I’m increasingly concerned about the possibility of nuclear war. That risk is heightened by Russian nuclear saber-rattling and its war on Ukraine.
But, in actuality, the possibility that a nuclear weapon could be launched deliberately — or by accident or miscalculation — is with us every day. There are nine nuclear-armed countries; this means any one of nine fallible leaders could end life as we know it.
Therefore, I am calling on the United States to join the Treaty of Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), which was adopted by 122 countries. It entered into force in 2021 and is now part of international law.
The United States boycotted the proceedings, but that was a shortsighted move by the Trump administration. It is time for us to realize that our long-term security depends on the global abolition of nuclear weapons.
Please, President Biden, consider a future free of nuclear weapons.
Raiza Marciscano-Bettis
Livermore
