After seven years of hard work fighting nuclear proliferation as the executive director of the Albert Schweitzer Institute, professor David Ives has been appointed to the International Steering Committee for the Middle Powers Initiative.
According to Ives, the Middle Powers Initiative is a way to work with countries that are not major international players. This includes countries such as England, the Scandinavian states, France and Japan.
“The Middle Powers Initiative uses the influence of ‘middle powers,’ who are generally much more worried about nuclear weapons than we are, to keep nonproliferation treaties in place,” Ives said.
Ives will have to handle a diverse set of tasks as a member of the steering committee. He will be responsible for attending conferences, strategy sessions and lobbying sessions around the world.
For example, Ives will be attending a conference in Berlin in January to prepare for the next United Nations meeting on the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
“Mainly I’ll be working with various government ministries to combat nuclear weapons,” Ives said.
Ives is an adjunct professor of Latin American studies, philosophy, and international business. He volunteered for the Peace Corps in Costa Rica, where he taught agriculture.
Ives believes he received the appointment through a combination of his work on nonproliferation issues and the good reputation of Albert Schweitzer and the Schweitzer Institute.
The Schweitzer Institute is one of eight international organizations that make up the Middle Powers Initiative. The MPI was founded in 1998, and according to its website, “is widely regarded in the international arena as a highly effective catalyst in promoting practical steps toward the elimination of nuclear weapons.”
Since its inception, the MPI has made great strides toward effecting policy on nuclear weapons worldwide.
Ives said, “this work is very important, because if one nuclear bomb goes off, say in New York City, think of what a disaster that would be.”
Hopefully, with people like Mr. Ives working to get rid of nuclear weapons worldwide, no disaster such as that will ever be allowed to happen.
