|
|
|
THE CLIMATE CRISIS AND MILITARISM
MONTHLY MEMBERSHIP MEETING
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 20
7:00 PM
| |
Watertown Citizens kicks off its fall season with
A Special Presentation by Veterans for Peace
The Vets for Peace describe the Climate Crisis and Militarism Project as part of the world-wide movement to end the climate crisis and promote climate, environmental, racial, and economic justice. They emphasis focuses on how US militarism, the single largest institutional source of greenhouse gasses on the planet, fuels the climate crisis.
Dr. James Rine, who served in the U.S. Army in Europe and is an adjunct professor in the Department of Environmental Science and Geology at Wayne State University in Detroit, is our guest presenter.
The presentation will take place as part of the Monthly Membership meeting of Watertown Citizens for Peace, Justice and the Environment. Zoom in to chat at 6:45.
Join us as we explore the intersection of the climate crisis and militarism.
Let's reach out beyond our silos and build a movement for peace, justice, and the environment!
Sponsored by the Peace and Common Security and Watertown Faces Climate Change working groups of Watertown Citizens. We are delighted to have 350 Mass, Peace and Climate Working Group of Massachusetts Peace Action, and Smedley Butler Brigade, Chapter 9 of Veterans for Peace as co-sponsors.
| |
|
PEACE AND COMMON SECURITY MONTHLY MEETING.
| |
|
Sunday, September 17
7:00 - 8:30 PM
zoom
| | |
PIGSGUSSET INTITATIVE MONTHLYMEETING | |
|
Monday, September 18
5:30 - 7:00 PM
zoom
| | |
|
FRIENDS OF BEES
MONTHLY MEETING
| |
|
Wednesday, Sept. 27
7:00 PM
zoom
| | |
WATERTOWN FACES CLIMATE CHANGE BIMONTHLY MEETING | |
|
Sunday, Oct 1
6:00 PM
Church of the Good Shepherd
11 Russell Ave
& zoom
| |
|
|
CALL TO ACTION!
Watertown Community for Black Lives working group holds a monthly vigil on the first Tuesday of the month at 5:30 PM in Watertown Square - Weather Dependent. Contact ekempbenedict@gmail.com to confirm. NEXT VIGIL is Tuesday September 12, 5:30-6:00 PM
Peace and Common Security working group holds a weekly vigil on Saturdays from 10:30 AM-11:30 in Watertown Square under the banner, "Negotiation Not Escalation - Support Ukraine". Contact peaceandsecurity@watertowncitizens.org to confirm.
| |
|
Coming Soon Work Events at Pollinator Gardens
Friends of Bees and Watertown Pollinator Pathways are offering several upcoming opportunities to enjoy the fall weather in the pollinator gardens. We will start each maintenance day by taking a close look at the gardens, to see which bees and other wildlife might be living there.Fall garden maintenance activities may include planting new plants, weeding, pruning, adding compost, mulching, etc.
| | |
|
Gardens Included
Senior Center Garden M 18 Sep 2023, 5:30 PM - 7:00 PM 31 Marshall St,
Boylston St Bump Outs 28 Sep 2023, 5:00 PM - 6:30 PMintersection of School St and Boylston St
DPW & Knowles Delta Gardens 7 Oct 2023, 10:00 AM - 11:30 AM 124 Orchard St,
Filippello Park Butterfly Garden 15 Oct 2023, 1:00 PM - 2:30 PM 191 Grove St, Around splash pad in the middle of the park
| |
 | |
Take Action for Peace in Ukraine
Ceasefire and Diplomacy - Not More War
Tuesday, October 3
7:00 PM - 9:00 PM
First Parish on 35 Church Street in Watertown
In Person
Plenty of Parking in the Municipal Lot behind CVS
On June 10-11 three hundred people representing organizations from 32 countries met in Vienna, Austria for the International Summit for Peace in Ukraine. The summit issued a call for people in all countries to join together for a Week of Global Mobilization for Peace in Ukraine calling for an immediate ceasefire and peace negotiations to end this war during the week of September 30 to October 8.
In response to the call, the Peace and Common Security Working Group of Watertown Citizens is sponsoring a special in-person program with Watertown resident and internationally recognized author and peace activist Dr. Joseph Gerson.
Dr. Gerson participated in planning the Vienna Conference and in supporting the Conference call to action. He will speak about the events preceding the illegal Russian invasion of Ukraine, the immediate consequences of the war, the possible use of nuclear weapons, and what can be done to end the death and destruction. There will be ample time for questions and discussion.
Dr. Gerson is the Founder and President of the Campaign for Peace, Disarmament and Common Security and co-founder of the Committee for a Sane U.S.- China Policy. He also served in leadership positions for over 40 years with the American Friends Service Committee. He has written four books, numerous articles, and appeared on major radio and television shows. His areas of expertise include: common security, nuclear disarmament, China-U.S. relations, Middle East peace, and many more. He has also been privileged to participate in Track II meetings with senior U.S., Russian, and European figures. To learn more about the Campaign for Peace, Disarmament, and Common Security visit cpdcs.org.
AND MORE!
MARCH and Rally
Saturday, September 30
12 Noon - 3:00 PM
Downtown Crossing to Boston Common
In the name of God, in the name of the sense of humanity that dwells in every heart, I renew
my call for an immediate ceasefire” — Pope Francis
Please join us on Saturday, September 30 to begin this week to promote a ceasefire and negotiations as the only way to end this war and avoid potential catastrophe for the planet.
Speakers at the Boston rally will include:
Stephen Kinzer, Boston Globe journalist and author; Joseph Gerson, Campaign for Peace, Disarmament, and Common Security; Chris Chanyasulkit, President, American Public Health Association; Graham Aiken, student, Northeastern University.
- The war must end now if we want to prevent hundreds of thousands more dead and maimed soldiers and thousands more civilians
- This war must end now if the world is to come together to prevent certain climate catastrophe as fossil fuel emissions grow by leaps and bounds and fires and floods and murderous heat waves rage on.
- This war must end now if Ukraine is not to be destroyed.
- This war must end now if we want to reduce the growing danger of it leading to nuclear war
- This war must end now if global hunger from restrictions and sanctions on food deliveries is to be avoided
- This war must end now if the risk to a nuclear meltdown of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is to be prevented
- And every week billions of our tax dollars are diverted from housing, public health, education, public transportation and numerous other important needs here at home to pay for the war
For more information visit https://masspeaceaction.org/
| |
|
An Anti-Free Speech Definitions of Anti-Semitism
and How to Oppose It
Sunday, October 15
Watertown Public Library
Watertown Savings Bank Room
2:30 PM - 4:30 PM
In Person
The Peace and Common Security Working Group will show a video recording with a live discussion of a webinar presented last April by Unitarian Universalists for Justice in the Middle East. The event addresses the very problematic attempts at the state, national, and international levels to define and codify into law a certain definition of anti-Semitism. Known as the IHRA (International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance) definition, it uses examples that conflate criticism of Israel with anti-Semitism.
Activists for Justice in Palestine are making efforts to expose the truth and danger behind these efforts, which interfere with countering genuine anti-Semitism. The definition is mentioned, but not endorsed, in the recent “U.S. National Strategy to Counter Anti-Semitism”, from the U.S. Government. The definition has already passed into law in several states. Local activists are monitoring the progress of H1558 in Massachusetts, which basically is a copycat of other states’ laws. Local speakers and co-sponsors TBA.
| |
|
Watertown Citizens November Monthly Membership Meeting
Can Nuclear War be Prevented?
Wednesday, November 15
7:00 PM
Chat at 6:45 PM
On Zoom
Join the Peace and Common Security working group of Watertown Citizens for Peace, Justice, and the Environment to discuss the state of nuclear weapons, the danger they pose, and the idea that we can guarantee that a limited nuclear exchange can be controlled. Most importantly we will explore what we can do about the unraveling of nuclear weapons treaties and decisions to build new more powerful nukes.
Our very special guest will be Ms. Denise Duffield, the Associate Director of the Physicians for Social Responsibility in Los Angeles and a leader in the Back from the Brink movement.
She will discuss the new Treaty for Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, why we should urge our representative in Congress, U.S. Representative Katherine Clark to co-sponsor House Resolution 77, and why we need to build alliances with organizations working for social justice and the environment.
The Peace and Common Security Working Group is grateful for the co-sponsorship of
Boston Physician for Social Responsibility, Back from the Brink Boston Hub, and Nuclear Disarmament Working Group of Massachusetts Peace Action.
| |
ACT NOW!
Sign the Petition to
Representative Katherine Clark
ON LINE AT
The Peace and Common Security working group has initiated a petition urging our U.S. representative, Representative Katherine Clark, to endorse and sponsor H. Res. 77 introduced by her colleague in the Massachusetts delegation, Representative James McGovern (D-MA) and sponsored by her colleagues Representatives Richard Neal and Ayanna Pressley. H. Res. 77 calls on the President to embrace the goals and provisions of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. H. Res. 77 does not call for unilateral disarmament, but envisions nuclear disarmament as the centerpiece of U.S. national security policy. It also calls on the United States to lead a global effort to move the world back from the nuclear brink and to prevent nuclear war.
Click on the link above to see and sign the petition and please share the link with your friends, neighbors and colleagues. You can also use the QR Code below that will take you to the on-line petition. Do it now!
|  | |
EVENTS from OUR FRIENDS and CO-SPONSORS! | |
MARCH TO END FOSSIL FUELS
Sunday, September 17
1:00 PM
New York City
| |
350 Mass is heading down to NYC
Buses will be leaving from a few locations in Massachusetts: Alewife Station - Cambridge (wheelchair accessible bus), Brookline, Framingham, Park Street Station - Boston, Northampton, Springfield, and Worcester.
Bus will Board at 6:30 AM.
Arrive in NYC at Noon, plenty of time before we MARCH at 1 PM.
Return Boarding at 6 PM.
We will be back home by 11 PM.
Check out this info sheet with more details
With wildfire smoke choking the air we breathe, hurricanes and floods threatening our homes, and toxic pollution making us sick, it has never been more urgent to end our dependence on the leading cause of these crises – fossil fuels.
In New York this September, the United Nations will gather world leaders for a first-of-its-kind Climate Ambition Summit to demand that nations stop developing new oil, gas and coal projects and begin phasing out fossil fuels once and for all. With his recent approvals for mega-polluting projects like the Willow Oil Drilling Project and the Mountain Valley Pipeline, President Biden must immediately reverse course to earn his seat at the table. But it will take all of us acting together to make sure he does.
Learn more about the action at www.endfossilfuels.us
| |
|
Greater Boston Physicians for Social Responsibility (GBPSR) and International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW)
cordially invite you to join and support our presentation of this year's Global Health and Peace Awards, honoring Senators Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey for the extraordinary work they have done as longtime leaders for climate action and nuclear disarmament.
Our special event will be in-person this year at Harvard Medical School’s Countway Library from 6:00-8:00pm on Saturday, October 21st, 2023. We are thrilled to gather for some beautiful music, food and drink, and socializing with friends and colleagues who share our concern about the twin existential threats of nuclear war and climate change. A quartet from the Longwood Symphony Orchestra will provide the evening's musical entertainment.
Our event planning is taking place as a humanitarian catastrophe unfolds in Ukraine with the very real risk that the war could escalate to the use of nuclear weapons. Indeed, the danger of a nuclear war is greater now than at any time since the Cuban missile crisis. At the same time, scientists warn that global warming is rapidly approaching a climate tipping point, placing planetary survival at risk.
We would be thrilled to count you as a sponsor of this special event. Click on the sponsorship menu above for details. We welcome online donations or, if you prefer to send a check, you may mail your contribution to IPPNW (please note "2023 Annual Event" in the memo line) to:
IPPNW c/o Michael Christ
339 Pleasant Street, 3rd Floor
Malden, MA 02148
A sponsorship of $100 or more includes attendance for our in-person event. Limited seating will be available, so reserve your spot today by making a $100 contribution (per person) or more. Complimentary tickets are available for anyone who is passionate about our work but cannot afford to attend.
Questions? Contact Michael Christ at (781)521-5183 or mchrist@ippnw.org.
And More!
PSR and the Massachusetts Medical Society have teamed up to
present three important webinars.
A Global Challenge: Modeling the Effect of Nuclear Weapons on Climate and the Effect of Climate on Nuclear Weapons - Important Interactions
Friday, September 22, 2023
1:00-2:00 PM ET
The first webinar will focus on how the deployment of nuclear weapons would create disastrous effects on climate. In turn, climate change not only increases the likelihood of war due to competition for resources (water, air, soil) and therefore increased violence on a warming planet, but also is directly affecting vulnerable nuclear weapons sites and legacy nuclear waste from weapons development, with disproportionate health effects on local populations.
Learn More and Register
The Public Health Implications of Nuclear Power
Tuesday, October 10, 2023
12:00-1:00 PM ET
The second webinar will examine the following questions: Is nuclear power the answer to the climate crisis? What are the risks and who are they to? What is the effect of climate on nuclear power plants?
Learn More and Register
Local Voices, Local Solutions: How Frontline Communities Are Addressing the Overlapping Health Impacts of Climate, Nuclear Weapons and Nuclear Power
Tuesday, November 14, 2023
12:00-1:00 PM ET
The third webinar will provide a forum for community voices representing the Navajo Nation, Rocky Flats and the Marshall Islands to share impacts to their communities and specific concrete actions that have been taken to mitigate the overlapping effects of climate change, nuclear weapons and nuclear power. Participants will learn how they can take positive steps to advocate for this important issue.
Learn More and Register
| | | | |
