Why should you fear the
neighbor’s dog when there is a tiger in your back yard?
I don’t mean this to be more
doom and gloom but… what the hell; we
love doom and gloom. The ratings tell
us that the movies with extreme violence, graphic bloodshed, rape, carnage and
chaos are the movies people tend to pay to see.
Global warming is a
fact. Ninety-three percent of all
environmental scientists agree (the other seven percent have a religious or
corporate agenda.) We are experiencing
the changes at this time. Weather
patterns are disrupted as oceans warm and the ecology adjusts. But, at sometime in the distant future
(perhaps decades) the change will have completed and the earth will stabilize
with a new ecosystems.
But, there is a more pressing
danger:
 |
| NUCLEAR PLANTS IN THE US |
Nuclear plants exist across
our country. These plants were designed
to operate for thirty years. Many are
operating on an extension. The nuclear
wastes produced by these plants are extremely hazardous and will remain so for
thousands of years. The plants
themselves have to be sealed after their life span; and the physical plants and
the land they occupy will be uninhabitable for thousands of years.
Unbeknownst to the public,
nuclear waste from operating nuclear plants are being constantly transported on
our highways and railroads to storage facilities. These storage facilities will have to
maintain these materials for thousands of years – what could possibly go
wrong?
We have had a number of
nuclear emergencies: the two most noteworthy are Chernobyl
An there is the human cost:
And Fukushima
The radioactive waste water
from the Fukushima plant is, at this time,
draining into the Pacific Ocean . The Japanese government claims that the
volume of radioactive water to the vast Pacific Ocean
will result in no discernible danger to the ecosystem.
Our government’s energy plan
includes building more nuclear energy plants and building new nuclear weapons
to replace our aging stockpile. We are
looking at short term, government subsidized, energy programs with long term
pollution and disaster potential.
But again: what could
possibly go wrong?
the Ol’Buzzard
Do you know what causes ice ages to start? I'm curious.
ReplyDeleteThere are some causal occurrences such as volcanic eruptions and asteroid strikes that drastically effect climate almost immediately, but natural global changes caused by cosmic conditions occur gradually over thousands of years. What we are experiencing - like a volcanic eruption - is happening over an unnatural short interval.
DeleteO'B
What could go wrong? In the current scenario and acrimonious political environment, maybe it is better to ask, "What could go right?"
ReplyDeleteagree
DeleteO'B
Great Post! One of the greatest films ever made, Dr. Strangelove...I have a collection of animated gifs that I have found and made myself that I use for illustrations occasionally. Mein Fuhrer, I can walk! Interesting, the post I did last night was about the updates from Fukushima, where there was another offshore earth quake just last week. But the real news was that they are going to start pumping contaminated radioactive ground water into the Pacific in Massive quantities....and the Japanese government is censoring any real reporting about what is going on there with the very iffy proposition of removal of the damaged fuel rod assemblies....many scientists have found evidence that there have been quite a few "mishaps" in the process already. Yakuza mafia is managing the "clean up" force that has been recruited from the very expendable poor and homeless. You don't have to even pay them if they die from radiation poisoning! Cool huh? The title of my piece was The Revenge of Godzilla....We all know the mythic origin of Godzilla...and the function the lovable monster played in turning Japan's nuclear nightmare trauma into fictional fantasy. Not that I have anything against the Godzilla movies, I love them. Your friend Rob asks how Ice Ages start....is he serious? If he has a long enough attention span, perhaps we could talk...if not, then, well, Rob it's just more of the crazy god magic stuff, like sunsets or magnets...
ReplyDeleteI always look forward to your post.
DeleteO'B
BTW, I can recommend a great book on Japan which goes a long way to explain what has happened there. How the Japanese mentality, trauma, fantasy, atomic energy and corruption created the Fukushima disaster. It was written quite a few years before the disaster by my nephew, Alex Kerr....the book is called Of Dogs and Demons....He lived in Japan for years and actually is the only westerner to have ever won the Japanese equivalent of their Pulitzer Prize for his previous book, Lost Japan. Google it, it is still on sale and is incredible if you want to understand Japanese culture from an insiders point of view.
ReplyDeleteI will apply for an inter-library loan of the book at the local library - thanks.
DeleteO'B
Microdot,
ReplyDeleteThat mentality/culture isn't cofined to Japan alone; it is prevalent all over Asia. I will see if the library has that book.
Arigato,
Sarge
I realize that, it's just that the Japanese have made such grand art form of it...and incorporated it into their culture and marketed it successfully on so many levels...HELLO KITTY!
DeleteI practice Zen...but find the Japanese culture an enigma.
DeleteO'B