Front-line anti-nuclear visionaries from Russia, Africa, France and the U.S. are to receive a unique, world leading award, and expose hidden truths about widespread human and environmental destruction by the nuclear industry.
At its root, the use of nuclear energy violates human rights by devastating the lives and homelands of indigenous people around the world. Uranium mining and processing and its toxic waste products are and have for decades been the direct cause of radioactive contamination, and implicated in various cancers and other debilitating diseases; Chernobyl-style accidents aside. It's an unsustainable and unconscionable situation when only 2.5% of the world's total energy comes from nuclear sources. Yet few people understand or ever question where nuclear energy comes from.
The Nuclear-Free Future Awards will honor five 'non-nuclear' champions.
- The African Uranium Alliance: Visionaries from Niger, Tanzania, Namibia, Malawi, Cameroon and South Africa stand up and say No to uranium mining,
- Oleg Bodrov: A Russian scientist goes against the nuclear mainstream,
- Bruno Barrillot: one activist in France is the father of a nuclear testing victim compensation law,
- Martin Sheen: A noted Hollywood actor raises anti-nuclear consciousness,
- Henry Red Cloud: A bison farmer and promoter of solar energy. He is the fifth generation grandson of a famous Oglala-Lakota Chief Red Cloud, who, in 1870, was the first Native American to speak at the Great Hall of Cooper Union.
A circle of history will close.
Three laureates will receive US$10,000 (8,000 euro) each to carry on their efforts' and will tell their front-line stories to the audience in Cooper Union's Great Hall September 30th at 7 p.m. and to podcast listeners tuning in from around the world. Co-founder Claus Biegert says about the upcoming event: "We want and deserve a world that's safe and sustainable. The heroic people we recognize this and each year with our Award are spreading the true story and leading the way to this much wiser future. It's time to cut through the politics; take personal responsibility; and tell our leaders this nuclear state of affairs that sacrifices so many innocent lives and precious parts of our natural world is unacceptable."
Founded in 1998, and based in Munich, Germany, the Nuclear-Free Future Award (NFFA) provides vital recognition and financial and moral support for individuals, organizations and communities around the world working valiantly to achieve a peaceful, unharmful future free of nuclear energy, nuclear weapons and uranium mining. An independent, non-profit group, the NFFA works closely with The Alternative Nobel Prize among others, and has been called by Berlin newspaper taz "the most important antinuclear award in the world." Each year's laureates, from grass-roots activists to enlightened politicians, are selected by an international jury.
Source and contact: The Nuclear-Free Future Award, Ganghoferstr. 52, 80339 München, Germany.
Tel: +49 89-28659714
Email: info@nuclear-free.com
Web: www.nuclear-free.com