2020 Action

NY Times: Aid Groups Fear Starvation Death of 1 Million Afghan Children This Winter

January 2022 - We are sending you the January 2022 Action early because the need is so urgent. The US has been deeply engaged in and supportive of Afghanistan for over 20 years. Since our withdrawal in August, the billions of dollars annually in US aid to Afghanistan has stopped dead. We also bear a heavy moral responsibility for the sanctions we have imposed cutting it off from most other sources of aid. This has basically collapsed the Afghan economy and caused a food scarcity of crisis proportions. The UN World Food Program and other aid groups have been long established in Afghanistan and can deliver food directly to the people who need it most. But they don't have nearly the resources that are desperately and immediately needed to keep children from starvation.

TAKE ACTION:

1. Contact Pres. Biden who can take Executive action to help avoid a mass catastrophe in Afghanistan. A brief message is best. Below is a letter of the sort you might send to him.
2. If you can, we encourage you to make a personal donation to the UN World Food Program which has worked in Afghanistan since 1963. This would be most helpful because it can be used immediately. They say that a $75 donation feeds a family of 5 for a month. This is only a small part of what is needed, but for that family, for that month, it means survival. Click on  

 https://www.wfpusa.org/news-release/half-of-afghanistans-population-face-acute-hunger/

Then click on the red DONATE sign at the top. Thank you so much.

CONTACT: President Biden

• Web: https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/  (leave a message)
• Tel: 1-202-456-1111 (leave a message)
• Mail: The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington DC 20500

 

Please send this email on to family and friends and/or write a letter-to-the-editor on this important issue. It is a good way to educate others and build support for needed policies.

 

Sample message to President Biden (you can leave this on the White House website: https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/

President Joseph R. Biden

The White House

Washington DC 

Dear Mr. President,

I am in anguish about the 1 million children that could actually starve to death in Afghanistan this winter (NY Times:  https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/04/world/asia/afghanistan-starvation-crisis.html). That is horrific. They are surely innocent by any measure. 

Please do your utmost to prevent this catastrophe: transfer funds to the UN World Food Program and other aid agencies, lift some sanctions on the Taliban, and send emergency food supplies to Afghanistan. We cannot sit by, while we, by sanctioning the Taliban, prevent Afghan children from getting food to survive.

Mr. President, you are an empathic person. I know you are extremely busy, but please act to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe that is surely coming if nothing is done. 

Thank you for your help in this matter. 

Sincerely yours,

(your name and address)

2021 Action Report

2021 ACTION REPORT
on Monthly Actions

January 2021: President Trump Must Not Attack Iran!  Fortunately, he didn’t.

February 2021: A New Sheriff in Town—A New Beginning  With Pres. Biden in office, we urged him to undo the Trumpian withdrawals from existing nuclear agreements. There were three: 

a) The Open Skies Agreement provides stability by allowing U.S. and Russian flights over the U.S., Russia, and Europe. Pres. Trump pulled out, then Russia also, effective Dec. 2021. Talks between the U.S. and Russia are ongoing.

b) The New START Treaty limits U.S. and Russian deployment of strategic nuclear weapons to 1,550 each, with extensive verification. Pres. Trump pulled out of the Treaty, but Pres. Biden and Putin reinstated it on Feb. 3, weeks after Biden's inauguration.

c) The Iran Deal, to prevent Iran from building a nuclear bomb. Again, Pres. Trump pulled out, but in recent days, Iran has announced that it is willing to negotiate and talks are now scheduled to resume in Vienna on November 29^th, 2021.

March 2021: Support the National Climate Emergency Act  H.R. 794, the National Climate Emergency Act of 2021, called on the President to declare a climate national emergency under the National Emergency Act of 1976, to mobilize resources for large-scale climate mitigation and resiliency projects. The bill has 50 co-sponsors but has not been voted on. However, some of these provisions were approved in the Infrastructure Bill in early November.

April 2021: Iran Window of Opportunity  In the 2015 "Iran Deal", Iran gave up 90% of its partly enriched uranium, in return for the lifting of sanctions which had been imposed to prevent it from making a nuclear bomb. Pres. Trump pulled out of the deal in 2018, re-imposing sanctions. After a year, Iran restarted enriching uranium. In April 2021 we encouraged Pres. Biden's efforts to bring back the Iran Deal. Recently, Iran announced its willingness to continue negotiations and talks are scheduled to begin in Vienna on November 29^th, 2021.

May 2021: Eliminate Human Caused Emissions of Methane  Two bills were introduced in the Congress S.645 & HR 7435, to require the Secretary of the Treasury to levy a fee on methane emissions from oil and natural gas facilities, and from other sources.  The goal was to charge $1,500 for each metric ton of methane emitted above thresholds.  Later a provision of the Build Back Better budget proposal would charge oil and gas operators if they release methane above a certain limit and offer $775 million to help reduce and monitor this greenhouse gas.  Recently, the U.S. announced it will join a Global Methane Pledge to cut methane emissions 30% by 2030. 

In Glasgow at the UN Climate Conference, China and the U.S. pledged to enhance emission control in the fossil fuel, waste, and agriculture sectors. They will meet in early 2022 to agree on standards and measurements.

June 2021: No-First Use  HR 921 is a bill that would establish a U.S. policy to not use nuclear weapons first. Although this bill has enjoyed a fair number of sponsors (52, all Democrats) and has been introduced twice, in 2017 and 2019, it has not yet been put to a vote. S272 in the Senate, with a similar purpose, has 7 co-sponsors  (6 Democrats, 1 Independent). It was introduced in 2019 and 2021 but has not yet received a vote.

July 2021: Infrastructure Act and Water Act  The infrastructure Act has passed both the Senate and House and was signed by the President. The Water Affordability, Transparency, Equity, and Reliability Act of 202 provides funding for several programs related to controlling water pollution or protecting drinking water. Although this act was never voted on, some of its goals will be achieved in the Infrastructure Act which dedicates approximately $82.5 billion for a wide range of critical water investments including improvements in safe drinking water and sanitation.  

August 2021: Last Exit off the Highway to Nuclear Catastrophe?  We urged Pres. Biden to make the necessary arrangements to "negotiate in good faith" with the goal of worldwide nuclear disarmament. The press has mentioned no such efforts or arrangements. But our chances for negotiations may improve: China has recently demonstrated its hypersonic, steerable, radar-evading missile, against which our missile defense is useless because it is not steerable. Consequently, the U.S. may develop an interest in beginning negotiations toward nuclear disarmament. 

September 2021: End US Fossil Fuel Subsidies Here and Abroad  We asked that members of Congress act to eliminate all US fossil fuel subsidies within the US and for overseas projects. However, the Infrastructure Bill that Biden has just signed into law included additional $billions in support for fossil fuels, including subsidies for hydrogen made from fossil fuels, a $25 billion loan guarantee for a new liquified natural gas facility in Alaska, and an exemption from environmental review for new gas and oil pipelines across federal lands. The Build Back Better reconciliation bill, expected to be voted on before the end of the year, also includes an estimated $35 billion worth of domestic fossil fuel subsidies. President Biden had identified these for removal but the House has not eliminated them. 

The agreement that has just been finalized by all nations the COP26 includes the request that countries phase out "inefficient fossil fuel subsidies."  No firm dates have been set however for the U.S. to do this. 

October 2021: Global Warming-The Most Certain Threat to our National Security  The Pocan (D-WI) Amendment to the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act called for a reduction of 10% in military spending, which would free up funds to address climate change, the most certain threat to our national security. In a rush of hundreds of votes in the House, dubbed the vote-a-rama, it was voted on, but lost.

November 2021: Stop Adding Fuel to the Fire  We urged Pres. Biden, while he attended the UN Climate Conference in Glasgow, to ask all countries to eliminate fossil fuel subsidies. He was only partly successful. Upon returning home, on, Nov. 17th, his administration complied with a Louisiana judge’s ruling that ended an earlier Biden Executive Order to stop new oil and gas drilling that was permitted by former Pres. Trump. This opens more than 80 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico and in Western lands to oil and gas drilling leases on public lands. The US Department of Justice is appealing the Louisiana decision. Stay tuned.

We also asked Pres. Biden to call on all nations to regulate banks to no longer loan money for fossil fuel development. He directed all US agencies to seek to end all US and international investments by multilateral development banks in overseas fossil fuel development, and to invest in renewables instead. This does not address domestic fossil fuel development.

In addition, we asked Pres. Biden to call on wealthier countries to increase (and meet) their commitments to support the efforts of poorer countries hard hit by climate disasters. The document, called the Glasgow Climate Pact, urges the developed countries to meet their joint $100 billion annual pledge, and in fact calls for at least doubling it. There is no list of countries that agreed to do this.

2020 Action—Focus, Determination, Persistence

Help us keep Americans informed and engaged
for peace & the environment as we celebrate our 35^th year!

Please be generous with a year-end donation.
Your participation & donation now will help us grow.

Deep appreciation and Gratitude to all 2020 members, Core Group of Researchers & Writers, Donors, Colleagues, and Supporters

Key Time for Pres. Biden to Adopt a Nuclear No First Use Policy

December 2021 - The US decision on whether to have a policy not to start a nuclear war by being the first to use nuclear weapons is coming up in the next few weeks as Pres. Biden's Nuclear Posture Review is finalized. Any use of nuclear weapons is liable to generate a huge nuclear response which could generate a "nuclear winter." Dust generated by incinerating cities would rise and spread around the globe. This could block out the sun and kill off food production--at least in the northern hemisphere.

As Pres. Reagan said: "Nuclear war can never be won, and must never be fought." We can take heart that in 2017 Joe Biden said: "Deterring, and if necessary, retaliating against a nuclear attack should be the sole purpose of the US nuclear arsenal." It's time to urge him to formalize his thought into a No First Use Policy in his Nuclear Posture Review.

China has had such a policy since 1964, which we welcomed and which has made us less jumpy. US General Milley, the Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was so concerned that China could think that Pres. Trump might use a nuclear attack on China to enable him to stay in office that he, Milley, called up China to allay its fears. A U.S. No First Use Policy could have lowered the tensions on both sides.

TAKE ACTION: This month, many peace and security organizations are calling on their members to urge Pres. Biden to incorporate a No First Use Policy into his upcoming Nuclear Posture Review. Please add your voice. Urge Pres. Biden to adopt a No First Use Policy, because you and the world will be safer.

CONTACT: President Biden

• Web: https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/  (leave a message)
• Tel: 1-202-456-1111 (leave a message)
• Mail: The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington DC 20500

Please write a letter-to-the-editor on this important issue.
It is a good way to educate others and build support for needed policies.

Last Exit off the Highway to Nuclear Catastrophe?

August 2021 - On Aug. 6, 2020, Hiroshima Day, Presidential Candidate Joe Biden proclaimed: “I will work to bring us closer to a world without nuclear weapons.” That was encouraging to the many Americans who favor a world without nuclear weapons, and to the 122 countries that voted for the Nuclear Ban Treaty of 2017. 

But President Biden has instead joined in a 3-way hypersonic arms race with Russia and China, with basically unstoppable nuclear and non-nuclear missiles traveling 4,000 to 14,000 mph. This shrinks the time of deciding whether what seems like an incoming nuclear attack is really an attack, or just a false alarm. Having about 10 minutes to decide, as we had in the past, has twice saved us from worldwide nuclear catastrophe. First by Lt. Col. Stanislav Petrov on Sept. 26, 1983, when he faced a computer warning of a US attack of "high reliability" calling for "full nuclear retaliation". Bless him for not following his orders, for what turned out to be the sun's reflection off some clouds. A second false alarm came before Boris Yeltsin on Jan. 25, 1995, but he could not believe that “my friend Bill” could do such a thing.

With hypersonic missiles, we’d lose those 10 valuable minutes. If the world is EVER going to save itself from nuclear destruction by eliminating its 13,132 nuclear weapons, this present moment could be the last chance. Russia has already deployed a hypersonic ICBM, with “reportedly” a nuclear warhead, according to the Congressional Research Service.

TAKE ACTION:  Contact Pres. Biden and urge him to make the necessary arrangements to “negotiate in good faith” with a goal of worldwide nuclear disarmament as we and the U.K., Russia, China, and France solemnly committed to do in the Non-Proliferation Treaty of 1970. It is high time. The world is heading into a continually deeper trap, so the sooner we do this, the better chance we have.

CONTACT: President Biden
Web: https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/       
Tel: 1-202-456-1111 
Mail:   The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington DC 20500

Please write a letter-to-the-editor on this important issue.
It is a good way to educate others and build support for needed policies.

Make a Difference in the Fall Elections

September 2020 - Impacting fall elections is far and away the most powerful way to advance peace and environmental concerns this year. Choose one of these two proven ways to do your part.

Contribute to and volunteer for critical House and Senate races. The Council for a Livable World (CLW) has decades of experience in identifying key races in the House and Senate where candidates that support peace issues need support to win. Contributing and volunteering to candidates backed by CLW will insure that your money and time is strategically spent to advance peace issues. Contact each candidate’s website or local office to volunteer. 

Write personalized letters to key voters in swing districts. Writing letters through VoteForward is an engaging way to reach out to potential progressive voters in swing states. No matter where you live you can reach out to individual voters in the twelve swing states that will affect the outcome of the Presidential race, enable flipping the Senate, and impact redistricting for the next decade. VoteForward has a step-by-step process that enables you to write and mail personalized letters to a list of progressive voters who need encouragement. This is an easy, rewarding and effective way to make a difference in the fall elections.

CONTACT:

Council for a Livable World:                                

Web:   https://livableworld.org/meet-the-candidates/

Tel:     202-543-4100

Mail:   20 1st Street NE, Suite LL-180, Washington, DC 20003                                 

VoteForward: Register at the site, request a letter writing kit, and after a brief waiting period you will receive letters to personalize, addresses and instructions.  

Web:   https://votefwd.org/indivisible
Mail:   611 Pennsylvania Ave SE #192, Washington, DC 20004

Multiply this Message: Write a letter to the editor about this important & timely issue. This is a powerful way to educate and mobilize others.

A NEW NUCLEAR ARMS RACE THREATENS!

January 2019 - The Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty of 1987 between the US and Russia eliminates all ground-launched mid-range nuclear weapons. This contributed greatly to the end of the Cold War. In recent years, each party has charged the other with some noncompliance of the treaty, which the other denies. Recently, Pres. Putin has called for dialogue and possible renegotiation and extension to include other nations, while on Dec. 4, the US gave Russia a 60-day ultimatum to come into compliance or the US would start the six-month withdrawal process. Meanwhile, the US has been exploring design options for building non-treaty-compliant weapons in the event of leaving the treaty. Russia has threatened to respond in kind, which would start a new destabilizing arms race—this time at the mid-range level—likely drawing in other Asian nuclear states.

Sen. Merkley (D-OR) has sponsored a bill, S.3667, the Prevention of Arms Race Act of 2018. It prohibits US spending to procure or deploy short- or mid-range ground-launched nuclear systems, unless the Sec. of Defense, in consultation with the Sec. of State and the Director of National Intelligence, issues a report that 1) certifies that dialogue has been tried and failed, 2) contains an assessment of need, of alternatives, and of likely ramifications of the collapse of the treaty, and 3) includes a commitment from at least one other nation to deploy these arms on its own soil.

ACTION: Urge your Senators to support and speak out loudly on behalf of S.3667. Also, urge your Representative to introduce the same legislation in the new House. A withdrawal from the INF, and possibly from the New START Treaty, could spell the end of nuclear arms control, possibly forever.

CONTACT: Your Senators and Representative

• Web: Find their names and links to their websites at senate.gov, www.house.gov; send an email or leave a message via ‘Contact’ on his/her website
• Tel: 202 224-3121 (Capitol switchboard-ask for his/her office & leave a message)
• Mail: Senator or Representative (first & last name) S. Senate, Washington, D.C. 20510
  or U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, D.C. 20515

Multiply this Message: Use this information to write a letter to the editor about this important & timely issue. This is a powerful way to educate and mobilize others—our job now & in the coming years!

2018 2020 Action Report & Request

Dear member and friend of 2020 Action,

You and I live in volatile and dangerous times.

Nuclear weapons and climate change remain the biggest threats to our country and the world—
and these fundamental issues will remain the focus of 2020 Action.

I am so grateful that you have been a part of 2020. Your actions, combined with those of other members, have led to 32 years of having a positive influence on hundreds of important policies. Our 2018 Action Report shows some of the many achievements you have helped to bring about.

Together we strengthen each other by amplifying our voices. We are redoubling our efforts, being creative, strategic, and finding the places where we can affect positive change.

Everything we love about life, our country, our democracy, and our environment is in danger right now. And to ‘disengage’ in frustration would be tragic.

I need your help now so that 2020 Action can engage even more people in effective action. More than ever, our democracy depends on well-informed engaged citizens. Donate now at 2020Action.org.

This is the time of year when many people make their most significant donations to organizations they trust, in support of causes they believe in deeply. I hope 2020, with its 32 years of persistence and success, is on your list and that you’ll send a special donation.

We need your help now so that working together we can flex the muscle of citizen participation that is vital to our democracy. With your help we will inform more Americans and engage them in taking effective action on these critical issues. Much is at stake, so I hope you will be generous. Click to here to donate on our website: 2020Action.org, or send a donation to 2020 Action, PO Box 63, Amherst, MA 01004.

With gratitude for your caring and generosity, and best wishes for the New Year,

Lois Barber,

Founder and Executive Director

 

P.S.  Jo Comerford, a long-time 2020 member, was recently elected to the Massachusetts State Senate!  Jo writes, “2020 was a first step for me into my life of social engagement — waking up to the world — and I will be forever grateful.” Read more of Jo’s story below. Your donation today will help us reach out and engage more young people like Jo. Donate now at 2020Action.org

“2020 was a first step for me…”
A Story from Jo Comerford, State Senator Elect, Massachusetts

“My dad was a high school history teacher. He and my mom were very active -- from marches on Washington to participation on school committees, to work in the environmental movement, and as advocates for public education funding. I watched, but wasn’t really involved.

When I graduated from college, dad bought me a membership in 2020 Vision (now 2020 Action). And I remember him saying that it would be the doorway for me to find my own activism, my own purpose, my own sense of agency.

When the first postcard came in the mail, I remember reading the background piece and thinking to myself that I needed to know more. I remember how excited I was when I wrote my first letter based on the action postcard and put it in the mail. Later that week, I picked up and read The New York Times much more in-depth than I had done before. Later that year, I began volunteering at a shelter for women who were without homes. 2020 was a first step for me into my own life of social engagement -- into my own waking up to the world -- and I will be forever grateful.”

In November 2018, Jo was elected to be State Senator in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. She will be sworn in in January.

Please make a generous donation to 2020 Action today so that we can reach out and engage more young people and help them take a “First Step in their own life of social engagement and waking up to the world.”

 

And congratulations to EarthAction, 2020’s sister organization, whose Spotlight Project won the “2018 Best Climate Solutions” international award for “Communicating Climate Change Threats and Opportunities.” I'm very proud and very grateful for your help to make this possible. This is one more example of what we're doing together for democracy, peace, and the environment.

 

Please send your donation today to the address below, or click here to donate online.

Stop the Bailout of Coal and Nuclear

July 2018 - The President has instructed Rick Perry, the Secretary of Energy, to bail out obsolete coal and nuclear power plants by raising electricity rates. A draft Energy Department plan exploits the Cold War-era Defense Production Act and Section 202(c) of the Federal Power Act to force grid operators across the country to buy electricity from failing coal and nuclear plants. The Defense Production Act is an obscure wartime law that allows the president to secure scarce resources for national defense. There is, however, no case that failing coal and nuclear plants are essential to military defense. The Federal Power Act, Section 202(c) allows the Energy Secretary to issue an “emergency run order” where potential shortages of energy are imminent. Grid operators, industry experts, and utilities, however, have repeatedly and forcefully stated that there is no energy shortage and no evidence of an emergency.

ACTION: Contact your Senators and Representative. Urge them to oppose this initiative, which would require American families to bail out obsolete coal and nuclear power plants. Such initiatives would prop up polluting, dangerous, and expensive sources of power while disadvantaging efforts to provide clean, cheap, renewable alternatives.

Contact Your Representative and Senators:

• Web: Find their names and links to their websites at senate.gov, www.house.gov; send an email or leave a message via ‘Contact’ on his/her website
• Tel: 202 224-3121 (Capitol switchboard-ask for his/her office & leave a message)
• Mail: Senator or Representative (first & last name) S. Senate, Washington, D.C. 20510
  or U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, D.C. 20515

Multiply this Message: Use this information to write a letter to the editor about this important & timely issue. This is a powerful way to educate and mobilize others—our job now & in the coming years!

Rescue our Western Waters: Update the Mining Law

October 2015 - You may have seen the pictures of the shockingly garish bright yellow water in the Animas River in southern Colorado following the spill of 3 million gallons of heavy-metal contaminated water from the Gold King mine on Aug. 5. Ironically, the spill occurred as the EPA was attempting a cleanup.

The law governing who pays for the clean up from this spill dates from 1872, a time when the paramount goal was to extract gold and other metals to stimulate our nation’s economy with little regard for pollution and cleanup costs.

We now have over 500,000 abandoned mines, polluting about 40% of the headwaters of the Western watersheds. And the West has very little water to spare!

To pay for future mine spill cleanups, a bill has been introduced in the US House, HR 963, that will impose an 8% charge on all new "hard rock" mines on public lands, and a 4% charge on existing mines on public lands. This is similar to currently existing laws regarding coal mines.

 

 Ask your Representative to co-sponsor HR 963, this vastly overdue and much needed bill. There is simply no good reason that the American taxpayer should be stuck with paying for these very expensive mining pollution cleanups.

CONTACT:

Web: www.senate.gov, www.house.gov

Telephone: (202) 224-3121 (Capitol switchboard)
Mail: Senator or Representative (first & last name)
U.S. Senate, Washington, D.C. 20510
U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, D.C. 20515

 

Photo: Mor Naaman (Flickr.com/MMOORR)

Critical Nuclear Power Safety Issues

June 2013 - "All 104 nuclear power reactors now in operation in the US have a safety problem that cannot be fixed." So said Dr. Gregory Jaczko, former Chair of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), at the Carnegie Nuclear Policy Conference on April 8, 2013. A most astonishing and unsettling statement! He further said that while it is impractical to shut them all immediately, certain "band-aids" must be used in the meantime. Two issues stand out.

1.   During the Fukushima disaster, pressure built up in the reactor containment vessels, threatening to explode them; the operators were reluctant to open their safety vents because that would release intense radiation into the general population. In response, Japanese and European reactors are now required to have radiation filters on vents. In the US, the NRC caved to industry cost concerns, despite its staff's recommendations to demand the filters.

2.   After 18 months in the reactor, the "spent" fuel is removed, hot and radioactive, and stored in a cooling pool. Any ongoing interruption of cooling water could trigger a fire, releasing intensely radioactive material, as happened in Japan. In the US, fuel assemblies can be packed in 4 times as densely as in Japan, increasing the danger. After 5 years, they should be removed and placed into "dry cask storage". To avoid the costs of dry cask storage, industry wants the fuel assemblies moved to "Interim Storage Sites". Imagine the dangers of radioactive spills and theft for bomb making, if this fuel were traveling on trucks and trains!

Alert your Representative to these serious risks, and ask him or her to urge the NRC to demand radiation filters on all containment vessel vents, and dry cask storage for all fuel rods after 5 years in the pool. Consider mentioning that you're ... miles from ... nuclear power plant. (Search, "US nuclear power plants" to find the one nearest you.)

E: www.house.gov 

Tel: (Capitol switchboard): 202 224–3121

Mail: Representative (first & last name) U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, D.C. 20515

Photo: Belmar, NJ, July, Curt Lamb