A distinguished activist for peace for over 30 years, Dr. Scilla Elworthy has met with scientists and nuclear weapons policy makers from all five nuclear powers. She founded the Oxford Research Group, Peace Direct, and co-founded 'Rising Women, Rising World' and FemmeQ, and was nominated three times for the Nobel Peace Prize. She is interviewed here about her latest book, "The Business Plan for Peace: Building a World without War." In it, she points out that while 1,686 billion dollars is spent on militarization every year, it would only cost two billion dollars to put into action methodologies that are known to work to prevent war and armed conflict worldwide. What follows is the edited transcript of an Awakin Call interview with Scilla Elworthy. You can listen to the full recording here. 

Aryae: You've been involved on many levels with peace initiatives in the world in many ways and in so many places. From the ones you're involved with today, what really has the most energy for you right now?

Scilla:  When I look back on 45 years of working at the top level of nuclear weapons policy-making, as well as the grassroots locally-led peace initiatives, what has most energy for me right now is the business plan for peace. Nobody's ever done that before.  We all in the peace business know about how much it would cost to actually prevent war worldwide and that's what I wrote about in this book. 

Scilla: I took 25 tried and trusted strategies for peace and estimated the cost of each one over a period of 10 years to cover all the conflict areas of the world. The cost is quite possible  when you consider what we spend on militarization today.  There has been an extraordinary reaction.  Because people have come forward and offered their skills, their partnership, and in some cases their funding, we're now taking forward nine of these initiatives immediately.   I don't think I've ever been as excited about anything as I am about this.

We're also bringing forward initiatives to get more women at the negotiating tables for peace. Currently, about 3.5 - 5% of those people who sit around peace tables are female. That is one of the reasons why peace agreements today tend to only last five years.  When more women are involved, peace agreements last up to 15 years and more.  This is because women bring the concerns of those most affected by war--the orphans, the bereaved, the wounded, and those suffering from PTSD by serving in the armed forces--to the table.  All those people need to have their needs met so that the conflict doesn't simply flare up again.

To read more of the Awakin Call Editors' interview with Scilla Elworthy, please click here.