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The Armageddon Agenda - TomDispatch.com
The Armageddon Agenda - TomDispatch.com
Michael Klare, Ensuring the Collapse of Civilization?
Posted on September 12, 2024
I was born on July 20, 1944, in the midst of the Second World War. Barely a year later, the U.S. ended that conflict in the Pacific by dropping atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and creating two all-too-literal hells on Earth.
To this day, fortunately, no other nuclear weapons have ever been used (if, that is, you don’t count all the ones tested, including in above-ground places like Nevada). But in some sense, as I wrote a few years ago, “You could say that we’ve been living in a science-fiction novel since August 6, 1945, when that first American nuclear bomb devastated Hiroshima. Until then, we humans could do many terrible things, but of one thing we were incapable: the destruction of this world. In the nearly eight decades that followed, we have, however, taken over a role once left to the gods: the ability to create Armageddon.”
And of course, in our own seemingly inimitable fashion, we’ve also stumbled across a second slow-motion way to do in ourselves and the planet: climate change. In other words, we’re giving classic science fiction and dystopian fiction writers a genuine run for their money (which, of course, will be burned to a crisp).
Worse yet, 80 years after those first atomic bombs were used in Japan, nine (yes, nine!) countries (including Israel and North Korea) now possess atomic weapons. The U.S., Russia, and China, with the three largest nuclear arsenals on the planet, as TomDispatch regular Michael Klare makes clear today, are all potentially preparing to expand them further. (The phrase in this country is “modernizing” and our government already plans to “invest” up to $1.5 trillion in “modernizing” this country’s nuclear arsenal in the decades to come.) And yet, as Klare also makes clear, it’s remarkable how little Americans think about such world-ending weaponry. The popular film Oppenheimer was an exception to that reality, though it paid sadly little attention to the devastation the bombs that Robert Oppenheimer played such a role in creating caused in the last days of World War II.
So, today, let Klare fill you in on humanity’s race to oblivion and just what we should indeed be paying far, far more attention to. Tom
DOE Announces $18.9 Million Financial Assistance Grant Award Selections to 12 Disadvantaged Communities Across Country - micheletkearney@gmail.com - Gmail
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Department of Energy Environmental Management Consolidated Business Center
550 Main Street, Room 7-010, Cincinnati, Ohio 45202
Media Contact:
Toni Rutherford, toni.rutherford@emcbc.doe.gov Sept. 12, 2024
DOE Announces $18.9 Million Financial Assistance Grant Award Selections to 12 Disadvantaged Communities Across Country
Grants will focus on reinvestment and engagement in communities around cleanup sites
CINCINNATI — Today, the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Environmental Management (EM) is announcing competitive financial assistance grant selections for the Community Capacity Building Grant Program (CCBGP) Funding Opportunity Announcement DE-FOA-0003131.
The awards will focus on reinvestment in disadvantaged communities impacted by decades of nuclear defense and research missions, and currently hosting environmental cleanup sites. The awards will also focus on strengthening relationships with communities by supporting projects that serve community and economic development goals, promote revitalization efforts, and promote inclusive community engagement practices. The total estimated value of the grant awards is $18,909,777 and all have a period of performance of three years from grant award date.
California
The Santa Ynez Band of Mission Indians of Santa Ynez, California, will receive a grant award to build capacity for effective and meaningful tribal interactions by developing a community-based engagement program that will assist tribal communities to meet and share information within and among tribal nations on remediation actions involving Santa Susana Field Laboratory’s archaeological and cultural resources. The total estimated value for this grant is $495,434.
Kentucky
The Paducah Independent Schools of Paducah, Kentucky, will receive a grant award to revitalize 6 acres of unused school property into a green infrastructure of solar panels that will generate clean energy for the community while teaching the next generation the importance of being environmentally conscious of clean energy use. The total estimated value for this grant is $1,325,000.
Nevada
The Nevada System of Higher Education of Reno, Nevada, will receive a grant award to support Nevada’s science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) clean energy workforce pipeline by preparing the next generation with the knowledge and technical skills needed for employment in fields such as clean energy, waste management and environmental remediation. The total estimated value for this grant is $1,985,014.
New Mexico
The City of Carlsbad, New Mexico, will receive a grant award to improve drainage and alleviate flooding in the community, reducing health risks associated with standing water and biological and chemical contaminants, removing debris and pollution, and improving the overall safety of the area. The total estimated value for this grant is $2,263,688, including applicant-provided cost share in the amount of $263,688.
The New Mexico Regional Development Corporation of Sante Fe, New Mexico, will receive a grant award designed to increase and maximize economic and workforce development along with employment benefits for the Pueblo de San Ildefonso and other low-income regional communities. The total estimated value for this grant is $1,684,578.
Total estimated value of these grants is $3,948,266.
Pennsylvania
The Steelworkers Charitable & Educational Organization of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, will receive a grant award that will benefit EM goals and objectives by creating a talent pipeline to provide a well-trained and well-qualified workforce to fill occupations critical to EM completing cleanup activities around the country and demonstrates EM’s support for improving the educational and economic conditions in disadvantaged communities near EM sites. While the applicant is based in Pennsylvania, the grant will focus on the Portsmouth and Paducah cleanup sites, among others. The total estimated value for this grant is $1,968,445.
South Carolina
The Southern Carolina Regional Development Alliance of Barnwell, South Carolina, will receive a grant award that will support community capacity building by renovating an existing building in a disadvantaged community into a regional workforce training center designed to train craft workers needed throughout the DOE complex. The total estimated value for this grant is $1,974,371.
The University of South Carolina will receive a grant award to focus on enhancing STEM opportunities for underserved K-12 schools throughout South Carolina. The total estimated value for this grant is $1,945,823.
The Southern Palmetto Foundation will receive a grant award to support capacity building with a three-year education project for rural small business entrepreneurs and leaders in underserved areas experiencing negative population growth who are interested in learning new business innovation technologies. The total estimated value for this grant is $962,142, including applicant-provided cost share in the amount of $359,422.
Total estimated value these of grants is $4,882,336.
Tennessee
The Oak Ridge Community Development Corporation will receive a grant award to focus on adding economic, educational and medical capacity to help residents living in the disadvantaged neighborhood of Scarboro in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The total estimated value for this grant is $1,999,611.
Washington
The Columbia Basin Community College will receive a grant award to increase the number of highly skilled graduates available to meet the area’s clean energy workforce demands by establishing a Clean Energy Learning Center in collaboration with several industry partners. The total estimated value for this grant is $1,990,053.
The Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation will receive a grant award to better understand their environmental and cultural heritage and gain a better understanding of the community’s needs through development of outreach materials tailored to different parts of the tribal community, site visits to Hanford by youth and elders, and access to sacred sites. The total estimated value for this grant is $315,618.
Total estimated value of these grants is $2,305,671.
Click here for additional information regarding the CCBGP FOA.
For more than 30 years, EM has remained focused on addressing the environmental legacy of nuclear weapons development and nuclear energy research that helped end World War II, win the Cold War and position the United States as a leader in clean nuclear energy. Collectively, EM is delivering results that are protecting the environment, supporting communities and enabling a concerted focus on safely completing the mission sooner and more efficiently.
-DOE-
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