March 11th marks six years since the beginning of this nuclear disaster (though really, catastrophe is the more accurate word to describe the situation).
Nuclear disasters are notable for never going away. They never get “better.” They never end.
Fallout is forever.
Just ask the people for whom, for example, the Chernobyl disaster of April 1986 is still a daily reality. Do the math; this accident occurred 31 years ago now. (Exiled scientist: ‘Chernobyl is not finished, it has only just begun‘)
And the people of Japan, now 6 years into their own nuclear nightmare.
For six years now, the radioactivity spewed by the triple meltdowns that took place on Japan’s coast – in an area of the world hit frequently by earthquakes (any of which might make the nuclear situation even worse) – has been poisoning the people of Japan – who are now being obliged to accept higher levels of radioactive exposure as “acceptable” – the creatures in the Pacific Ocean (tons & tons of radioactive water from the plant gush into the ocean daily, & radiation is now detectable in fish on the west coast of North America) and, is also spread around the globe via air currents, .
One doesn’t hear much in the mainstream media about the situation on the ground for the Japanese people. Those of us who do hear about it rely mostly on alternate rather than mainstream news sources.
(Why should this be so, you ask? Mainstream media outlets determine their editorial policy (i.e., what they consider “fit to print”) around the source of their revenues, i.e., advertising dollars. It has ever been the case that “He who pays the piper, calls the tune” … has it not?
And the nuclear industry has deep pockets, very very deep pockets – often using mainstream media to print their advertising inserts as though they were news (you have likely been fooled by this yourself. Always read the fine print!)
Then there is the collusion of the nuclear industry with the rest of the nuclear “establishment” – which means government & bureaucracies of all kinds, at all levels, and it is a global problem. (WHO & IAEA & all those big agencies? All involved in the collusion. This item describes why we hear nothing about negative health impacts from the use of nuclear energy. Yes, I know. It’s shocking.)
Some Recent News / Commentary About the Fukushima Situation
Beyond Nuclear
Counterpunch
Fairewinds
The heartbreaking legacy of Fukushima Daiichi
** you’ll find plenty more Fukushima material on the Fairewinds site
Greenpeace
- Fukushima nuclear disaster and the violation of women’s & children’s human rights
- High radiation as government prepares to lift evacuation order
- They want you to think the Fukushima nuclear disaster is over. But it’s still with us.
*** Fukushima – a warning to the world – must-see short YouTube (10 minutes)
Interviews with 2 Japanese women who describe the high levels of radiation people are being forced to live in / return to and, in the case of children, attend school in. Mention is also made of the reactors in the U.S. that are the same type as the Fukushima reactors & carry the same risks.
New Radiation Readings in Fukushima Reactor 2 Are ‘Unimaginable,’ Lethal in 1 Min.
Nuclear Hotseat Fukushima Episode featuring ‘Voices from Japan’
** so good to hear the voices of the people most directly affected tell us what’s really going on…
NIRS – Nuclear Information & Resource Service – Telebriefing with Arnie Gundersen(1 hour recording from April 5th – covers all the major nuke accidents)
Simply Info – Fukushima 6th Anniversary Report
6 years after nuclear disaster, residents trickle back to deserted towns (Japan Today)
What Can You Do?
You can work in your own local community to help get your local nuclear plant(s) shut down. Nuclear accidents can happen anywhere, and if one were to happen here in Ontario, there is no reason to suppose it would play out any differently than the way it has in Chernobyl & Fukushima.
In other words, it would be ugly … very, very ugly indeed … in a whole variety of ways.
Sign the Close Pickering petition & offer to help deliver fliers to your neighbours, friends, family & colleagues.
If you’d like to help the children of Japan, here is a group that raises funds to send affected children away for vacation time to Hawaii, in order to give their immune systems (& themselves!) a break from the radiation they are now routinely bathed in at home.
Greenpeace has a petition you can sign.
p.s. need a reminder about the causes of the Fukushima Catastrophe?
