Ron Kramer Presentation; Twin Apocalyptic Threats: The Nexus Between the Climate Crisis and Nuclear Weapons

Climate disruptions and the potential for nuclear war are the two key existential dangers of our

time, and the nexus between the two is often ignored. These twin apocalyptic threats have much

in common and need to be considered together because they intersect with and intensify the risks

of each other. The two threats are interrelated in numerous ways. 1) Climate disruptions already

underway could spiral into nuclear warfare due to the heightened risk of conflicts and social

stress, the decay of nation-states, and armed violence over increasingly scarce resources such as

water. 2) The use of nuclear weapons would cause catastrophic climatic effects, such as the onset

of nuclear winter. 3) Conservative ideologues operating through corporate funded think tanks

and the Republican Party have rejected the science and engaged in socially organized denial of

both of the twin threats. 4) Each is characterized by the state crime of political omission or

negligence, as nation-states fail to respond appropriately to the extraordinary harms the threats

pose. 5) Both apocalyptic threats also involve state-facilitated corporate wrongdoing— in the

fossil fuel industry (through ecological extractions and additions) and in the weapons industry

(through the harmful operation of the military-industrial complex). 6) Each threat is also related

to imperial geopolitical actions by powerful states (wars to secure access to and control over oil

which result in enormous carbon emissions, and threats to use nuclear weapons in conflict

situations). 7) A final connection between the twin apocalyptic threats is that both the climate

crisis and the risk of nuclear war must be addressed through international law and political

agreements crafted and enforced by the UN and other international bodies.