I will never forget watching video of the city of Fukushima being engulfed in the massive tsunami back in 2011. Huge ocean ships being washed inland like toys in some 1960s Japanese film about Godzilla. The most heartbreaking parts of that video were the vehicles trying to flee the onslaught of the wave, helpless and hopeless, there was no chance for most of the people caught in the relentless deluge.
We heard news reports of the brave, heroic efforts of the people there who were trying to stabilize the reactor situation, but we never knew the details of how much sacrifice and courage were being offered for the sake of their people and the world at large.
This series is a monumental testimony to the events of that catastrophe, much of which is still ongoing, and will continue to be for several more decades.
It is a grave warning to the civilized world about how we all take resources like electric power and running water for granted, as if they are always at our fingertips and can be depended upon to protect us and solve all our problems.
This is a lie!
In truth, humans are helpless in the face of so many of the forces that we arrogantly believe we are masters of. Nuclear radiation is the most dangerous of these. In our arrogance, we have created the potential for catastrophes that are so terrible that they can create situations like those within the cores of the Fukushima and Chernobyl reactors: radiation levels at or above 50 sieverts!!! For reference, radiation levels at ground zero in a nuclear explosion are measured at being from 1-5 sieverts!!!
Electricity and running water are very fragile resources, and, as the Fukushima disaster shows, they cannot be relied upon in the face of earthquakes and tsunamis!!
Before we take for granted being masters of our environment, we should use this great historical series as a profound warning against the cost of human arrogance and hubris.
We heard news reports of the brave, heroic efforts of the people there who were trying to stabilize the reactor situation, but we never knew the details of how much sacrifice and courage were being offered for the sake of their people and the world at large.
This series is a monumental testimony to the events of that catastrophe, much of which is still ongoing, and will continue to be for several more decades.
It is a grave warning to the civilized world about how we all take resources like electric power and running water for granted, as if they are always at our fingertips and can be depended upon to protect us and solve all our problems.
This is a lie!
In truth, humans are helpless in the face of so many of the forces that we arrogantly believe we are masters of. Nuclear radiation is the most dangerous of these. In our arrogance, we have created the potential for catastrophes that are so terrible that they can create situations like those within the cores of the Fukushima and Chernobyl reactors: radiation levels at or above 50 sieverts!!! For reference, radiation levels at ground zero in a nuclear explosion are measured at being from 1-5 sieverts!!!
Electricity and running water are very fragile resources, and, as the Fukushima disaster shows, they cannot be relied upon in the face of earthquakes and tsunamis!!
Before we take for granted being masters of our environment, we should use this great historical series as a profound warning against the cost of human arrogance and hubris.