inspiration, confidence, strength and limitless creativity

    People all over the Earth are gradually awakening to the most astounding aspects of human beings — that we are not only parts of the mysterious universe, we are embodiments of the whole cosmos, each of us absolutely original and unique but limitless in our capacity. We are finite individuals and yet we will affect everything that happens in the future.

    In this century the discoveries of the human mind — the release of nuclear energy and other revelations — have brought us to the brink of annihilation. In the same century, we have demonstrated enormous cruelty and enormous compassion. We have created a global communications system in which human beings reach out to one another across all boundaries of time and space. Ideas flash around the world, reshaping old institutions and bringing new ones into existence and rapid growth.

    To serve the global community now arising through the individual efforts of people all over the planet, I believe there will be a great opportunity for the fostering and celebration of human creativity through a Center for Humanity’s Future. I advocate the formation of such a Center as a statement of confidence in the tremendous productive capacities of human beings — as a place of light and listening, a place of exploration and encouragement, a launching pad for ideas from throughout the world.

    That Center could have the bold spirit that marked the Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions, which blazed across the world’s horizons from 1959 to 1981 with the many projects it launched from its headquarters in Santa Barbara. It helped to prevent a war between the United States and the Soviet Union. It was a pioneer in the environmental movement. It called attention to the destructive potentialities of television. It published a model for a new American Constitution, designed to protect human liberties and to indicate human responsibilities in the future. It brought together thousands of people in dialogues and conferences in Santa Barbara, Chicago, New York, Washington, Malta, and Geneva. It became an “early warning system” for humanity.

    The preamble for the proposed model for a new Constitution for the United States contained a declaration that it was designed “to welcome the future in good order.” In our time, we have become intensely concerned with “the future.” All organizations have “vision statements” and make plans for the next years, the next decades, the next century, or even longer.

    Welcoming the future in good order should be one of the primary purposes of the new Center. For many people, the future has a menacing aspect — with imagined disasters and catastrophes rushing toward us. The Center could give a continuing emphasis to the positive possibilities, while recognizing the negative ones..

    The Importance of Celebration

    In the coming age, in which human beings will face more complex problems and more challenges than ever before, it will be essential to evoke the positive powers inherent in every person. That is why the proposed Center should be dedicated to celebration — to foster the release of everyone’s highest thoughts and emotional intelligence. Celebration means more than a never-ending party, or fun and games all year round, although it does include all the aspects of joy, because human beings are at their best when they are joyful, when they take delight in everything to which they are related in a mysterious unfolding universe.

    A Center for Humanity’s Future could raise the banner of celebration over the whole Earth — bringing together people of all kinds in meetings and dialogues, honoring the fine work going on in many places by creative and compassionate persons, inviting everyone to open up and communicate in many languages through the Internet and other channels, lauding the value of cooperation, encouraging everyone to “welcome the future in good order.”

    Overcoming the Power of Violence

    In addition to honoring and promoting the positive potentialities of all human beings, the Center could explore and advocate every possible step to overcome the power of violence. With the existence of nuclear weapons and other instruments of mass destruction, the continuation of life on Earth is at stake. The costs of violence in the twentieth century have been colossal. Millions of lives have been destroyed in the countless wars which have occurred. The Holocaust revealed the destructive depths to which human beings could descend. The massacres in Africa, Yugoslavia, Asia, and elsewhere have been horrifying in their ferocity — the extermination of neighbors by neighbors, the tortures and slaughters of women, children and old people, have shown cruelties on a staggering scale.

    One of the primary purposes of the Center could be to examine the strategies used in human efforts to reduce or eliminate violence. The admonitions of religious leaders, the development of severe punishments under strict laws, the therapeutic programs of psychologists, have not been very effective.

    A six-point pledge developed by the United Nations Education and Scientific Organization (UNESCO) would be offered for consideration. The points are:

    • Respect all life.
    • Reject violence in all its forms, particularly violence directed at the most deprived and vulnerable people.
    • Share with others, in a spirit of generosity.
    • Listen to understand.
    • Preserve the planet.
    • Rediscover solidarity.

    This pledge is based on the realization that everyone must take a personal share of responsibility for the future of humanity.

    Widening Roles for Women in Shaping Humanity’s Future

    The Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions was almost exclusively a male enterprise, dominated by highly active men with elitist ideas of leadership. Only one woman was ever appointed to the scholarly circle — the Fellows — who ran the Center. The increasing activities of women in all fields certainly has crucial significance for the future of the human species. A Center dedicated to humanity’s future must give the widest scope to women, who now compose 52 percent of the world’s population. From its board of directors to its staff, such a Center must have women fully represented.

    Since that Center will be continuously engaged in initiating, receiving, discussing, and promoting ideas for the benefit of humanity, women around the world will be continuously invited to take part in the life of the Center. There will be a place for everybody at the Center’s table. There will be a physical table, located in the Center’s headquarters in Santa Barbara— but the table will extend around the planet through the Internet and other methods of communication.

    Hearing from People of All Ages: The Lifting of Every Voice

    The idea of a great circle around the world, with people of all ages speaking and listening to one another, has seemed to be a fantasy — until our time, when it has become a reality. Human beings are now crossing all geographic boundaries easily and swiftly. The Center for Humanity’s Future would invite participants in all the dialogues already under way to comment on the principal topics offered by the Center for worldwide discussion. The first topics could be:

    • Overcoming the power of violence, preventing a war and building a culture of peace;
    • Awakening everyone to the primacy of individual persons in shaping the future;
    • Recognizing the spiritual dimensions of every human being and encouraging spiritual growth;
    • Reaffirming the necessity for protecting the environment and maintaining the earth as a flourishing home for all forms of life;
    • Emphasizing the need for cooperation as an instrument for achieving the good of all;
    • Exploring what it means to be human in the 21st Century; and
    • Developing a Code of Human Responsibilities.

    In the Center’s outreach to people of all ages, there could be a continuous reminder of the fact that every human being has an impact on the future and will have an influence felt for many generations.

    Presenting an Annual Report on the State of Humanity — and a Global Celebration of Creativity

    Each year, the Center could present an Annual Report on the State of Humanity, based on the ideas flowing into it and from it throughout the year. People everywhere might be asked to pledge their support for the international movement for the formation of a culture of peace and nonviolence.

    The Center could also sponsor a global Celebration of Creativity, highlighting the marvelous achievements of women, men, children, people from all backgrounds. Artists of all kinds — musicians, dancers, singers, poets, mystics, doctors, healers, prophets, sculptors— could lead community celebrations which would be linked together around the world. It would recognize the creativity of everyone — and the connections of human beings with one another. It could be videotaped and used on television and the Internet to bring delight into the daily lives of people everywhere.

    The Center itself could be a fountain of joy and inspiration — with its mission to foster hope and happiness and sing a great song as Beethoven did — a song of confidence in the strength and wide-ranging abilities of human beings, aware of their tremendous roles in a universe filled with limitless creativity.

    *Frank K. Kelly is the senior vice president of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation. Kelly is a former speech writer for President Truman and staff director of the U.S. Senate Majority Policy Committee. He served for 17 years as Vice President of the Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions.

    Thoughts On a Center for Humanity’s Future and the State of Humanity

    by David Krieger President of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation

    The Center for Humanity’s Future could be composed of Nobel Laureates and selected other world leaders in various fields, who would issue an Annual Report on the State of Humanity. These leaders would meet at least once a year to finalize the report, which could be released to the people of the world through the media and in the form of a book.

    The purpose of the report would be to offer creative solutions for coping with the dangers humanity faces, and to inspire people to live with full human dignity and to be active participants in shaping a better future.

    The Center for Humanity’s Future would have a full-time secretariat who would work throughout the year in preparing the State of Humanity Report and arranging meetings with leaders in many fields who would provide input to the Nobel Laureate group that would issue the report.

    The Center for Humanity’s Future would operate through two existing non-profit organizations located in Santa Barbara, California: The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation and La Casa de Maria Retreat Center.

  • First Annual Sadako Peace Day

    Mayor Harriet Miller declared August 6, 1996 as “The First Annual Sadako Peace Day.” In making this proclamation, she called “for efforts in our community and throughout the world to abolish nuclear weapons and to prevent people everywhere, particularly children, from suffering the horrors of war.”

    Sadako Sasaki was a two-year old girl in Hiroshima, who was exposed to radiation when the atomic bomb was dropped on her city on August 6, 1945. She developed radiation-induced leukemia ten years later. Japanese legend has it that one’s wish will come true if one folds a thousand paper cranes. Sadako began folding paper cranes with the wish to get well and achieve world peace. She wrote a poem, “I will write peace on your wings and you will fly all over the world.” Sadako died with 646 cranes folded, and her classmates finished folding the paper cranes. Sadako’s story has become known to people all over the world, and the folding of paper cranes has become a symbol of world peace.

    To commemorate Sadako Peace Day, the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation and La Casa de Maria hosted an outdoor ceremony at Sadako Peace Garden at La Casa de Maria. The ceremony, with some 100 people in attendance, included a musical program arranged by Harry Sargous of The Music Academy of the West, and poetry read by several Santa Barbara poets, including Gene Knudsen Hoffman and Sojourner Kincaid-Rolle.

    Foundation president David Krieger summarized the importance of the event and the day: “This day August 6th has many names. For some, looking back in history, it is Hiroshima Day, a time to recall the terrible devastation that took place when a single nuclear weapon was dropped on the city of Hiroshima. For some, looking to the future, it is Abolition Day, a time to rededicate one’s efforts to the elimination of all nuclear weapons in the world. These are important perspectives. For us here today, the day is also Sadako Peace Day, a commemoration of the loss of an innocent child’s life as a result of the bombing of Hiroshima, and a rededication to preventing other children from being injured and killed as a result of war, any war.”

     

  • First Annual Sadako Peace Day City of Santa Barbara Proclamation

    Whereas, the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation is dedicated to creating a nuclear weapons free world under international law;

    Whereas, the Sadako Peace Garden, located at La Casa de Maria, was created by the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation and La Casa de Maria, and was dedicated on August 6, 1995, the 50th anniversary of the first use of an atomic bomb in warfare; and

    Whereas, Sadako Sasaki was two years old when the bombing of Hiroshima occurred, and died ten years after the bombing of Hiroshima from radiation-induced leukemia; and

    Whereas, Japanese legend has it that one’s wish will come true if one folds a thousand paper cranes; Sadako’s wish was to get well and spread the message of peace and she wrote a poem, “I will write peace on your wings and you will fly all over the world”; and

    Whereas, Sadako died with 646 cranes folded, and her classmates finished folding the paper cranes that have since become a symbol of peace throughout the world,

    Now, Therefore, I, Harriet Miller, by virtue of the authority vested in me as Mayor of the City of Santa Barbara do hereby proclaim the day of August 6 1996 as the FIRST ANNUAL SADAKO PEACE DAY and call for efforts in our community and throughout the world to abolish nuclear weapons and to prevent people everywhere, particularly children, from suffering the horrors of war.

    In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Official Seal of the City of Santa Barbara, California, to be affixed this 6th day of August 1996.

    Harriet Miller, Mayor
    Santa Barbara, California

  • Sadako Peace Garden

    The Sadako Peace Garden in Santa Barbara was dedicated on August 6, 1995, the 50th anniversary of the Hiroshima tragedy, as a project of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, in cooperation with La Casa de Maria. It honors all who work for peace and a world free of nuclear weapons.

    Two distinguished Santa Barbara artists, Isabelle Greene and Irma Cavat, gave of their time and skills to create the landscaping and the artistry of this magic location.

    “I ask you to come up and submerge your hands into the water and then bless this space before you leave.”

    -Don George, Director, La Casa de Maria.

    “Hundreds of residents and visitors of Santa Barbara, young and old, have come to the Sadako Peace Garden to reflect and to commit, or recommit themselves to the task of peacemaking.

    The Garden is open to the public. Please feel free to come back at any time, and spread the word among your friends.”

    — Walter Kohn, Co-Chair, Education Committee, Nuclear Age Peace Foundation.

    Sadako Peace Garden, La Casa de Maria, 800 El Bosque Road, Santa Barbara CA 93108-2794