August 6th and August 9th mark the 75th anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This solo ride is in remembrance of the victims of the bombings and an opportunity for riders to better understand the scope and the scale of the destruction involved.
On August 6th and 9th of 1945, the United States dropped nuclear bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. More than 200,000 civilians were killed in these attacks, and countless survivors suffer from the effects of the bombings to this day. Plutonium for the weapon dropped on Nagasaki was developed at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation near Richland, WA, only a few hours from Portland on the Columbia River. Decades later, studies of survivors and their offspring reveal conclusive DNA genetic changes and malformations.
Nuclear weapons are weapons of indiscriminate mass destruction that cause death and illness at every stage of their production and testing, and they represent a morally unacceptable technology akin to chemical and biological weapons. Today, the US nuclear stockpile contains more than 2,400 megatons of destructive capability, the equivalent to 159,000 Hiroshima-sized bombs.
Riders are encouraged to complete a one-mile radius ride around their own home, then a second two-mile radius ride, then a final three-mile radius ride. In a hypothetical scenario in which a Hiroshima-sized bomb were dropped where you live, everything within the first concentric circle would be completely obliterated, including buildings and infrastructure. Within the second concentric circle, all living things would be killed. Within the third circle, most life would be extinguished, fires would rage, and radiation-related illnesses would spike.
We encourage you to consider the destructiveness of nuclear weapons and join the nuclear abolition movement to ensure that these morally unacceptable weapons of indiscriminate mass murder are never used again. Find out more at www.oregonpsr.org/hiroshima_nagasaki