This Giving Tuesday, Take a Stand Against Nuclear Weapons

This Giving Tuesday, it’s up to us. The nuclear threats we face today are graver than they’ve been since the 1980’s. Whatever happens in the coming years, be it the continued threat of war with North Korea or renewed conflict with Iran, it's our generation who will inherit the consequences. And the consequences of a nuclear war are beyond imagination.

That’s why Ploughshares Fund’s junior staff has taken over Early Warning and @Cirincione’s twitter to help find 100 people under 35 to make a donation of any size to help us ensure a safe and secure future for everyone. Ploughshares Fund is a global security foundation committed to the eventual elimination of nuclear weapons worldwide. Yet the majority of our supporters are over the age of 60. Millennials cannot take a backseat on this critical issue. The stakes have never been higher, but when young people fight for disarmament, we all benefit.

No matter how you feel about them, nuclear weapons are a major security issue facing the world today. Unfortunately, nuclear weapons don’t make us safer - especially given the erratic behavior and worrisome beliefs of our Commander in Chief.

Dangerous rhetoric and mixed messages from the White House have greatly increased our chances of stumbling into a nuclear war with North Korea. President Trump taunts this adversarial nuclear armed state via Twitter and has taken to calling the North Korean supreme leader “Little Rocket Man.”

Apparently, one rogue nuclear weapon state isn’t enough. Earlier this month, President Trump took the first step towards scrapping the Iran nuclear agreement, the international agreement that stops Iran from building nuclear weapons and has prevented a new war in the Middle East. Ending this historic agreement would open the door to a nuclear armed Iran.

As these events dominate the headlines, you may (or may not) be aware of a few crucial pieces of information.

The United States has over 700 nuclear weapons -- ready to launch within four minutes -- and there is only one person who can decide when to launch them: the President of the United States. No one, not even top military officials, are authorized to negate his decision.

Do you trust a president who can be baited with a tweet to hold sole command of our nuclear arsenal? This is just one of many problems posed by nuclear weapons and current nuclear weapons policy – not only in the United States, but around the world.

Ploughshares Fund knows the road ahead is long and full of challenges. But no one is better prepared for the task ahead. For over 35 years Ploughshares Fund has supported the most effective people and organizations to reduce and eventually eliminate the dangers posed by nuclear weapons - including two Nobel laureates. Visit our website to learn more about the progress they have made and the future challenges they will face on this important issue in the years to come.

Pledge your commitment to help find 100 people under 35 who will take a stand against nuclear weapons and make a donation, no matter how small, to Ploughshares Fund on Giving Tuesday. By doing so, you can help our generation make this issue our own. With hard work, optimism, and perseverance, our generation can be the first to put an end to one of the greatest threats to our planet—for ourselves and all generations that follow.

--Kaley Diamond is the Major Gifts Manager at Ploughshares Fund. Meghan McCall is a Policy Associate at Ploughshares Fund. Rose Blanchard is a Research Assistant at Ploughshares Fund.

More Resources:

--“The Finger on the Button” by Fred Kaplan for Slate, November 13, 2017 here.

--“Congress Questions Trump’s Exclusive Hold on the Nuclear Football” by Dan De Luce for Foreign Policy, November 14, 2017 here.

--“Time to revise nuclear launch policy” by Daryl Kimball and Kingston Reif for The Hill, November 13, 2017 here.

--“Don’t Count on the Cabinet to Stop a Trump-Ordered Nuclear Strike” by Edward-Isaac Dovere for POLITICO, November 14, 2017 here.

--“North Korea Can’t Figure Out If Trump Is Actually Crazy” by Abigail Tracy for Vanity Fair, November 13, 2017 here.

--“Trump’s unlimited nuclear power poses security risk” by The Boston Globe Editorial Board, November 13, 2017 here.

--“Slouching Toward War With North Korea” by Nicholas Kristof for The New York Times, November 4, 2017 here.