Humanity and 76 years of Nuclear Threat

Since 1945 with the dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, humanity has been facing the threat of nuclear war.  The cold war of the 1950’s and 1960’s saw a dramatic increase in stockpiles of thermonuclear weapons by world powers.  Some are saying that we are entering a new cold war era, despite the last minute extension of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) with Russia and increasing geopolitical tensions in various parts of the world.  How will humanity continue to live with these threats?  How are the threats of nuclear conflict increased by societal destabilization caused by climate change?

Kennette Benedict, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (famous for the Doomsday Clock), Tara Drozdenko, Outrider Foundation (known for their video How to Dismantle a Nuclear Bomb), are well versed in both the nuclear and climate threats.  Shane Ward will be joining them representing International Student/Young Pugwash.  He is currently an intern with the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation.

Join us for this rare opportunity to discuss how both threats are interrelated in our increasingly fragile world and what local communities can do to face these predicaments.  

Kennette Benedict, Tara Drozdenko and Shane Ward will join Centre for Local Prosperity Host Robert Cervelli for a 1 hour discussion. The Webinar is from 7:00 to 8:00pm Atlantic time.

Kennette Benedict is lecturer at the Harris School of Public Policy at the University of Chicago and senior advisor to the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists and.  From 2005-2015, she served as executive director and publisher of the Bulletin, the leading scholarly magazine about threats to humanity from nuclear weapons, climate change, and emerging technologies, and known for its Doomsday Clock. She publishes articles and gives media interviews about nuclear weapons and disarmament, democracy and the Bomb, and global governance. From 1991-2005, Benedict was the director of International Peace and Security at the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, overseeing grant making on a broad international security agenda.  She also directed a grant-making program in Russia from 1992-2001 and an initiative on science, technology and security from 2000-2005. Previously she taught at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and at Rutgers University, New Brunswick.  She received her BA from Oberlin College and her PhD in political science from Stanford University.

Tara Drozdenko is Acting Executive Director at the Outrider Foundation. She has nearly two decades of experience in the National Security field, managing complex government programs and supervising teams of talented researchers at both the U.S. State and Treasury departments. She earned a Ph.D. in plasma physics and has worked for the U.S. Navy on issues related to Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs) and for the U.S. State Department on Nonproliferation and Arms Control issues.

Shane Ward recently graduated from Bates College with a major in Politics. Originally from the United Kingdom, Shane’s interests are centered on transatlantic security and cooperation issues, in particular, collective nuclear deterrence and the modernization of the UK’s Trident nuclear program, the latter of which he wrote his senior thesis on. He was recently elected to the International Student/Young Pugwash Executive Board and spent the summer interning with the Center for Arms Control and Nonproliferation in Washington, DC. While at college, Shane also founded and led the Bates chapter of the United Nations Association, believing strongly in international and intergovernmental efforts to tackle the greatest challenges of our day, most pressingly the climate crisis and nuclear proliferation.