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The
Warheads to
Windmills
Coalition is
are hard at
work around
the country
pushing for
nuclear
disarmament
and
environmental
justice.
Follow along
with updates
and spotlights
from members
around the
country.
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In this Edition: The TPNW Banniversary,
divestment
success in
Philadelphia,
a hearing in
Boston, the
new Learning
Hub from NAPF,
announcement
on an
international
conference to
phase out
fossil fuels,
and more.
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Join the Banniversary Celebrations!
In January we will celebrate the 5
year
Anniversary of
the Treaty on
the
Prohibition of
Nuclear
Weapons, which
entered into
force and
international
law on January
22nd, 2021.
Coalition
members around
the country
will organize
and
participate in
actions
celebrating
this wonderful
moment in
nuclear
abolition
history.
Wondering how you can get
involved?
Warheads to
Windmills has
put together a
handy kit for
taking action,
including
locations of
nuclear
weapons
companies,
suggested
activities,
letters to
send, and
more.
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Philadelphia to Divest from Nuclear
Weapons
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David
Gibson, Peace
Justice
Sustainability,
Now!
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On November 20, 2025, the
Philadelphia
City Council
passed, at
long last, a
resolution
calling on the
City of
Philadelphia
Board of
Pensions and
Retirement to
consider
divestment
from nuclear
weapons. “It
is a moral
obligation for
the City of
Philadelphia
to invest in
what our
residents
need,” said
Councilmember
Nicolas
O’Rourke, who
submitted the
resolution,
“such as safe
and healthy
homes,
affordable
transit,
working
utilities,
childcare, and
more, rather
than weapons
that threaten
life on our
planet.”
The resolution was championed by
the Divest Philly from the War Machine
Coalition. Founded in 2019, the Divest
Philly from
the War
Machine
Coalition
consists of 29
organizations
raising
awareness
about the
dangers of
nuclear
weapons and
advocating for
the City of
Philadelphia
to divest the
Pension Fund
from nuclear
weapons.
Organizations
in the
coalition
include Peace,
Justice,
Sustainability
NOW! (PJSN),
the Greater
Philadelphia
branch of
Women’s
International
League for
Peace and
Freedom
(WILPF), World
Beyond War,
Green Party of
Philadelphia
(GPOP), the
Granny Peace
Brigade of
Philadelphia,
and the
Philadelphia
Public Banking
Coalition.
The City of Philadelphia has been a
member of
Mayors for
Peace since
1985, and in
2019 passed a
resolution
calling on the
US to join the
Treaty on the
Prohibition of
Nuclear
Weapons. The
City also
committed in
2013 to divest
from guns and
in 2017 to
divest from
private
prisons, so
the precedent
was already
set for
divestment
from nuclear
weapons.
The passing of this resolution is
only one step
towards
achieving the
divestment,
however. It is
a request from
the City
Council to the
Philadelphia
Board of
Pensions and
Retirement,
but it is the
Board itself
which must
make the
decision to
divest. So
far, they have
been unwilling
to consider
this. The next
step in the
campaign is to
use this
Resolution to
show the
Pension Board
that city
residents want
divestment
from weapons
of mass
destruction.
As in New York City, where the City
Council voted
in December
2021 to divest
its pension
funds from
nuclear
weapons,
Philadelphia
joins with
cities and
states around
the world
divesting from
nuclear
weapons. This
is a major
milestone –
and an
encouragement
to every other
city in the
country: if
New York and
Philadelphia
can decide to
divest from
nuclear
weapons, so
can you! Over
109 financial
institutions
have now
offered
nuclear
weapons free
divestment
instruments.
This can lead
to making
these weapons
not only
undesirable -
but
unprofitable
as well.
“The global and multifarious
movement to
reduce and
eliminate the
risk of
apocalyptic
war is
strengthened
by every
successful
divestment --
advancing the
arrival of
that day when
investment in
weapons of
mass
destruction
will be the
exception
rather than
the norm,”
says David
Swanson,
Executive
Director of
World BEYOND
War.
And in thanking the City Council
for taking
this
courageous
step, Jean
Haskell,
member of
Granny Peace
Brigade
Philadelphia,
reminds us all
that “the
United States
was the first
country in the
world to drop
a nuclear
bomb. We
believe it is
now time for
our country to
lead the way
to ridding the
world of
nuclear
weapons and
the enormous
threat they
pose. We
applaud City
Council for
taking this
important step
today.”
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Donations go to the coordination
and support of
the Warheads
to Windmills
Coalition.
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Nuclear Weapons Divestment
Gets a Public
Hearing in
Boston
Timmon
Wallis,
NuclearBan.US,
Massachusetts
Warheads to
Windmills
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College students Grace Cowell,
Maevon Cohen
and Sam Levine
were among the
many to
testify at the
public hearing
for An Act
Promoting
Responsible
Investment on
November 18,
2025 at the MA
State House in
Boston.
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Massachusetts state legislators
heard
compelling
testimony on
November 11th
from students,
pension
beneficiaries,
labor unions,
doctors,
financial
experts and
many others
calling on the
state to
divest its $80
billion
pension fund
from companies
complicit with
the production
of nuclear
weapons and
other weapons
of mass
destruction.
Several
mayors, city
councilors,
state
legislators
and members of
the US
Congress also
filed written
testimony in
support of the
bill that
would make
Massachusetts
the first
state in the
country to
divest from
these
companies.
Massachusetts was the first state
to pass the
Nuclear Freeze
resolution in
the 1980s. It
was the first
state to
divest from
apartheid
South Africa
as well the
first state to
divest from
tobacco
companies. So
there is
precedence for
passing this
divestment
bill. The
chances are
rather slim,
however, that
this bill will
make it to a
vote and
become MA law
during this
legislative
session.
The Massachusetts Warheads to
Windmills
Coalition
consists of 37
local and
statewide
organizations
in
Massachusetts
who are
committed to
working
together for
an end to
fossil fuels
and nuclear
weapons. The
coalition has
been trying
for six years
to get a bill
passed in the
State House
that would set
up a Citizens
Commission to
look into what
could most
effectively be
done at the
state level to
address these
twin
existential
threats.
Despite widespread support for a
Citizens
Commission,
including
favorable
votes in
several state
house
committees and
a clear
majority of
state senators
who said they
would vote in
favor of
setting it up,
the bill was
never brought
to the floor
of the House
or Senate for
a vote. At the
end of last
year, the
coalition
decided to
ratchet up the
pressure by
calling for
divestment
from the state
pension fund -
an obvious
step that the
state could
take without
waiting for a
recommendation
from the
Citizens
Commission.
Two state bills were therefore
submitted in
January:
H.2811, an Act
to Review
Climate Risk
in Order to
Protect Public
Pension
Beneficiaries,
would divest
the MA state
pension fund
from fossil
fuels (and
other climate
risk
investments).
And
H.1264/S.767,
an Act
Promoting
Responsible
Investment,
would divest
the MA state
pension fund
from nuclear
weapons (and
other weapons
of mass
destruction).
Both of these bills are supported
by wider
coalitions of
MA-based
organizations,
together with
the MA W2W
Coalition.
State branches
of Mothers Out
Front, Elders
Climate
Action, Sierra
Club and Third
Act have been
supporting the
fossil fuel
divestment
bill, while
the weapons
divestment
bill has been
supported by
the
Massachusetts
Teachers
Association,
Jewish Voice
for Peace,
Greater Boston
PSR and
numerous local
groups
opposing the
genocide in
Gaza, all
under the
umbrella of
the MA
Coalition for
Responsible
Investment
(CFRI).
The fossil fuel divestment bill had
a public
hearing in
Boston earlier
in the year,
in front of
the Joint
Committee on
Public
Service. The
committee has
since sent the
bill “to
study,” which
means it will
not be voted
on and is
effectively
dead for the
rest of this
legislative
session.
Sooner or later, MA will divest
from fossil
fuels and from nuclear weapons. This will be
a huge step
forward in
putting
pressure on
the companies
involved. Of
the $80
billion in
assets
invested by
the MA state
pension fund,
at least $2
billion is
directly
invested in
nuclear
weapons
companies.
Another $15
billion is
invested in
financial
institutions,
like Bank of
America, which
are themselves
heavily
invested in
these
companies. The
bill calls for
divestment
from all entities with ties to weapons of
mass
destruction.
That would be
a major blow
to the
industry and a
much-needed
step towards
the final
abolition of
these weapons.
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The 2026
Nuclear
Deterrence
Summit will
take place in
DC, January
27th. This is
a conference
where all of
the companies
making nuclear
weapons gather
to discuss “Accelerating the Mission:
Delivering
Deterrence
with Urgency”
Consider using this opportunity to
stand up to
the Nuclear
Doomsday
Machine.
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Have a story or suggestion for the
Warheads to
Windmills
Newsletter?
Please write
to ade...@napf.org.
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