Nuclear weapons should be abolished

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, February 26 — We must do something. To date, nuclear weapons are the most destructive tools of war. At any time, at the press of a button, nuclear weapons could wipe out life on our planet.

In today's world, time is at a premium. Failing to plan and anticipate problems increases the number of crisis in the life of a nation. We do not have the time to ruminate on cause and effect, especially when good and bad news comes streaming together.

The Cold War with its arms race may now officially be over. But what still causes anguish is the American strategy. What is this strategy? Placing Japan under their nuclear umbrella and, worse still, wanting it to rearm. The A-bomb survivors of Japan, it seems, clapped resoundingly when Tadatoshi Akiba, the city's mayor, said at a ceremony in August "that the Government of Japan should fulfill its good-faith obligation to press for nuclear weapons abolition and take pride in and protect, as is, the Peace Constitution."

As Japan has been a victim of nuclear weapons, it is understandable that Tokyo feels uneasy about any country possessing such weapons, and yet the Japanese Government had no qualms about placing itself under the American nuclear umbrella for all these years, which is indeed stupefying.

On the one hand, our willingness to live comfortably while ignoring reality is the silent violence of apathy that could threaten the human race, while on the other, assuming that this reality will continue unchanged into the future is a profound and major human weakness.

From a culture of violence to a culture of peace, is this transformation possible? In an increasingly interdependent world, I would like to think that we share responsibility for the security of all human beings. Our challenge would therefore be to rise above violence and stop the rapid build up of arms and forever ban the most fearsome weapons in the history of humanity.

There are still 25,000 nuclear weapons in existence, sufficient to destroy the world at the touch of a switch. Climate scientists have concluded that a regional nuclear war, involving no more than 100 Hiroshima-sized bombs, would have long-lasting effects on global climate. This scenario is only an example of what could be repeated in wars between any of the nine countries – United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia, India, China, Pakistan and North Korea – which now possess nuclear weapons, keeping in mind that thirty-two other countries possess sufficient fissionable nuclear materials and the capacity to produce nuclear weapons.

The survivors of nuclear wars would certainly be exposed to atmospheric radioactive fallout and would also suffer severe economic hardships. Smoke and soot from urban firestorms caused by multiple nuclear explosions would rise into the upper troposphere and subsequently infiltrate deep into the stratosphere, as a result of atmospheric heating.

Needless to say, i) this would blot out the sun, significantly cool the earth's surface and reduce rainfall; ii) volumes of smoke injected into the stratosphere would cause a huge reduction in the Earth's protective ozone layer; iii) the resulting exposure to increases in ultraviolet radiation would have serious health consequences; and iv) with widespread radioactive contamination, large quantities of food might need to be destroyed and significant areas of agricultural crop land taken out of production.

Staying informed and sharing awareness is the first important step towards achieving the goal of banning nuclear weapons. Spreading awareness will make a significant difference, because knowledge empowers.

If a small nuclear war could trigger a global catastrophe, there can only be one response, period: the complete abolition of nuclear weapons. Let us together transform the human spirit.