Blue Sea
Greetings and salutations from the sand, sun and surf of Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard and the great island of Nantucket! Great to be with you on this Wednesday morning here in Osterville, a football toss away from Hyannis Port, the home to the late, great 35th President of the United States, Jack Kennedy and his beautiful wife Jackie, that you can just make out the tip of in the image you see above you, a March day of seasonably cool temperatures and brilliant blue sky. I thought I might add a little optimism, as it is actually quite foggy here on Cape Cod and the islands, with rain expected. However, the temperatures will rise to 60 degrees tomorrow, and my plan is to get out and do some biking on these old country roads that wind around the Nantucket sound like a blanket. It is a true joy to live on Cape Cod–winter, spring, summer or fall. We can say one thing about the nuclear threat in Japan unfolding at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in the northeastern part of that island kingdom that was demolished in this past Friday’s 9.0 quake, that was followed 15 minutes later by a wicked Tsunami that wreaked havoc on the Northeast rural area(s) of Japan…with that one thing being whether or not nuclear facilities in say, California, the Diablo Canyon nuclear facility in particular, that sits on a very dangerous fault line in central California, are really all that safe, or are they safe just because “officials” (from the corporation) tell us so, begging the question, are these facilities ABLE to withstand what nature very likely will be dealing out soon, on the dreaded 40,000 kilometer long Pacific Ring of Fire, shaped in a giant horseshoe, namely, a similar quake of equal or even greater magnitude in an area, such as southern or northern California, that has been overdue for a large quake, or “the big one”, for 300 plus years now. This does not even get into the debate over the lack of evacuation routes that some would say you might need a boat, a big one, to take you out of the L.A. basin should a quake strike and cause a massive problem at one of California’s two nuclear facilities that are sitting next to, or on top of, active, dangerous fault lines, that credible scientists have told us for years now, are ready to rumble. Because there are only four roads going in and out of that area that has over 10 million people, forgetting about Orange County which offers another 5 million plus. Of course, our friends–and I say that with all sincerity, because we ALL know they are really trying (you know what they say, ‘trying is lyin’!) to be human, but, sometimes, it just takes too much out of them, in Washington D.C., wonderful friends with the little, itsy, bitsy “r” next to their name, that could also be the first letter to an equally demeaning word, not politically correct to use in news blogs, that is often interchangeable with the word, “republican”–with, or would, have you believe that worrying about nuclear safety and the damage it could cause our population, not to mention our planet, is akin to worrying about the radiation from the sun, or taking an airplane trip, or using the F#$cking microwave oven! Same old thing, as Sargent McConnell snivels, “nothing to see here folks, just a category 6, out of 7, nuclear accident that may, or may not, cause cancer down the road, and if you are pregnant, well, give us a few weeks to think about that one and we’ll get back to you”, something like that Senator? One scientist put it this way, “it is like placing an egg on a wobbly table and having a herd of Elephants, excuse the unintended metaphor, I happen to love African Elephants, stomp on through, all while betting the ranch on whether or not the egg would fall off the table, where it is not attended to by anyone or anything.” Full disclosure, I am that environmental scientist, however, I give full credit to all the nuclear physicists, nuclear engineers, among other men of science, out there who are on top of this thing, for it truly does offer a glimpse into our future as a species, who are struggling with energy, and the finite amount of it, while balancing the effects, and, more often than not, when things go awry, after effects, of that energy source–be it coal, oil, nuclear, wind, solar, or hydrogen. Eventually, the benefits of some (oil, coal) will be outweighed by their negative after effects (“can someone say, ‘carbon emissions equals global warming’, sure I knew that you could”, credit the late, great Fred Rogers and Public Television) that short term sellers, oil and gas speculators, on Wall Street don’t give a damn about, but your grand kids will. My money is on the elephants. Again, astonishing images from BBC World News America, as Matt Frei brought the coverage LIVE from Tokyo, and provided us all with a real live glimpse into the lives of these poor Japanese people whose whole towns have been swallowed by the sea. One story involved an older Japanese man who stood on the small hill overlooking a valley that, as far as the eye could see, had been literally wiped out, wiped from the face of the earth, by this 10 meter high ‘harbor wave’, the literal translation of the word Tsunami, for the waves had carried the debris, consisting of houses, cars, boats, you name it, right up to his back lawn, right up to the very edge of his back window, I’m talking two feet away!, with the high water mark staining the wood five feet up. The man, looking out at the devastation, spoke very lightly, yet solemnly, for he knew he, along with 5,000 other souls, had been spared the nightmare of a town that lost two thirds of it’s 17,000 person population. It was a haunting image. In that similar story, were images of the efforts of members of that same town, who have banded together, bringing snow down from a nearby mountain, boiling the water, pooling food, and basically taking care of one another, as they, the majority of them, had lost everything, and were now in the care of a power much greater than themselves, working together to make a sad, bad situation, tolerable, if not comforting, with the spirit of giving shining out as they begin to renew LIFE again, in a sea of death and despair. Financial uncertainty is also a byproduct of this disaster, with the Nikkei average dropping 16 percent by the closing bell yesterday. Japan’s, being the third largest economy in the world, work stoppage, will have an impact on markets in other countries as well, as they are the manufacturer of several important chips that are used in the new ‘fancy’ hand held computers, like smart phones, phones ‘everybody’ has these days, like an extra appendage, my God, so there may be a delay in the new Apple 3 I pad, coming out right after the new Motorola Zoom 2, that interestingly came out before the Motorola Zoom 1, I’m not sure about you, but damn! that is some real live wizard (bleep) from the boys and girls down on Madison Avenue! So keep on making (bleep) we don’t really need in this country and us (bleep, bleeping, bleeps) down here in the world of make believe will have you believin’ you need ‘dis, ya’ll! So, yes, the “financial” impact on Japan is real, but what is really, real are the tens of thousands of poor Japanese in the rural fishing villages to the north of the 1 in 10 people living in Tokyo, who have no food, no water and no where to go to escape a possible stage 6 melt down of some kind while the whole world watches on. What is also very real, are the heroic efforts of nuclear power facility workers, at that site, who are risking their own lives to put out the heat on those fuel rods, especially the ’spent’ fuel rods that still have plenty of kick left, plenty of radiation coming from the core nuclear ingredients in reactor number 4. The Japanese people, having studied Japanese history in college, are a proud and historically isolated group. Being and island nation, they were not conquered until World War II, although they had occasionally, perhaps in 1000 A.D., been invaded by Mongolia, and therefore, it is not in their nature to accept outside help from anyone. But, as the world becomes smaller and smaller, with instant communication available 24/7, video and all, we can feel empathy towards our brothers and sisters in need, as we all hopefully start living together as one species on a planet that needs our attention soon, i.e. the environment, or all of this was just a big waster of time. The problems of the world are GLOBAL, yet we have the POWER to act local. GOD’S SPEED to the people of Japan, and may some peace come your way soon! Have a nice day everybody. PRESERVE THE WILDERNESS! Peace~M
