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Why Daisy Alliance? Why now?
A nuclear detonation would cause catastrophic humanitarian harm, yet there are still over 13,000 nuclear weapons possessed by nine countries. No country is prepared to deal with the aftermath. Nuclear weapons continue to play a prominent role in US national security policy. A key challenge is that the US emphasizes the deterrent value of nucle ar weapons without considering the human cost of development, testing, and postures.
Daisy Alliance is working to change that!
Daisy Alliance challenges the establishment view that nuclear weapons make us more secure. Our goal is to change the conversation by reframing how nuclear weapons are viewed by both policymakers and the public. We approach nuclear weapons from a human security perspective, viewing individual security as a key part of national security. A country cannot be truly secure if the needs of its people are not met. Individual security is at risk if people do not have enough to eat or a place to live, if their personal safety is threatened, if they do not have access to clean air or water.
Nuclear weapons should be viewed in the same light. There is an ever present risk of nuclear exchange. Whether accidental or on purpose, the outcome is the same. Any nuclear detonation would lead to massive loss of life and destruction that would take decades to come back from. People would be homeless and displaced without access to uncontaminated food and water sources.
Nuclear deterrence-but at what cost?
Spending on nuclear weapons is exorbitant. The US possesses over 5,000 nuclear warheads and is currently conducting a large scale modernization of all parts of the nuclear weapons complex. Experts predict the US will spend $634 billion over the next ten years just on modernization, assuming there are no changes in the size or composition of the arsenal or delays in developing new programs. This does not include the cost of modernizing production facilities to produce new plutonium pits or indirect costs, such as environmental cleanup. Nuclear weapons modernization comes at the expense of public contributions to healthcare, education, rebuilding infrastructure, and mitigating climate change.
Nuclear weapons also reinforce decades of systemic racism and legacies of colonialism. Uranium mining and nuclear weapons testing disproportionately affect indigenous communities and communities of color. The United States has not tested nuclear weapons since 1992, but the effects still linger, leading to displacement and relocation, increased episodes of cancer and mental illness, and irradiated environments and food sources.
By changing the way the public views nuclear weapons, Daisy Alliance seeks to build support for reducing the risk posed by nuclear weapons.
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