Global Zero aims for elimination of nuclear arsenals

“If we don’t get started now, we never will,” said Jake Nebel ’13, the group’s founder.

The Princeton chapter of Global Zero is part of a larger international campaign committed to nuclear disarmament. Since its conception in 2008, more than 200 leaders around the world have worked to implement a “phased, verified elimination of nuclear weapons, starting with deep reductions in the U.S. and Russian arsenals,” according to Global Zero’s website.

Nuclear disarmament returned to the headlines this week when President Barack Obama released a 50-page “Nuclear Posture Review” on Tuesday, which outlines a strategy to modernize the country’s current arsenal rather than develop new nuclear weapons.

In an e-mail that preceded Obama’s announcement, Nebel said that he chose to start the organization both to combat political apathy on campus and to raise awareness about nuclear disarmament.

“I am worried about the nuclear future, and I think people have very little reason to be complacent,” he said, citing as potential dangers “an accidental use of even one of the 2,000-plus nuclear weapons on hair-trigger alert in the U.S. and Russia, or the theft, purchase or use of fissile materials by terrorists.”

David Chen ’13, another founding member of the chapter, said in an e-mail that he was motivated to contribute to “curing the political apathy that seems to be so much a part of the campus.”

Nebel was inspired to bring Global Zero to Princeton after attending a guest lecture by Bruce Blair, co-founder and co-coordinator of the campaign, at the University last semester.

Chen said that he was intrigued by the Global Zero network in particular because it “had so much support from prominent world leaders and a vibrant student base.”

Global Zero collaborates with scholars and professionals as a way of increasing broad-based student support and action on the issue. Nebel explained that the fledgling organization has already garnered the support of Wilson School professors Zia Mian and Frank von Hippel, whom he hopes will become “powerful allies” when the organization starts hosting regular events.

The group’s first official event, a screening of the film “Countdown to Zero,” will take place on April 28, Nebel said. The group also has more events lined up for the fall semester, such as a Whig-Cliosophic Society Senate debate on nuclear disarmament, a panel discussion with professors from the Program on Science and Global Security and other departments, and a Global Zero speaker’s bureau. For the last event, Nebel said the organization hopes to bring to campus some of Global Zero’s high-profile signatories, including Stephen Colbert, Queen Noor of Jordan and former president Jimmy Carter.

Nebel explained that the current political climate calls for a commitment to nuclear disarmament.

“The whole idea is that the threat is urgent, so it makes no sense to wait,” Nebel said.