Ask Obama to work for a nuclear free world!
We have an unprecedented opportunity right now to make our voices heard on a topic that threatens us, our safety and our planet.
Join us in supporting campaigning group Peace Action and its global petition to abolish nuclear weapons!
It might sound a bit old fashioned and hippyish but here at LUSH we are all for promoting peace and love for ourselves and our environment. We like nothing more than jumping on top of our soap boxes when there’s a really serious issue to support and we know a lot of beautiful people who feel the same about speaking out. So why petition now?
The Non Proliferation Treaty (NPT) is reviewed every 5 years at the United Nations in New York City (4th-15th May 2010) and it’s a massive opportunity for world leaders to reduce the menace of nuclear weapons.
It seems that we are facing crises on an unprecedented scale: global warming, war, environmental destruction, poverty and disease. Yet these problems are almost entirely the results of human action and they can equally be resolved by human action.
We are asking you to sign a petition asking Obama to initiate multiparty negotiations on an international agreement to abolish nuclear weapons, within our lifetimes!
"Nuclear disarmament should serve as the leading edge of a global trend toward demilitarization and redirection of resources to meet human needs and restore the environment". www.peaceandjusticenow.org
The Non-Proliferation treaty is a very thorough nuclear weapons treaty.
It includes all countries, even countries that do not have nuclear weapons. The NPT is an important step towards preventing the spread of nuclear weapons and providing a framework for disarmament. This treaty is only a small step and contains 2 major flaws:
1. The pace at which nuclear weapons countries fulfill the goals of the treaty is open for debate.
2. The lack of concrete benchmarks or timelines has allowed nations to defer their commitment to nuclear disarmament.
Let's petition together and make sure that all countries come together to set some concrete dates and times for total disarmament, within our lifetimes.
How can nuclear disarmament help the world?
Global military spending reached a total of $1.46 trillion in 2008 (the Pentagons budget is now over half a trillion dollars annually). Imagine how positively this money could be spent otherwise!
nine countries maintain arsenals of nuclear weapons – all together, over 30,000 warheads. These uniquely destructive weapons can not only destroy life on our planet many times over, but they are also used as political weapons of terror, reinforcing an unjustifiable global inequality.
"One nuclear weapon exploded in one city -- be it New York or Moscow, Islamabad or Mumbai, Tokyo or Tel Aviv, Paris or Prague -- could kill hundreds of thousands of people. And no matter where it happens, there is no end to what the consequences might be -- for our global safety, our security, our society, our economy, to our ultimate survival." President Obama April 5th in Prague
Our partners in Japan know all too well the destruction that a nuclear bomb can have.
The bombings of Nagasaki and Hiroshima in 1945 by the U.S. military were devastating. Within the first two to four months of the bombings, the acute effects killed as many as 240,000 people. The suffering caused by the bombings has led Japan to seek the abolition of nuclear weapons from the world ever since, exhibiting one of the world's firmest non-nuclear policies.
LUSH Japan has carried out an amazing campaign in recent weeks, supporting local n.g.o Peace Depot and urging their customers to make their voices heard by creating traditional origami peace cranes. 20,000 cranes have been made! 4,000 of these will be sent to New York for the NPT conference. Our New York stores will be hanging hundreds of these in our store windows…going to be an amazing sight!!
What can you do to help?
Sign the Global petition. Peace Action is hoping to take at least 100,000 signatures. Let’s make sure that at least this many voices are heard.
- Support Peace Action. Join them, donate and get involved locally.
- If you are in New York, join the peace march at 2pm in Times Square on the 2nd May.
- Encourage friends and family to join in.
About Peace Action
At Peace Action, we believe that war is not a suitable response to conflict, that every person has the right to live without the threat from nuclear weapons and that America has the resources and responsibility to both protect and provide for its citizens.
We are the nation's largest grassroots peace network, with chapters and affiliates in 30 states. We organize our grassroots network to place pressure on Congress and the Administration through write-in campaigns, internet actions, citizen lobbying and direct action. Through a close relationship with progressive members of Congress, we play a key role in devising strategies to move forward peace legislation, and, as a leading member of United for Peace and Justice and the Win Without War coalition, we lend our expertise and large network to achieving common goals.
