SUPPORT INTERNATIONAL DON'T NUKE THE CLIMATE CAMPAIGN! DECEMBER 11-12 CALL-IN AND ACTION DAYS

November 23, 2009
Dear Friend of NIRS,

The behind-the-scenes maneuvering on the Senate climate bill is reaching a fever pitch, especially the efforts to add tens--or even hundreds--of billions of dollars in new taxpayer-backed support for the nuclear power industry.

Sens. Kerry (D-MA), Graham (R-SC) and Lieberman (I-CT) are actively shopping around potential benefits for the nuclear industry in a misguided means of garnering support for the climate bill. Sens. Webb (D-VA) and Alexander (R-TN) released an absurd bill last week calling for $100 billion in new taxpayer loan guarantees for new reactors, as well as billions more for breeder reactors, small reactors, and reprocessing. Sens. Udall (D-CO), Bingaman (D-NM) and Murkowski (R-AK) have introduced new legislation to jumpstart a 10-year program to develop new "small, modular" nuclear reactors.

The good news is that none of this is set in stone, none of it need be enacted--there is still time for us all to act and stop the folly of wasting our taxpayer dollars on dangerous and dirty nuclear reactors and direct our resources to the safer, cleaner and cheaper energy technologies that will power our future.

The December Copenhagen climate negotiations offer a terrific opportunity to send a message that nuclear power is neither an effective nor acceptable means of addressing the climate crisis. Our colleagues at WISE, Greenpeace, Sortir du Nucleaire, Friends of the Earth, International Forum on Globalization and others will be in Copenhagen with a strong Don't Nuke the Climate message.

On Saturday, December 12, they've called for an international day of action to support their efforts in Copenhagen. In solidarity, NIRS is calling for National Don't Nuke the Climate Call-In and Action Days to take place on December 11-12 across the US.

Here is what you can do:

*First: support the international movement by signing the Don't Nuke the Climate statement prepared by the French organization Sortir du Nucleaire. You can do so (in English) here. Organization and individual signers are all welcome and encouraged. Note: take a few minutes to look around this website! You can also post a photo of yourself and join more than 2600 others in the photo gallery, watch the great film Climate of Hope, and more.

*Second, prepare now for the national call-in days. On December 11-12, let's all call the Senate and tell every Senator loudly and clearly: no nukes in the climate bill!

*Third, don't stop there! Make these call-in days and support actions for Copenhagen special. Stage a small protest outside your Senators' district offices: bring cellphones and ask people walking by to call their Senators right there and then. Set up a meeting in a coffeeshop, student union, in front of a food-co-op or other public gathering place, and ask everyone who comes to call their senators. We call on every grassroots group to support our colleagues in Copenhagen with demonstrations at local proposed reactor sites, existing reactors, Federal Buildings or anywhere else you can think of. Or make up your own action!

Help get the most people involved as possible, and the most people calling in to the Senate as possible.

NIRS will help you organize in any way we can; for example, we can tell other people in your area about your event. We also will be providing talking points for phone calls, and for your outreach work and contacts with the media in your area.

After Thanksgiving, we'll also be providing you a new letter to send to your Senators, bringing the facts to them about the continuing dangers of nuclear power, the daily radiation releases, the deficient designs, the growing piles of lethal radioactive waste....Sometimes it seems our legislators have forgotten that nuclear power presents risks to our health and environment no sane society need accept. We will ask you to circulate that letter as widely as possible.

Finally, just like most small retail outlets, we receive nearly 50% of our annual revenue during the holiday season from November through January. Your most generous possible contribution now will help us do the outreach and actions necessary to change the tenor of debate in Washington throughout 2010. We're up to the job, if we have the resources. But we can't do it without you.

Thank you so much for all you do,
Michael Mariotte
Executive Director
Nuclear Information and Resource Service
www.nirs.org; [email protected]; 301-270-6477