What does it take to build a movement? People and resources.
The current war in Ukraine underscores anew the dangerous reemergence of nuclear threats that leave the world vulnerable to nuclear escalation, and even nuclear war. Now is the time for action. We need to build a movement. One that rivals the disarmament rally held 40 years ago in Central Park when 1 million nuclear freeze activists gathered to protest nuclear weapons.
A series of events so related that each one initiates the next is known as a Chain Reaction. Every year we gather leaders in our field, devoted partners, and new advocates to generate a nexus of ideas, opportunities, and strategies to advance policies that promote the reduction and eventual elimination of nuclear weapons. You—and every new ally you introduce to Ploughshares Fund—represent a key ingredient in our formula for change.
Chain Reaction: Action Now
Wednesday, June 8, 2022
Virtual event, LIVE via Zoom
5-6:30pm PT / 7-8:30pm CT / 8-9:30pm ET
FREE
REGISTER FOR OUR VIRTUAL EVENT OR PURCHASE A SPONSORSHIP/TICKET
Watch Party in San Francisco
Commonwealth Club, 110 The Embarcadero
4-8pm PT
$250 per person
PURCHASE A TICKET FOR OUR SF WATCH PARTY OR SPONSOR THE EVENT
1982 Nuclear Freeze Movement vs. Today
Phil Taubman & Sen. Ed Markey
Ploughshares Fund Acts
Dr, Emma Belcher
Nuclear Impacts of Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine
Drs. Fiona Hill & Emma Belcher
The Risks of Nuclear War
Liv Boeree & Liz Warner
Action Now
Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Tom Collina, Jamal Abdi, Istra Fuhrmann, & Sara Haghdoosti
Special Closing Remarks
Terry Gamble Boyer
For additional information about our speakers, please see their bios below.
Special thanks to our Chain Reaction Committee, the group of volunteers who make this event possible with their input and inspiration.
Chain Reaction Committee
Phil Ames
Tannaz Banisadre
Connie Foote
Pamela Hamrick
Kevin Holmes
Victoria Lilienthal
Don Mordecai
Max Pike
Stephen Sarewitz
Host Committee
Co-Chairs
Shanna Nasiri
Jennifer and Robert Waldron
Sally Lilienthal Sponsors
James B. Blume and Kathryn Frank
In memory of Mary Lloyd Estrin
Robert and Jennifer Waldron Civic Fund
Werner Family Foundation
Advocates
Dauray/Davis Family Fund
John and Mary Feikema
Connie Foote
Terry Gamble Boyer and Peter Boyer
HAND Foundation
Nion McEvoy and Leslie Berriman
Purple Lady Fund, Barbara J. Meislin
Phyllis Thelen
Activists
Phil and Sabrina Ames
Kennette Benedict
Ken and Helen Blohm
Graham and Talia Brandt
Joe Cirincione
Crewcial Partners
Mr. Stuart L. Gasner and Ms. Kate Ditzler
Amy McGrath
Drs. Corinna Haberland and Don Mordecai
Julie and Will Parish
Sayre P. Sheldon
Experts
John Bowers and Linda Stevens
Martin Bronk and Sallie De Golia
Dorothie and Martin Hellman
Martina Lauchengco and Christopher Jones
Ann L. Krumboltz
Gyöngy Laky and Thomas Layton
Nancy Leavens
Paul Sack
Speaker Bios
Jamal Abdi is President of the National Iranian American Council (NIAC) and the Executive Director of NIAC Action, the group's sister civic-action organization. Abdi first joined NIAC as Policy Director in November 2009, directing NIAC’s efforts to monitor policies and legislation and to educate and advocate on behalf of the Iranian American community. He co-founded NIAC Action in 2015. Abdi previously worked in the US Congress as Policy Advisor for foreign policy, national security, and immigration issues and as a field organizer in his home state of Washington.
Dr. Emma Belcher is president of Ploughshares Fund. Previously she spent nearly a decade at the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, where she led the foundation’s Nuclear Challenges grantmaking program. Belcher has served as a Stanton Nuclear Security Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, an advisor in Australia’s Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet on national security and international affairs, and a public affairs officer at the Australian embassy in Washington, DC.
A self-confessed nerd with a degree in astrophysics, Liv Boeree is a formerly #1 ranked professional poker player with multiple championship titles to her name; speaker and content creator specializing in game theory, risk, and decision-making; and co-founder of Raising for Effective Giving (REG), a research and advisory non-profit that used its philosophies to identify and raise money for the most globally impactful charities, with a particular focus on global catastrophic risk reduction.
Tom Z. Collina is director of policy at Ploughshares Fund, with 30 years of Washington, DC experience in nuclear weapons, missile defense, and nonproliferation issues. Tom is co-author, with former Secretary of Defense William J. Perry, of The Button: The New Nuclear Arms Race and Presidential Power from Truman to Trump, published in 2020. Tom also co-hosts the Ploughshares Fund podcast Press the Button. He has testified before the Senate Armed Services and Foreign Relations committees and has been published in The New York Times and The Washington Post, among others.
Istra Fuhrmann is the Program Assistant for Nuclear Disarmament and Pentagon Spending at the Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL), editing and disseminating the Nuclear Calendar, lobbying for arms control and de-escalation policies such as No First Use, and leading FCNL’s legislative work on the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA). After her fellowship year at FCNL concludes, she will become Program Associate for the Peace & Security Funders Group.
Terry Gamble Boyer is a writer and philanthropist. Along with her husband Peter, she cofounded the Caldera Foundation that concentrates on energy and the environment. Passionate about leaving a more just, secure, cleaner world for future generations, Terry is also the author of three novels: The Water Dancers, Good Family, and The Eulogist.
For more than 40 years, Senator Markey has served the Commonwealth of Massachusetts as a Congressman and U.S. Senator. He has been a powerful and effective voice for bolstering U.S. and global security by staunching nuclear proliferation and promoting arms control. Senator Markey is Chair of the East Asia, the Pacific, and International Cybersecurity Policy Subcommittee of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee; Chair of the Clean Air, Climate and Nuclear Safety Subcommittee of the Environment and Public Committee; as well as a member of the Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee and the Small Business Committee. He served in the U.S. Army Reserve and two terms in the Massachusetts State House before being elected to Congress.
Elizabeth Warner is Managing Director and Chief Development Director at Ploughshares Fund. She has over 20 years of experience in nonprofit management and fundraising. Prior to joining Ploughshares Fund in 2012, Elizabeth served as the Major Gifts Officer at Paul Newman’s Camp Boggy Creek, a summer camp for children with life-threatening and chronic illnesses.
