Peace Walkers at FOR

Tuesday the walk had a rest day in Nyack at the Fellowship of Reconciliation.
FOR is stationed in a building named Shadowcliff, a massive estate overlooking the Hudson River.

It was a beautiful rest day.
It was one of the only days on the walk so far that it’s rained all day, we were lucky to be indoors.
The staff of FOR were incredibly helpful and welcoming!
Mary cooked up an incredible gourmet spread for each meal (including desert), Heshi, Jonette, and Linda spent time getting to know the walkers and sharing information with us about their programs like the “Young, Pacifist and Proud” initiative, and a recent newsletter which featured information on Leverett Peace Pagoda’s inauguration.

Linda sat down for a 40 minute interview with some of the walkers for to learn more about the walk, nuclear disarmament, and Na Mu Myo Ho Ren Ge Kyo.

At FOR we got a chance to watch two films, Samsara and America’s Chernobyl.
It was a good chance to reevaluate why each of us were walking and envision what a nuclear free future actually looks like.

We said goodbye to two of our walkers, Larry & Nurya who had to return home to other responsibilities.

Miki & Nurya

Hopefully they will be back.

In the evening a professor from the Lamont-Doherty Observatory at Columbia University came to speak to the walk about the dangers of nuclear power from a seismological perspective.
John explained that earthquakes on the east coast are much smaller than earthquakes on the west coast, so small that many times they are not even felt by the average person.

Smaller earthquakes can cause problems to the reactor in a much less obvious way than a direct meltdown.
For instance, if an earthquake occurs in upstate New York near Indian Point (which is on two fault lines) the community may not notice. But the control panel which enables the operators at the plant to control heating or power may be affected. There is no way to be sure that smaller earthquakes have not already caused damage to this reactor in a way that the community does not yet know about.

We also watched a great video that was on CBS of Maurice Enis and Jamie Lee Plym, the two Navy vets who became very sick after their work near Fukushima.

Resources
Fellowship of Reconciliation: http://forusa.org/
CBS Video Interview with Maurice & Jamie Plym: http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=50142557n
Lamont Doherty Observatory: http://www.ldeo.columbia.edu/
America’s Chernobyl: http://defendblackhills.org