Sunday, September 24, 2017

Visualizing The Effects Of A Nuclear War

Source: Shadow Peace
Coming off a summer of the investigation into Russia’s involvement in the election, the riots and deadly violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, and the elevated nuclear threats from North Korea, it’s hard to believe that we’ve had constant turmoil since the presidential election almost one year ago. The most dangerous of all this unrest is the nuclear threat. It’s scary to think that world leaders want to spar over this. So as we return to our classrooms with our middle schoolers, we have our hands full as educators.

This summer, Neil Halloran released his sequel to The Fallen Of World War II called Shadow Peace. This new interactive documentary combines data-visualization and cinematic storytelling to explore the driving factors of war and peace. It is a web series intended to take a data-driven look at peacekeeping efforts since WWII. Part one of Shadow Peace deals with the nuclear threat.



It is a powerful portrayal of the human cost of a nuclear war and the catastrophic impact it would have on the world population and environment. Like its counterpart on WWII, the film can be paused to explore areas in more depth. The didactic possibilities are endless, and the rewards of enlightening others toward peaceful solutions immense.


Source: Shadow Peace

We plan on showing our students this documentary, just as we watched The Fallen Of World War II. The more we can educate young people to be peacemakers, peacebuilders, and peacekeepers, the greater their vision of humanity. That is in the interest of all of us; fire and fury is not.