Raising Global Nuclear Awareness
“Our struggle is to raise public awareness on the unprecedented threat of a nuclear war and its devastating effect on global climate,” warned Cuban Commander in Chief Fidel Castro during a scientific presentation by US Professor of Climatology Alan Robock entitled The Climatic Consequences of a Nuclear War that took place on Tuesday at Havana’s International Conference Center
2010-09-16 | 13:13:43 EST
“Our struggle is to raise public awareness on the unprecedented threat of a nuclear war and its devastating effect on global climate,” warned Cuban Commander in Chief Fidel Castro during a scientific presentation by US Professor of Climatology Alan Robock entitled The Climatic Consequences of a Nuclear War that took place on Tuesday at Havana’s International Conference Center.
“This conference is not aimed at spreading panic,” said Fidel, as he attentively followed Robock’s detailed research into the catastrophic consequences of global nuclear war for all life on Earth.
Speaking with Fidel prior to the conference, the US expert noted that the international media has been neglecting the nuclear winter theory on which he and other prestigious scientists have been conducting research on since the 1980s.
“They are simply ignoring the facts...This a very serious matter that should not be taken lightly; we must do our best to let the world know the truth,” Fidel pointed out.
The Nuclear Winter Theory
According to climate model studies conducted by Alan Robock —a professor at Rutgers University in New Jersey— and other scientists, a global nuclear conflict could engulf the planet in large amounts of smoke and gasses that would prevent sunlight from reaching the Earth’s surface. The normal dynamic and temperature structure of the atmosphere would therefore change considerably, leading to marked climate changes such as a global surface cooling of several degrees.
“Climate change is a pressing issue, but nuclear war remains the biggest threat of all,” Fidel noted.
Nuclear winter is a simple, but frightening theory. Although it has not been proven at the experimental level, there is plenty of corroborating evidence and atmospheric phenomena pointing to its validity, such as the San Francisco earthquake in 1960 and the fire storms during the Second World War.
“We are talking about a climate change unprecedented in amplitude in the history of the human race,” Fidel warned.
According to 2008 statistics, the nations that hold nuclear weapons are Russia (14,000 bombs), the United States (9,400), France (300), China (176), the United Kingdom (200), Israel (116), India (85), Pakistan (52) and North Korea (10- not declared officially). “Yet, there are another 32 nations with resources to develop nuclear arsenals,” noted Robock during the presentation.
The production of nuclear weapons is no longer a secret. It depends merely on each nation’s availability of plutonium and uranium. We could build 100,000 nuclear weapons only with the resources we have today.
The destructive power of today’s nuclear weapons is 10,000 times greater than the weapons used in the Second World War.
The world’s current nuclear arsenal is estimated at a third the size of the world’s arsenal in 1985. However, there is an estimated 750 kg of TNT for every person living on the planet, Robock warned.
This destructive arsenal is concentrated in only a few countries. We are not only dealing with the global use of strategic weapons; but the possibility of major conflicts arising between emerging nuclear powers that could result in millions of deaths and, ultimately, the destruction of the planet Earth.
Using as much as one percent of today’s existing nuclear arsenal could alter life on Earth in an unprecedented manner, setting off a wide array of environmental and health problems for at least a decade.
An Achievable Goal
Cuban Commander in Chief Fidel Castro spoke about the importance of circulating and publishing the research and results undertaken by Allan Robock and his associates; adding that his presentation was very precise with detailed information and graphs.
He thanked the professor for his lecture and presented him with two volumes of his most recent books: La Victoria Estratégica and La Contraofensiva estratégica.
Finally, Fidel Castro spoke about people’s capacity to learn and become aware about this theme in order to work together to avoid a nuclear war.
There exists more than 20,000 nuclear weapons in the world today —a minute fraction of which has enough power to destroy the world.
The scientists who participated in the climate change workshop also reaffirmed their commitment to denounce the threat of an imminent nuclear war and to help raise global awareness in favor of peace and against war.
“This conference is not aimed at spreading panic,” said Fidel, as he attentively followed Robock’s detailed research into the catastrophic consequences of global nuclear war for all life on Earth.
Speaking with Fidel prior to the conference, the US expert noted that the international media has been neglecting the nuclear winter theory on which he and other prestigious scientists have been conducting research on since the 1980s.
“They are simply ignoring the facts...This a very serious matter that should not be taken lightly; we must do our best to let the world know the truth,” Fidel pointed out.
The Nuclear Winter Theory
According to climate model studies conducted by Alan Robock —a professor at Rutgers University in New Jersey— and other scientists, a global nuclear conflict could engulf the planet in large amounts of smoke and gasses that would prevent sunlight from reaching the Earth’s surface. The normal dynamic and temperature structure of the atmosphere would therefore change considerably, leading to marked climate changes such as a global surface cooling of several degrees.
“Climate change is a pressing issue, but nuclear war remains the biggest threat of all,” Fidel noted.
Nuclear winter is a simple, but frightening theory. Although it has not been proven at the experimental level, there is plenty of corroborating evidence and atmospheric phenomena pointing to its validity, such as the San Francisco earthquake in 1960 and the fire storms during the Second World War.
“We are talking about a climate change unprecedented in amplitude in the history of the human race,” Fidel warned.
According to 2008 statistics, the nations that hold nuclear weapons are Russia (14,000 bombs), the United States (9,400), France (300), China (176), the United Kingdom (200), Israel (116), India (85), Pakistan (52) and North Korea (10- not declared officially). “Yet, there are another 32 nations with resources to develop nuclear arsenals,” noted Robock during the presentation.
The production of nuclear weapons is no longer a secret. It depends merely on each nation’s availability of plutonium and uranium. We could build 100,000 nuclear weapons only with the resources we have today.
The destructive power of today’s nuclear weapons is 10,000 times greater than the weapons used in the Second World War.
The world’s current nuclear arsenal is estimated at a third the size of the world’s arsenal in 1985. However, there is an estimated 750 kg of TNT for every person living on the planet, Robock warned.
This destructive arsenal is concentrated in only a few countries. We are not only dealing with the global use of strategic weapons; but the possibility of major conflicts arising between emerging nuclear powers that could result in millions of deaths and, ultimately, the destruction of the planet Earth.
Using as much as one percent of today’s existing nuclear arsenal could alter life on Earth in an unprecedented manner, setting off a wide array of environmental and health problems for at least a decade.
An Achievable Goal
Cuban Commander in Chief Fidel Castro spoke about the importance of circulating and publishing the research and results undertaken by Allan Robock and his associates; adding that his presentation was very precise with detailed information and graphs.
He thanked the professor for his lecture and presented him with two volumes of his most recent books: La Victoria Estratégica and La Contraofensiva estratégica.
Finally, Fidel Castro spoke about people’s capacity to learn and become aware about this theme in order to work together to avoid a nuclear war.
There exists more than 20,000 nuclear weapons in the world today —a minute fraction of which has enough power to destroy the world.
The scientists who participated in the climate change workshop also reaffirmed their commitment to denounce the threat of an imminent nuclear war and to help raise global awareness in favor of peace and against war.
