02 | September | 2010 | Be a Seed for Change

Tell the Senate: Reduce spending for the nuclear weapons complex.

$55 billion.

That’s how much the U.S. spends each year maintaining its nuclear arsenal. That’s also what it would cost to provide 350 million people worldwide with clean drinking water. Or help 30 million children survive past their 5th birthday.

But instead of relieving the suffering of millions around the world, the U.S. continues to spend billions on nuclear weapons and systems. Even though the Cold War era is over, leaders in Washington keep asking for more funding for new nuclear weapons every year, and taxpayers foot the bill every time.

We need to reassess our priorities.

There is a new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) that calls for the U.S. and Russia to agree upon reductions in the size of their respective nuclear arsenals. But before that happens, START must be ratified by 67 votes in the U.S. Senate.

Tell your Senators to phase out our nuclear arsenal and pass START now >

The issue isn’t just the exorbitant expense of nuclear weapons – it’s their inherent instability. With the U.S. and Russia maintaining thousands of nuclear weapons on hair-trigger alert and nuclear-armed foes India and Pakistan, the elimination of nuclear weapons is more urgent than ever.

With the continued development of a nuclear arsenal, the U.S. is helping make sure nuclear weapons continue to threaten the people of the world with catastrophic possibilities. Building and maintaining nuclear weapons means there are production sites all over the world that are vulnerable to terrorist attack or to theft of weapons or weapons-grade materials.

Getting New START through the Senate is not going to be easy. Some senators still want to continue to invest billions of dollars in new nuclear weapons production facilities in exchange for a “Yes” vote on ratification.

Tell your Senators to ratify the new START agreement without preconditions or billions in new funding for the nuclear weapons complex >

If we don’t speak out and take action for a world free of nuclear weapons, who will?

Thank you for taking action,

The Change.org Team

Nearly three million young girls are at risk of female genital cutting this year. Stop this human rights abuse now.

Across parts of Africa, the Middle East and Asia, the following scene is replayed over and over: A girl, often between 4 and 12 years old, is held down by three or four women while all or part of her external and internal genitalia is cut off.

Complications from this brutal procedure can include severe hemorrhaging, infection, long-term difficulties with intercourse and childbirth, and even death.

Female genital cutting (FGC) reflects deep-rooted inequality between the sexes, and is recognized internationally as a violation of the human rights of girls and women.

Urge Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to do all she can to encourage the governments of the countries where this practice takes place to put a stop to it >

More than 100 million women and girls worldwide are affected by different forms of cutting. Infibulation is the most severe form, where some or all of the external genitalia are cut, leaving only a very small opening for urination and menstruation.

The practice of female genital cutting is hard to talk about. But ignoring it only guarantees more suffering, and leadership from the United States would go a long way in urging the countries where FGC occurs to end this human rights abuse.

Nearly three million young girls are at risk of female genital cutting this year alone. Please take action and help save these girls from a lifetime of pain and suffering >

Thank you for taking action,

The Change.org Team