Monday, February 27, 2017

The things I will never know about Fukushima


There are fools in this world. I am one of them. I believed I had both the time and talent to understand physics.

I do not. (Although I've not yet given up.)

I wanted to really understand, for myself, what happened in Japan on March 11, 2011. This is the only truth we have: There were three nuclear meltdowns and they do not know where the cores are. That is all we have.

There are some of course who are saying they do know where the cores are and "they" just aren't telling us. Let us bracket this and put it aside. For another day perhaps. There are those who say it is all contained within steel and concrete and has not escaped the containment. Let us bracket this and put it aside.

The truth is, what happened during and afterwards is all a matter of who you are going to believe. That is all. And for those of us not well-versed in science, that is all we have. Even apparently for those well-versed, the entire truth escapes.

For me, it has all been a misguided attempt to understand why my husband, my strong, young healthy husband died of a rare and aggressive cancer in 2016. Five years after the fact of Fukushima. Was it because he was biking out in the rain? All those days? Was that rain radioactive? Was it enough to cause my husband's cancer. I will never know.

At the end, I conclude that as much as Fukushima is a highly contentious issue with facts that are known and unknown, the conclusion is one not of science but of philosophy. I believed and still do believe Dr. Helen Caldicott would never sound an alarm over Fukushima just to scare us into donating money. I believed and still do believe that Arne Gunderson would never do the same. Nor Dr. Busby. Nor Dana Durnford. Nor Kevin Blanch. Nor would enenews. Nor natural news.

They just would not do this. Because that would be a crime against humanity of a magnitude unimaginable.

So what then of the scientists, whose names seem unknown to us all, who disagree with their conclusions? Are they monsters? Are we to conclude that they are hiding facts because they need their jobs? Because they've been told not to cause global panic? Because they work for the nuclear industry? And what about the media? Same story?

They just would not do this. Because these too would be crimes against humanity of a magnitude unimaginable.

Why do I say this is a matter of philosophy?

This is Wikipedia's definition of philosophy: is the study of general and fundamental problems concerning matters such as existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language.

Fukushima is a problem. It begs the question of our continued existence, what we know and who we can trust. It is a matter of mind and of language. It is all these things.

Out there, in trying to discover the truth, I found people running scared and/or raging. The pro- and anti-nuclearists threaten, berate, put-down and attack each other because it "is" obviously a matter of extreme concern on both sides or this would not be happening. It seems to be the hallmark of activism--anger. When did that happen? Can we not just all stand our ground in peace and rally to the human condition, our common ground?

I believe it is no longer a matter for us mere mortals to try and argue. No one should be afraid here. No one. Certainly not for any earthly reason. We will either all die, (and we all will eventually) or we will not (for the time-being). Is it worth it to shred each other over this just so we can say "we told you so." Is that why we've been put on this earth?

I will never know. At least not in this point of my human existence.

We harnessed the power of the sun and we all danced there.  Do we now cry because the sun is in our eyes?

Be kind.

"It is the heat inside stars that has cooked the gold, carbon, iron, uranium and the rest of the 118 known elements which in time conspired to make planets and spiders, flowers and us. Only in their death throes do stars release the stuff of worlds and so, depending on your point of view, we are made either of stardust or nuclear waste." N. Oliver

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