A farewell to Alex Karras, athlete, actor, who cared about the environment

Beyond Nuclear extends its condolences to long-time supporter and friend, Susan Clark, whose husband Alex Karras died in the early hours of October 10, age 77. Both actors, Clark and Karras together helped launch Beyond Nuclear and have been generous in sustaining our work. Alex is of course best known for his membership of the Detroit Lions' Fearsome Foursome; his starring roles in films, especially as Mongo in Blazing Saddles; and on television, where he co-starred with Susan in Webster and made frequent appearances on The Tonight Show. A kind, fascinating, multi-dimensional person who cared deeply about the world we are leaving to our children and theirs, Alex was one of the genuine gentle giants. There are numerous tributes and obituaries on line. This one by SBNation's Andrew Sharp, captures some of his spirit well. And listen to NPR's tribute.

Confirmed speakers for "A Mountain of Radioactive Waste 70 Years High," Chicago, Dec. 1-3

A number of experts have confirmed they will speak, including (alphabetical by last name): Kinnette Benedict, Executive Director & Publisher, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists; Robert Chavez, indigenous youth anti-uranium activist, Okayowingeh (San Juan Pueblo), New Mexico; Diane D'Arrigo, Radioactive Waste Project Director, Nuclear Information and Resource Service; Kay Drey, Beyond Nuclear board member, and nearly four decade long anti-nuclear activist; Norma M. Field, Ph.D., Robert S. Ingersoll Distinguished Service Professor in Japanese Studies in East Asian Languages and Civilizations, University of Chicago; Arnie Gundersen, Chief Engineer, Fairewinds Associates; Paul Gunter, Reactor Oversight Project Director, Beyond Nuclear; Kristen Iversen, author, Full Body Burden: Growing Up in the Nuclear Shadow of Rocky Flats; Arne Jungjohann, Director for the Environment and Global Dialogue Program of the Washington, D.C. office, Heinrich Boell Foundation; Kevin Kamps, Radioactive Waste Watchdog, Beyond Nuclear; and Dr. Arjun Makhijani, President, Institute for Energy and Environmental Research, and author, Carbon-Free and Nuclear-Free: A Roadmap for U.S. Energy Policy; Dr. Jeff Patterson, Board of Directors, Physicians for Social Responsibility, Madison, Wisconsin; Kathleen Rude, conducting Active Hope (a workshop to deal with Nuclear Despair, based on the works of Joanna Macy); Kendra Ulrich, Friends of the Earth USA, Washington, DC; Charmaine White Face, Coordinator, Defenders of the Black Hills, Rapid City, South Dakota; and  Akiko Yoshida, Friends of the Earth, Tokyo, Japan

In addition, a film has been confirmed to be screened: The Atomic States of America, by Sheena Joyce and Don Argot of 9.14 Pictures in Philadelphia.

Finally, on Monday, December 3rd, an optional field trip to Red Gate Woods is being organized. This is the forest preserve in the southwestern suburbs of Chicago where Fermi's first radioactive wastes of the Atomic Age were buried under a mound of earth, and marked with a simple stone marker. Bicycle and hiking paths pass close by. Previous tours to the site have not registered higher than normal background radioactivity levels, although concerns persist about eventual leakage of radioactivity from the site into the environment. We will be sure to take radiation monitors on our Dec. 3rd field trip, in order to document radioactivity levels, as well as to protect ourselves.

Update on October 18, 2012 by admin

Nuclear Energy Information Service (NEIS) of Chicago has posted conference materials on its website, including a conference schedule, a registration form, and a registration payment link. NEIS has also published a promotional flyer, as well as its own confirmed speakers list.

Activities on Saturday, December 1st will be held at the University of Chicago's International House, and are co-sponsored by the Global Voices Program. The activites on Sunday, December 2nd will be held at Hutchinson Commons, and are planned and co-sponsored by the University of Chicago Climate Action Network. Activities on Monday, December 3rd will include a field trip to Red Gate Woods, where the radioactive wastes from Enrico Fermi's experimental atomic pile are buried.

Barry Commoner, scientist and influential environmentalist, dies at 95

Barry Commoner, a visionary scientist and author who helped launch the environmental movement in the United States and whose ideas influenced public thinking about nuclear testing, energy consumption and recycling, died Sept. 30 at a hospital in New York. He was 95 and lived in Brooklyn...

A biologist by training, Dr. Commoner showed that traces of radioactive materials could be found in the teeth of thousands of children. With Nobel laureate Linus Pauling, he circulated a petition in the 1950s calling for an end of atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons. More than 11,000 scientists signed the petition.

He was credited with creating the momentum that led to the passage of the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty between the United States and the Soviet Union in 1963.

Along with “Silent Spring” author Rachel Carson, Sierra Club leader David Brower and scientist-author Aldo Leopold, Dr. Commoner is considered one of the primary founders of the modern environmental movement. The Washington Post

Great Lakes events in resistance to uranium fuel chain, atomic reactor & radioactive waste risks

From the "Nuclear Labyrinth" conference in Huron, OH Oct. 4-6, to an Oct. 11 "Entergy Nuclear Watch" presentation in Kalamazoo, Michigan (bridging resistance from Vermont Yankee to Palisades), to"A Mountain of Radioactive Waste 70 Years High" summit in Chicago Dec. 1-3, strong resistance to the uranium fuel chain in the Great Lakes is building! Beyond Nuclear is proud and honored to be a co-sponsor and active participant in all three events.

Chris Williams (VCAN, VYDA), "Entergy Watch: Resisting Palisades Atomic Reactor," WMU's Bernhard Ctr., Kzoo, MI, Thurs., Oct. 11, 4-5:30 PM

Entergy Nuclear: Resisting a Rogue Corporation, and its Radioactive Risks

A presentation by Chris Williams of Vermont Citizen Action Network (VCAN) and Vermont Yankee Decommissioning Alliance (VYDA)

4:00 to 5:30 PM, Thursday, October 11^th, 2012

Western Michigan University, Bernhard Center, Brown and Gold Room (2^nd Floor, Room #242), 1903 W. Michigan Ave.,

Kalamazoo, MI 49008-5408 (click here for directions to campus, location of parking, etc.)

Come learn about Entergy Nuclear’s dirty dozen atomic reactors, including the problem-plagued Palisades near South Haven. Chris Williams is a leader of the ongoing, highly successful grassroots campaign to shutdown Entergy's dangerously degraded Vermont Yankee atomic reactor (a Fukushima Daiichi twin design). Having stopped proposed new reactors in Indiana during his 25 years of service as Executive Director of Citizen Action Coalition, he will show how community organizing can stop dirty, dangerous, and expensive atomic reactors, and replace them with efficiency and renewables like wind and solar. 

Co-sponsored by Beyond Nuclear (www.beyondnuclear.org)  and the Kalamazoo Peace Center (www.kzoopeacecenter.org)

Contact: Kevin Kamps, Beyond Nuclear, kevin@beyondnuclear.org, (240) 462-3216

For more info. on Palisades, click here.

For more background on Chris Williams, click here.