I think we are all aware by now that we are at a crucial juncture in this country. We have an administration that is unhinged at best and led by completely unqualified people.

Professionals with expertise who push back are pushed out. There are talks at the highest level about how we might wage and win a nuclear war. Absurd! There are religious zealots whispering in President Donald Trump’s ear that he was chosen by God to start the apocalypse and the Rapture. This is not normal politics but desperation by a leader who is getting cornered by his own ill-advised choices.

New Mexico has always been a tourist destination — for outside adventuring (hiking, skiing, rafting), art, adobe architecture, balloon fiestas, and our Hispanic and Pueblo cultures. Revenues have averaged $8.8 billion annually, which goes to hotels, restaurants, travel resources, artists and local businesses. International travel was a big part of this, and those numbers are now projected to go down, due to financial and homeland security concerns as well as possible boycotts of the U.S.

The Los Alamos National Laboratory budget in 2018 was projected at $13 billion [sic]. It’s much higher now. The vast majority of the budget is for nuclear weapons, with very little for other sciences. This budget mostly benefits the contractors and the billionaire class.

Yes, there’s employment, but in many cases workers later face cancers and other diseases that extract huge costs in health care. When looking up statistics on worker health, a message said “the record is publicly accessible, but files are restricted to users with access” — doublespeak at best. Most concerning, our youth are being actively recruited from schools and colleges without being told the dangers (reported by an observer who attended several such recruiting sessions).

We are clearly at a crossroads. Do we support the tourist industry or the nuclear industry? Many of us would like to say neither. We’d like to support our residents, our pueblos, our children and the vital infrastructure we need to thrive. But we also know that outside revenue is necessary to achieve this.

We already have gas and oil revenue and need protections from that, but at least it can be said to also serve people. Nuclear weapons only serve death and destruction, not living systems. Back in the late 1950s I heard it said that New Mexico might be considered a national sacrifice area.

It certainly seems to be headed in that direction. With new uranium mining, giant data centers with new nuclear reactors to furnish electricity, a nuclear weapons factory, a nuclear waste depository, a space port that seems destined more for launching data satellites than for space excursions, tourists may feel less prone to visit. And, in the case of nuclear weapons ever being used by accident or design, we will be an obvious target for a retaliatory strike. Is this the future we want?

The powers and politicians pushing for nuclear projects are persuasive and highly financed. We, as citizens and protectors of this precious environment and our limited water resources, must push back as we can with no financial backing. We could and should support resilience and a thriving community instead of empire and war. Being that our state capitol is named for St. Francis, let’s follow the lead of Pope Francis and Pope Leo, who state that nuclear weapons are immoral.

Being that our state has many pueblos whose people have been stewards of the land for centuries, let’s listen to their wisdom, respect their voices and follow their lead. All people want peace. Let’s all work for it!