This page has been archived, and may no longer be up to date

George Bush leads the US toward a policy of unilateral, pre-emptive counterproliferation warfighting strategy.

Abolish nuclear weapons

The Cold War may be over, but this does not mean nuclear weapons have disappeared. Far from it: There are over 30,000 nuclear weapons in the world, with more than a thousand of them ready to launch at a moment's notice, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Over 400 reactors in warships and nuclear submarines are still circlingthe globe. Some are rotting away on the bottom of the ocean or in adistant port somewhere in Russia. Accidents such as the Russiansubmarine, the Kursk, tragically sinking in the Barents Sea can happenevery day, anywhere.

Over 2,000 nuclear weapons tests have left a legacy of global andregional contamination. People living near the test sites have sufferedfrom cancers, stillbirths, miscarriages and other health effects -- and are still suffering today. Manyhad to leave their hometown or island as it became too contaminated tolive there.

Helpus improve this website section by taking thisquick survey.

The nuclear threat has quite literally scaled down in the last twodecades. While the prospect of an all out exchange of arsenals betweenRussia and the US has receded, the 15 kilotons of destructionthat obliterated Hiroshima could today be accomplished with a lunch-boxsized bomb. George Bush talks openly of developing new "more useable"nuclear weapons. Even more alarmingly, the administration continues toseek approval for a programme geared toward designing more robust, more'usable' nuclear weapons.

The prospects of a nuclear weapon actuallybeing used are perhaps greater today than during the cold war.

Today, the number of countries involved in active weapons programsis increasing. A growing number of countries are lining up to join thenuclear club, increasing the chance that a nuclear catastrophe willhappen somewhere on the planet. 

George Bush's war on Weapons of Mass Descruction had its firstconcrete result when the number of countries in the world with declarednuclear weapons increased to 8 from 7, when North Korea announced thatit had built "enough nuclear weapons to deter a US attack."

Nuclear brinkmanship is inevitable in a climate of nuclearhypocrisy. Only when all countries pursue nuclear disarmament in goodfaith can we begin putting the nuclear genie back in the bottle bybanning the use and manufacture of the nuclear materials at the heart of the bomb.

The only thing that will stop the threat is the voice of the second superpower: world opinion.

The latest updates

 

Your right to stand for forests is under attack — again

Blog entry by Amy Moas | 30 January, 2018 3 comments

If it seems like we’ve been talking about lawsuits a lot lately, it’s because we have. Corporate bullies, helped by Donald Trump’s go-to law firm, have filed two massive lawsuits against Greenpeace in the last two years. They aim...

Sponsoring climate change

Blog entry by Robin Perkins | 30 January, 2018

It is that time again. Four years roll by and once more the greatest winter athletes in the world will come together to wow us on death-defying luge runs, courageous ski jumps or surprisingly mesmerising curling slides matches. ...

A tribute to Jon Castle

Blog entry by Rex Weyler | 25 January, 2018 5 comments

James (Jon) Castle - 7 December 1950 to 12 January 2018 Over four decades Captain Jon Castle navigated Greenpeace ships by the twin stars of ‘right and wrong’, defending the environment and promoting peace. Greenpeace chronicler,...

We don't just need electric cars, we need fewer cars

Blog entry by Richard Casson | 25 January, 2018 3 comments

Ever since the first production car rolled off the assembly line more than 100 years ago, our love affair with automobiles has grown and grown. In countries like the UK, France, Italy and Germany there are now around  5 vehicles for...

Diving to the Antarctic sea floor is a scientist’s dream come true

Blog entry by Dr Susanne Lockhart | 25 January, 2018

Most people would be surprised about how many species of cold-water corals and amazing sponges you’d find on the bottom of the Antarctic Ocean. Even as the scientist who has identified three quarters of the registered seafloor...

The Rise of the Penguins

Blog entry by Will Rose | 24 January, 2018

Never have so many penguins been seen waddling in so many places. They were ice skating in Stockholm, tap dancing in London, trekking up the highest mountain in Turkey and marching on mass in central Tokyo. They were even spotted...

Listening for Justice in Davos

Blog entry by Jennifer Morgan | 22 January, 2018

“ Another world is not only possible, she is on her way. On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing ” - Arundhati Roy I can hear her too. I have spent my working life trying to help others hear her. I wonder, when attending the...

Which is the Antarctic's top penguin?

Blog entry by Willie Mackenzie | 20 January, 2018 2 comments

Not every penguin is up to the challenge of living in the Antarctic, but those that do are a special sort of awesome. Remember, they don’t have the luxury of being able to fly away again if the weather turns bad. In honour of...

We can’t just recycle our way out of the plastic pollution crisis

Blog entry by Elvira Jiménez | 19 January, 2018 1 comment

Plastics are in the air. Not only literally . Everyone's talking about plastic pollution and the need to take action. You don’t need to be conducting a scientific research to see that plastic waste is invading our environment,...

How do we make corporations more accountable?

Blog entry by Daniel Mittler | 19 January, 2018

Greenpeace is famous for campaigning against corporations. We made “Choke” out of Coca-Cola's logo to draw attention to the massive plastic pollution impact  they have around the world.  Polar bear hijacks Coke’s holiday...

1 - 10 of 13893 results.