What the Japanese people are living right now with their earthquake and tsunami and nuclear emergency, is really unimaginable, and no doubt among the worst experiences human beings can ever face. It´s like war, but probably worse in a way, because in a war there is usually an element of forewarning and, barring an all-out nuclear war, the damage may not be quite so instantaneously massive over such a large area.
We can look at this disaster in different ways. The word disaster, by the way, comes from the word aster, which means star in Greek. Dis-aster means something that goes against the stars, or something bad caused by the stars. The ancients did know one or two things about Nature and the Cosmos, that modern European society lost during the so called Age of Enlightenment in the 18th century. Among other things, that earthquakes are cosmically triggered events.
One way of looking at the present disaster is, as a natural cyclic ocurrence that we know happens from time to time in certain areas. Japan is exceptionally prone to earthquakes, and anyone who has been there will have noticed the ever-present warning signs and alarm systems, as well as drills to train people what to do in case of an earthquake. Japan is therefore one of the best prepared areas in the world, when it comes to earthquakes, and they are aware of the danger.
I suppose one could argue that, knowing how dangerous the area is, people have themselves to blame, if they still live and build there. Yet, human beings tend to forget dangers that are not immediately before their eyes, and seem to be natural gamblers, hoping that they will draw the winning ticket and escape unharmed. Also, traditional geographical and cultural roots are very strong. They easily trump any danger of earthquakes that normally only strike with intervals of several decades, at different locations and with diffent strengths. A similar psychology surrounds volcanoes all over the world. Even though everyone knows that a volcano obliterated one or many villages or towns on its slope hundreds, or maybe thousands, of years ago, they still return and settle there, oblivious of the danger, since it happened so long ago. But this time in Japan it was different.
This earthquake was one of the most powerful ever measured, not far from the record, held by the one in Chile in May of 1960. And its effect was dramatically multiplied by the following tsunami. And as if that wasn´t enough, six of Japan´s 55 nuclear reactors are at risk of going the way of Chernobyl. My question is: How can anyone in their right mind build nuclear plants in an area with known risks of earthquakes, knowing how vulnerable such plants are, and the incalculably horrible consequences of a meltdown?
On 14th June 2010 I published my second blogpost on this site (actually on the previous site) with the title PLUTONICS. It´s still there and you can read it by just scrolling down to the bottom of this column. In it I commented on various earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other dis-asters (sic!) during the first half of 2010, blaming certain planets (in ancient astrological lore “stars”) for them. Then I predicted popular unrest with widespread transformation of political structures. Just the sort of thing that has shaken the Arab world since December, and that will spread way beyond the Arab world.
Interestingly, some astro-physicists have come out and acknowledged the role of the Sun and Moon in causing earthquakes and tsunamis. They point out that the Moon is right now very close to the Earth, and therefore has a stronger gravitational pull than usual. And it´s true that the Moon affects the liquid magma of the Earth, much as it affects the water masses of the oceans, causing the tides. And so it makes a lot of sense that the Moon was overhead in a strong aspect to Saturn, and to Neptune which was on the western horizon, when the earthquake struck. Although the Sun and Moon are the two most influentious factors in Astrology, they are far from the only ones. So allow me to venture a little deeper into this same field. Please try to follow me. It´ll be quick.
What the combined energies of the Moon, Saturn and Neptune released, thus triggering the earthquake, was an underlying powerful build-up of energy between the moving plates under the Pacific Ocean, caused by likewise strong planetary aspects to Pluto, the most distant yet the most powerfully “disastrous” planet. The planets involved here are: Saturn, the planet of physical and organizational structures and of the earth and rocks; Jupiter, the biggest planet of our Solar system and one that causes expansion; Neptune, the planet of liquids and gases, that dissolves boundaries, causes leaks and floods; and finally Uranus, the planet of electric energy, of cordless communications, of sudden changes and reversals, of revolutions and explosions. Incidentally, Uranus is also the “ruling planet” of the sign of Aquarius. That´s it. I´m done. Could you follow? No more astrology today.
Of course the earthquake and the tsunami as such are terrible disasters that may cause untold suffering along with thousands, or even hundreds of thousands of deaths, while destroying billions worth of human productivity and civilization. And yet, its effects on human health and the health of Society are temporary and relatively short-lived. And, unless they are provoked by the Alaska-based existing HAARP technology, they are natural disasters not caused by humans.
A nuclear meltdown is a catastrophe of an entirely different dimension, and entirely man-made. Not only will it make enormous areas uninhabitable, basically forever, with loss of agricultural land, industrial and residential land, it will also cause hundreds of thousands of people, maybe millions, to get sick from the radiation, many of whom will die within a short time, and many of whom will pass horrific birth defects to their offspring for generations to come. It´s amazing that it has to come to a catastrophe like this to restrain the unbridled shortsighted greed and bottomless irresponsibility on the part of the proponents of nuclear energy.
Incredibly, nuclear energy seems to have made a recent comeback on the energy arena with the help of false and superficial arguments. Have our politicians and industry leaders learnt nothing from Chernobyl? All of Europe was affected by that catastophe, and the true consequences for the surrounding area have never been revealed. Even now, 25 years after the event, plants, reindeer and wild animals in the north of Sweden have too high radioactivity to be considered fit for human consumption! And the North of Sweden is a VERY long way from Chernobyl. Did they not learn anything from Three Mile Island in the US either? Or from Sellafield in England? – Not to mention covered-up lesser incidents and countless near misses, where it was sheer luck that no serious accident happened. I know of at least three such near misses in Sweden alone.
The argument that nuclear energy is “clean” as opposed to coal and oil, never ceases to amaze me. If clean means that there is no visible black smoke, yes. But considering that the invisible nuclear radiation is capable of destroying human lives and habitat on a scale far beyond anything conventional environmental pollution is capable of, the argument falls through as criminally deceptive. As for the talk about modern nuclear plants being secure, it´s just as deceptive. What about human error? Nobody can guard 100% against that as long as we are human. And no automation and computerisation can remove that risk, especially since it all has to be designed, programmed and run by humans. And then what about terrorist acts? Or airplanes crashing into the reactors?
What just happened in Japan brings into high focus another real danger: Earthquakes, that damage the structure of the installations, causing inability to cool the reactor leading to a meltdown. OK, I know the statistical chance of a meltdown is very small, and that security measures are quite sophisticated. But even so, it is playing Russian roulette with the lives, happiness, and future of millions of people, even the entire world population. However small the chance, as long as there is any chance at all, the consequences are just too horrendous to risk. It´s like nuclear war, something no human being should have to experience.
The most senseless thing is that there are lots of excellent alternatives to nuclear power. The problem is that they have been suppressed and played down by irresponsible vested interests. It´s true that the alternatives may cost just a little more than nuclear power costs today – but only because no money has been invested in developing these energies, and only as long as we skip the cost for insurance against catastrophes and forget the cost of nuclear accidents.
By the way, there is no such thing as a safe level of radiation, and all nuclear power stations leak a certain amount of radiation, which affects the health of people living in the neighborhood. It has been established that the incidence of cancers, leukemias etc. is considerably higher in populations around nuclear power stations than in the general population. What is happening right now in Japan gives us a close-up of the risks with nuclear power. Consider what is needed to evacuate the population in so called risk zones. It could easily affect millions of people and millions of hectares, that could become inhabitable for all future! How long will it take? What resources are there? What about the thousands, or hundreds of thousands dead and seriously sick and contaminated people in the case of an accident? All at once. Where are they going? Hospitals will be grotesquely overloaded, and those inside the radiation area cannot be used anyway. Transport facilities and communications will break down, as may the roads themselves. All agriculture and industry in the area will be paralyzed and knocked out for decades, and more likely for generations to come. What kind of short term economic benefit or cost savings could justify taking such a risk, however small? To me it´s plain insanity. What about insurance against nuclear accidents? Is anyone willing to cover that risk? That is usually considered a necessary and even mandatory cost. So what could be a cheaper and more secure insurance than just abstaining from building nuclear power plants? And just opt for clean, renewable energy. Even the idea that one can “insure” human lives and happiness and the future of a community or a country in terms of money, already shows the perversity of the underlying value system.
As I write this, there have been diverging media reports that 200.000 (or 300.000) people living within 20 (or 25) kilometers from the burning nuclear plant, had been ordered evacuated. Let´s all pray for the people of Japan, and that those in power all over the world begin to see reason and decide to dismantle all nuclear plants worldwide, before more irreparable damage is done to Humanity and to our beautiful planet.
Take care, dear friends! See you again next week!
Dr. Jens
