Remembering Castle Bravo
Channel: ICAN Australia
Date: 2023-02-28

28 February 2023

March 1st 2023 commemorates the 69th anniversary of the US Castle Bravo thermonuclear explosion in the Marshall Islands, which contaminated the Bikini, Enewetak, Rongelap, and Utrik atolls. The bomb was fifteen megatons, making it the largest nuclear bomb the United States had ever tested and 1000 times stronger than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima.

This webinar gave people an opportunity to hear about the lived experience of Marshall Islanders, as well as the environmental, health and intergenerational impact of the fallout.

Speakers:

    Rosenet Timius, Marshall Islands/Hawaii
    Danity Laukon, Marshall Islands
    Dr Arjun Makhijani, USA

Moderator: Pam Kingfisher: Nuclear Truth Project

Sponsors: Nuclear Truth Project, MISA 4 the Pacific, Pacific Conference of Churches, ICAN Australia

About the speakers:

Rosenet Timius is from the Marshall Islands, specifically Bikini Atoll and Kili and Ejit Islands. She is currently an undergraduate at the University of Hawaii majoring in Political Science and a minor in Pre-law. Before Rosenet moved to Hawaii, she was involved with Jo-Jikum, a non-profit organisation focused on empowering Marshallese youth to rise up to the issues of climate change and nuclear legacy, which are affecting their tiny islands, vast ocean, and humble people. Rosenet hopes to raise awareness about the Marshallese nuclear legacy, specifically its connection to health, education and climate change in the Marshall Islands.

Danity Laukon is from the Marshall Islands. She is currently based in Majuro atoll working as a Curriculum Specialist at the Ministry of Education Public School System. Danity is a former lead member of the Marshall Island Student Association and co-founder of MISA4thePacific in 2017. She led the first MISA4thePacific solidarity march in 2019 in Suva, co-directed the film 'My Fish Is Your Fish' and speaks widely to remind the region and the world of the ongoing health and environmental impact nuclear tests. Danity continues to voice her people's deep concern of the nuclear legacy that intersects with climate change, health and youth.

Dr Arjun Makhijani is the President of the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research, Maryland, United States. Arjun has a Ph.D. from UC Berkeley (Engineering) and has worked for over 40 years on nuclear issues, including impacts of nuclear testing. Arjun co-edited 'Nuclear Wastelands: A Global Guide to Nuclear Weapons Production and Its Health and Environmental Effects' (MIT Press, 2000). He is a co-founder of the Nuclear Truth Project.