From the first nuclear bombs that the U.S. dropped on Japan in 1945 to the deadly “depleted” uranium it deployed in both Iraq wars, to the earth-penetrating “bunker busters” it projects detonating in Iran, our nation has forged a multibillion dollar business out of nuclear weapons technology. The largest and most profitable designer, manufacturer, and merchant of those weapons is Lockheed Martin, that operates a 4,400 acre facility at the end of Empire Grade in Santa Cruz. Our Bonny Doon-based Lockheed Martin facility manufactures and tests Contained Detonating Fuses (CDFs) for the deadliest weapon ever made — the Trident II D5 nuclear submarine missile

Planting Seeds of Conversion/Growing Industries of Peace recognizes the full spectrum of victims of the nuclear weapons industry — workers exposed to the hazards of producing weapons, communities that suffer environmental degradation from their production, military personnel who are poisoned by their use, and, of course, the human and other living beings who are targeted by such weapons. On this day we will acknowledge the devastation of the bombing of the people of Nagasaki 61 years ago by collectively imagining and calling for alternatives to the nuclear weapons industry, alternatives that convert the science of nuclear destruction into the science of life-sustaining industries and renewable energy.

* Carpools leave from Holy Cross Church parking lot at 12:45 PM (126 High St., SC). We will park and march from approximately ½ mile before Lockheed Martin's gate.