Peace Education: Not Just for Hippies

This guest blog post was written by Mallory Servais, a senior at the University of Maryland. Mallory recently attended a lecture by NAPF's Peace Leadership Program Director Paul Chappell. The article was originally published by The Diamondback.

A couple Mondays ago, I found myself with free time and the curiosity to attend one of my favorite Monday activities — the Beyond the Classroom Monday-night seminars. So, sporting my "it's-red-lipstick-Monday" British lipstick and accompanied by my partner-in-peace, I sauntered down to the seminar room. For two hours, former U.S. Army Capt. Paul Chappell talked to us about how killing is unnatural in humans, war is not necessary and peace is entirely possible.

Hope for the Future

This guest blog post was written by Jillian Forte, a Nuclear Age Peace Foundation intern since September 2010. Jillian was joined by three other NAPF interns - Justin Galle, Jameisha Washington and Olivia Wong - at the Clinton Global Initiative University (CGIU) summit in San Diego at the beginning of April.

NAPF interns Justin Galle, Olivia Wong
and Jillian Forte at CGIU in San Diego.

To all of the older generations who wonder about the future resting in our hands, all I have to say is not to worry. After attending the Clinton Global Initiative University, my faith in my own generation has been restored and is stronger than ever. During the three day conference, almost 2,000 university students and many professionals, including of course, President Bill Clinton, attended the conference to discuss ideas and action plans to instill positive global change. In addition to being greatly inspired and motivated, I have also been assured the world is in fact being changed for the better because the ideas brought forth by students in their late teens and early twenties.

The Road to Freedom, The Road to Peace

Upon reaching Birmingham, Alabama, we were greeted by warm sunshine and a haunting stillness in the heart of the vibrant city. With a group of five other students, we entered our history of discrimination and segregation at Kelly Ingram Park. While our trip was focused specifically on racial issues and reconciliation the parallels to peace in the nuclear age were very real.

It’s hard to imagine that at one point in time, this beautiful place was all but beautiful. Smoke filled the sky, people ran amuck, as police dogs and billy-clubs met innocent marchers at Kelly Ingram Park. These people knew the risks of their participation in nonviolent protests. They knew they could die and lose it all. However, they also knew that morally they could wait no longer for justice. A placard with the words of Anne Frank reads, “How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.”

Nuclear Accident Strikes Close to Home

Three Mile Island

Until recently I did not realize that San Onofre and Diablo Canyon are designed to withstand even less seismic stress than the designs of the Japanese nuclear plants.  I see the situation at San Onofre and Diablo Canyon as especially dangerous because we know that a major seismic event is due along these fault lines and could strike either of these facilities at any time.  San Onofre, situated adjacent the beach at Camp Pendleton, would appear vulnerable to tsunamis as well as earthquake.  (I am not aware of the tsunami vulnerability of Diablo Canyon).  In any case I agree that the tragedy in Japan should be a wake-up call at least for us in California and that ordinary prudence requires an immediate and thorough review of these two facilities for earthquake and tsunami vulnerability.  Either site would appear to be a disaster waiting to happen.

The events in Japan and the implications for nuclear power in the U.S. strike especially close to home for me, inasmuch as my father (now deceased) was intimately involved with the nuclear power industry from its inception.