PSR joins calls to halt nuclear weapons spending by imagining One Hour Without Nuclear Weapons during the ICAN Week of Action! September 23, 2024

From September 16 – 22, the ICAN Global Week of Action Against Nuclear Weapons Spending took place. Activists from around the world gathered to urge governments to stop spending on nuclear weapons. PSR launched our One Hour Without Nuclear Weapons initiative during this week, consisting of a letter-writing campaign focused on imagining how we could change our communities with the funds that are wasted on nuclear weapons each hour. 

U.S. nuclear weapons drain resources from our communities. In 2023, nuclear weapons cost our country  $51.5 Billion, lining the pockets of weapons manufacturers and funding other programs supporting nuclear weapons infrastructure. Every hour, we lose over $10,788,000 on nuclear weapons and their associated costs. Imagine if this money was spent on making the world a better place. 

PSR activists are prescribing something better for our communities by running the numbers and seeing how we could invest in our future, not doomsday. $10.8 million could fund 120 nurses salaries for a year, supporting our healthcare system and providing care to people in need instead of threatening global nuclear catastrophe. 

Over a dozen PSR activists signed up to write a letter, host an event, and spread the word on social media this past week to support this week of action and call to end spending on nuclear weapons. In Kansas City at a local Art Fair, activists gathered to mourn and heal from the effects of colonialism, and call out Honeywell International for manufacturing bombs in our backyards.