Speaking truth to nuclear power at both major party national conventions!
Erica Gray of the Virginia Sierra Club Nuclear-Free Committee holds an iconic Smiling Sun "Nuclear Power? No Thanks!" flag at the UN climate march in New York City in Sept. 2014. NIRS spearheaded the Nuclear-Free, Climate-Free contingent there too, which numbered in the thousands or marchers.Beyond Nuclear has striven to push back against the nuclear industry's lobbying juggernaut, by taking part in major organizing efforts in both Cleveland, Ohio and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in recent days. In the shadow of the Republican National Convention, we conducted an anti-nuke/pro-renewables workshop at the People's Justice and Peace Convention (PJPC), and led the successful effort to include a related plank in the PJPC platform, to be delivered to both major political parties. We also raised the "Nuclear Power? No Thanks!" flag (see photo, flag), figuratively and literally, in a diverse progressive coalition march to Cleveland's public square, near the convention center. Then, on the eve of the Democratic National Convention in Philly, we stood in solidarity with the national anti-fracking movement at the "Summit for a Clean Energy Revolution." We also joined with colleagues from NIRS, and grassroots groups from across the Mid-Atlantic, Northeast, Midwest, and beyond, to form the colorful Nuclear-Free, Carbon-Free contingent, as part of the 10,000-person strong "March for a Clean Energy Revolution." In this election year of Republican climate crisis denial and lockstep pro-nuclear advocacy, as well as the Orwellian betrayal of the phrase "clean energy" -- even by way too many Democrats -- as code for nuclear power, we've got our work cut out for us! More
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