Nuclear disarmament: Join the movement

Re: “The pragmatist’s guide to nuclear disarmament” [Feb. 11, Opinion]:

Thank you for running Steve Olson’s piece arguing for a grassroots anti-nuclear movement. In fact, a worldwide grassroots campaign already exists and has advanced the cause of nuclear disarmament by promoting the creation and ratification of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, which Olson discusses.

That movement is the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons and its website, icanw.org, includes many resources for those interested in joining the disarmament movement here in the Pacific Northwest or anywhere in the U.S. Most of the organizations Olson mentions in his op-ed are ICAN partners and many others have joined a new campaign, Warheads to Windmills, that aims to flip the money now spent on nuclear weapons to promoting sustainable energy infrastructure in this country (warheadstowindmills.org).

The SANE/Freeze movement in the 1980s sparked the deepest reductions ever in nuclear weapons. A new movement can revitalize nuclear disarmament and free humanity from this existential threat while freeing up funds for human needs.

Nick Mele, Bellingham, senior adviser, Pax Christi USA