Fifteen years ago the cold war ended and the President of, what was then, the Soviet Union initiated the unilateral nuclear testing moratorium. The following year the US conducted its 1,030th and last nuclear test. In 1996 both France and China conducted their final nuclear tests. Shortly afterwards, countries started to reduce their stockpiles of nuclear weapons, it was considered a no-brainer to conform to the rules of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty.

As I see it two things have changed over the last decade. First the US and its henchmen’s ‘war on terror’. Second, the nuclear power industry’s public relations coup that is hoodwinking a scary amount of those aged under 30 into believing that nuclear power is a safe clean, energy source. It isn’t either. Crucially, the creation of uranium fuel cells involves the same process as the creation of weapons grade uranium. In our current world order it seems impossible to have one without the other.

It’s strange being here, in the Pacific, on a Greenpeace ship at this time. Since the end of World War II the Pacific atolls have been a prime choice for nuclear tests by the US, the UK and France. Greenpeace was born of anti-nuclear ethos; we were founded by a group of activists in 1971 after an anti-nuclear action in Alaska. A year later, activists were in the Pacific trying to prevent the French government from testing nuclear weapons. Greenpeace returned repeatedly until 1977 when French government announced that it would conduct all future nuclear tests underground.

The first Rainbow Warrior returned to the Pacific in May 1985; her mission was to relocate the entire population of the South Pacific island Rongelap. These people had been exposed to radioactive fallout from US nuclear testing in the region during the 40s and 50s and were suffering high levels of cancer and birth defects. The crew were planning to return to French Polynesia to resume their protest against French nuclear testing. A month later however the Rainbow Warrior was bombed and sunk in Auckland harbour by French secret service agents. Fernando Pereira, photographer and activist was killed.

The US government’s response to North Korea’s nuclear test has been to brand it a ‘provocative act.’ America is now pushing for sanctions to be taken against the so-called ‘rogue test’. This is an act far more likely to escalate than diffuse the situation. Oscar Wilde once quipped that “America is the only country that went from barbarism to decadence without civilisation in between”. My big concern is that it may be equally adept at flipping the other way, taking the remainder of civilisation with it.

I feel very strongly that all of us need to make more responsible decisions when it comes to voting in politicians, choosing where we invest our money and which source our power supply ultimately comes from.