Disarming Our Planet

Statue from the United Nations Art Collection in New York "Let Us Beat Swords into Plowshares" depicting the figure of a man holding a hammer aloft in one hand and a sword in the other, which he is making into a ploughshare

New to Disarming Our Planet?

We recommend starting off by reading, "Disarming Our Planet - An Introduction to Global Disarmament" by Joanne Dufour, January 30, 2018. That introductory article will give some context as you continue to peruse the Disarming Our Planet section of the UUA International Blog.

An Introduction to Global Disarmament

Welcome to Disarming Our Planet. This supplement to the UUA International Blog is devoted to building our knowledge of disarmament efforts then and now, with the goal of helping to create a more peaceful world with much fewer weapons.

Displaying 1 - 10 of 54.

  • The “Castle Romeo” nuclear test of a hydrogen bomb in the atmosphere over Bikini Atoll, Marshal Islands.
    More than any other people on this planet, the Marshall Islanders are survivors of the two greatest threats facing humanity: nuclear weapons and climate change. Their idyllic archipelago, a sapphire entity between Hawaii and Australia, is located 5,000 miles west of Los Angeles and 500 miles north...
    By Joanne Dufour |
    Filed in: Disarmament
  • The word "war" crossed out, signifying attempts to make war illegal
    Oona Hathaway and Scott Shapiro chose to begin their book, The Internationalists, with the following description of the historic event on August 27, 1928: “On that day, crowds gathered outside the Quai d’Orsay to watch the world leaders arrive at the Clock Room in the immense Foreign...
    By Joanne Dufour |
    Filed in: Disarmament
  • U.S. President Obama and Russian President Medvedev signing the New START Treaty in 2010
    If conflict is inevitable in human relations, so might be efforts to reconcile and reach a state of peace. ...
    By Joanne Dufour |
    Filed in: Disarmament
  • Protesters in London taking action locally for nuclear disarmament
    We know we are facing an existential crisis with the advance of climate change; and what about the other existential threat? Nuclear weapons. Unless we arrest climate change, it will fundamentally change our civilization in a matter of decades, maybe threaten life on this planet. Nuclear weapons...
    By Jerald Ross |
    Filed in: Disarmament
  • There's No Such Thing as a Low Yield Nuclear War, graphic by Physicians for Social Responsibility
    In the centennial year 2000, while the world was getting used to writing or typing the year beginning with a “2” instead of a “1,” nations were introduced to the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals encouraging the 189 member states to adopt a set of 8 goals for a timeline of 15...
    By Joanne Dufour |
    Filed in: Disarmament
  • Map depicting nuclear-weapon-free zones which encompass Latin America, Africa, and much of the South Pacific as well as parts of Southeast Asia and Central Asia.
    There are many aspects to helping our planet disarm meaningfully. 108 countries are now part of treaties that have established nuclear free zones around the world. They are making a concerted effort to create a nuclear free planet and that alone needs to be applauded and the trend encouraged.
    By Joanne Dufour |
    Filed in: Disarmament
  • Members of Do Not Stand Idly By attend live results of AOBC shareholder resolution vote
    I’m a member of the Preventing Gun Violence Task Force at the Unitarian Society of New Haven (USNH). We recently bought shares in two companies that manufacture firearms. “What?!,” you may be asking. Usually activists shy away from investing in so-called “sin” stocks, looking instead for...
    By Sally Connolly |
    Filed in: Disarmament
  • March For Our Lives Logo
    Young Adult Gun Violence Prevention Activist on Radical Kinship and Universal Love
    By Micaela Lattimer |
    Filed in: Disarmament
  • Bob Delastrada and others protest Trident nuclear submarines at the Naval Base Kitsap in Bangor, WA
    Feel like the system is too big to change? Protest!
    By Bob Delastrada |
    Filed in: Disarmament
  • Downward angled view of a computer screen filled with code; at the top of the picture, hands type on a laptop keyboard
    Much of the following text is taken from a blog post from the International Committee of the Red Cross: Human Cost of Cyber Operations—Key ICRC Takeaways from Discussion with Tech Experts. ICRC has encouraged readers to share this blog, and they invite feedback from readers. The authors are...
    By International Committee of the Red Cross, Joanne Dufour |
    Filed in: Disarmament