A warning from 100 Nobel prize winners.The most profound danger to world peace in the coming years will stem not from the irrational acts of states or individuals but from the legitimate demands of the world's dispossessed. Of these poor and disenfranchised, the majority live a marginal existence in equatorial climates. Global warming, not of their making but originating with the wealthy few, will affect their fragile ecologies most. Their situation will be desperate and manifestly unjust. It cannot be expected, therefore, that in all cases they will be content to await the beneficence beneficence (b  ·neˑ·fi·s of the rich. If then we permit the
devastating power of modern weaponry to spread through this combustible
human landscape, we invite a conflagration that can engulf both rich and
poor. The only hope for the future lies in cooperative international
action, legitimized by democracy.
It is time to turn our backs on the unilateral search for security, in which we seek shelter behind walls. Instead, we must persist in the quest for united action to counter both global warming and a weaponized world. These twin goals will constitute vital components of stability as we move toward the wider degree of social justice that alone gives hope of peace. Some of the needed legal instruments are already at hand, such as the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty The Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty (ABM Treaty or ABMT) was a treaty between the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics on the limitation of the anti-ballistic missile (ABM) systems used in defending areas against missile-delivered nuclear , the Convention on Climate Change, the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaties, and the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. As concerned citizens, we urge all governments to commit to these goals that constitute steps on the way to replacement of war by law. Joseph E. Stiglitz Joseph Eugene "Joe" Stiglitz (born February 9, 1943) is an American economist and a member of the Columbia University faculty. He is a recipient of the John Bates Clark Medal (1979) and the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics (2001). , Nobel laureate, economics, 2001 Herbert Kroemer, Nobel laureate, physics, 2000 Guenter Blobel, Nobel laureate, physiology/medicine, 1999 Horst L. Stormer, Nobel laureate, physics, 1998 Claude Cohen-Tannoudji, Nobel laureate, physics, 1997 Peter C. Doherty, Nobel laureate, physiology/medicine, 1996 Paul J. Crutzen Paul Jozef Crutzen (born December 3, 1933, Amsterdam) is a Dutch Nobel prize winning atmospheric chemist. Crutzen is best known for his research on ozone depletion. He lists his main research interests as , Nobel laureate, chemistry, 1995 Bertram N. Brockhouse, Nobel laureate, physics, 1994 Joseph H. Taylor, Nobel laureate, physics, 1993 Edmond H. Fischer Dr Edmond H. Fischer (born April 6, 1920) is a Swiss-American biochemist. He and his collaborator Edwin G. Krebs were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1992 for describing how reversible phosphorylation works as a switch to activate proteins and regulate various , Nobel laureate, physiology/medicine, 1992 Richard R. Ernst Richard Robert Ernst (born August 14, 1933) is a Swiss physical chemist and Nobel Laureate. Born in Winterthur, Switzerland, Ernst was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1991 for his contributions towards the development of Fourier transform nuclear magnetic resonance , Nobel laureate, chemistry, 1991 Mikhail S. Gorbachev, Nobel laureate, peace, 1990 His Holiness The Dalai Lama, Nobel laureate, peace, 1989 Robert Huber, Nobel laureate, chemistry, 1988 Oscar Arias Sanchez, Nobel laureate, peace, 1987 Dudley R. Herschbach Dudley Robert Herschbach (born June 18, 1932), a chemist and Frank B. Baird Jr. Research Professor of Science at Harvard University, won the 1986 Nobel Prize in Chemistry jointly with Yuan T. Lee and John C. , Nobel laureate, chemistry, 1986 Klaus von Klitzing Klaus von Klitzing, (born June 28, 1943 in Schroda) is a German physicist. For his discovery of the Integer Quantum Hall Effect he was awarded the 1985 Nobel Prize in Physics. In February 1962 von Klitzing passed the Abitur at Artland Gymnasium Quakenbrück. , Nobel laureate, physics, 1985 And 85 other Nobel prize winners including recipients from every year between 1972 and 2001. The statement was issued at the Nobel Peace Prize Centennial Symposium on the 100th anniversary of the Nobel prize, in Oslo, Norway. |
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