« 1 2 3 4 5View All»

Consider the impact the threat of losing $765.2 billion dollars from the world could have in encouraging the Japanese government to take immediate action on moving those 1535 fuel rods to safe storage.

According to Jeff Jones, “boycotts are one of the very few powerful tools of the 99%. They should be used as often as possible. Industry and government HATE boycotts. Why? Because they work.”

Boycotting Japanese products would show solidarity with the people hurt worst by this disaster so far – the Japanese. The immense suffering caused by the triple meltdowns is staggering. The Japanese people have suffered before when atomic weapons were used against them at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. We’ve attended commemorations of these tragedies as Denise Anne and I are very close to the Japanese and Japanese-American community in Los Angeles even meeting and befriending a genuine hero who has fought for nuclear disarmament for decades based on his first hand experiences in Japan right after the war.

The Japanese people may not be entirely culpable for the nuclear power gamble its government has taken over the last half century. What happens now, however, is entirely up to them which will be daunting at best considering the cultural and economic challenges the Fukushima fiasco has and will cost. Once-rare anti-nuclear demonstrations against firing back up the country’s nuclear reactors have been impressive even if the vast majority of Japanese aren’t moved enough to register their discontent even as their country is being irradiated.

That wasn’t the case May 22 where protesters in Kitakyushu on the southwestern coast of Japan laid down in the road to stop a convoy of 22 trucks bringing rubble to incinerate from the tsunami-destroyed northeast of Japan where Fukushima is located. Within a week, a massive protest erupted against again in Kitakyushu to stop burning hot debris in its incinerator which was not built to be burning radioactive material.

The Japan nuclear industry/government is not only exporting their radioactivity all over Japan and to us in the form of cars, electronics, fish, seaweed and green tea, it is also exporting it in their radioactive air that comes our way. They are exporting it in the radioactive ocean water that they are dumping at the rate of 1000 tons per day. The Japanese government considers food that is 100 bq/kg as “safe to eat.” That level used to be considered “radioactive waste.” But the government took care of that by simply increasing the level that is considered safe. So that’s the level the Japanese government considers safe and that’s the level of radiation they export to the rest of Japan and to the world.

By spreading the tons and tons of radioactive debris around Japan and paying all the municipalities to incinerate it in garbage incinerators not equipped to filter out radioactivity, the Japanese government is committing a crime against humanity against its own people who, by and large, have acquiesced to getting nuked by their own government. By dumping 1000 tons of radioactive water into our ocean every day and insisting that 100bq/kg levels are safe to eat and thereby selling it to the Japanese people and the world.

On the Canadian and American side, the governments continue to import Japanese goods and our governments are not testing anything. So guess what – you can buy radioactive Japanese seaweed in America! This reporter proved it in April 2012. We tested Nori seaweed that I bought at a west Los Angeles store and found it to be 94.7% higher in radioactivity than the pre-Fukushima sample I also had tested.

It would be a powerful message if the Japanese people and all North Americans told the Japanese government that we are no longer willing to “import” their radioactive fallout. People don’t want to breathe it. People don’t want to eat it. People don’t want to swim in it. People don’t want it to fall down on us when it rains. People don’t want to “import” their Second Fukushima incinerated ash.

And we certainly don’t want to “import” the fallout from 3,488,000 tons of nuclear fuel that would destroy Japan and contaminate North America if Reactor 4 collapses.

People have the power to say – enough – if you keep contaminating Japan and exporting your radioactivity, we will not export our money to you.

Once the Japanese government starts caring about the health of its own people and the health of everyone on the planet, we can start being concerned about their economy.

But then again, people do not want to cause even greater harm to the Japanese people who have already suffered so much that we can’t even imagine. The situation is too critical. The idea has to come directly from individuals and go directly to the government of Japan.

We, the people, could write directly to the Japanese government and promise that if it doesn’t take immediate action to remove the fuel rods from Unit 4, we promise to stop buying from the largest corporations in Japan. And there is only time to go to the person who has the ultimate power – Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel showed the world the power of a head of state. Before Fukushima, her government was planning to extend the life of their nuclear power plants by 12 years. After Merkel saw the catastrophe of Fukushima unfold, she took the oldest 8 reactors immediately offline and made plans to shut down 6 reactors by 2021 and the three newest reactors by 2022. The world can take an example from Germany.

Prime Minister Noda has the same type of power. He alone has the power to order an immediate escalation of the work to remove the fuel rods at Reactor 4.

A DIFFERENT KIND OF WAR

Fukushima is threatening all of Japan and the rest world with the ultimate nuclear contamination of the air, land, food and water. People could still promise Japan that they will not send their money to Japanese corporations if the problem of Unit 4 is not dealt with. In turn, the Japanese corporations must get together and insist that their government work to make reactor 4 safe so that the world will be secure and willing to trade with Japan.

So – is it time to boycott Japanese products from automobiles, sushi, entertainment, high-tech gadgets and any and everything that comes out of Japanese and Japanese-American stores selling products from the Land of the Rising Radiation?

Nearly 70 years after World War II, on March 11, 2011, it seems a new kind of war has been declared on the northern half of the planet with the enemy being nuclear reactors and the hubris of the governments that allowed them in the first place: Japan and the United States.

This war was heralded by six minutes of hellish shaking, the seemingly endless march of merciless waves from the tsunami and the meltdowns of three old reactors built foolishly next to the ocean which then exploded when shaken and smashed apart by by what Japanese nuclear engineers ignored.

But unlike World War II, the belligerents of this world war, the Japanese, American and Canadian governments, among others, are cowards and fools obscenely and blithely blowing off the blatant injury to the planet and its inhabitants caused by this unprecedented series of nuclear disasters at Fukushima-Daiichi.

Aided in this crime against humanity and the environment by much of mainstream media, North Americans, including our friends in Mexico, are left with no warning, no defenses, and no guidance.

We are on our own. But we are not helpless. We can face the perpetrators, foreign and domestic, and tell them that we will not stand for this destruction of the environment and possibly humanity. Common sense, sound science and the will to live free leaving a better planet for future generations cannot be trumped by the forces of greed, repression, ignorance and fear.

Those who fought in World War II are oft referred to as “the greatest generation.” If we do nothing to stop this imminent nuclear catastrophe, we can damn well bet our moniker will be “the most hated generation.” And rightfully so.

But it is not too late to act. A new nuclear-free renaissance is possible through determination and fortitude that can help humanity find its way towards a future free from the unforgivable fire.

« 1 2 3 4 5View All»

22 Comments

  1. After reading most of the news here especially the unforgettable fire, I have come to an absolute final conclusion to save Japan and the rest of us the planet world, just as a lay person who wants life not death , is to have Japan declare Fukushima a national sacrifice zone after evacuating all population. Once the whole plant sinks under the ground or partly in the ocean which is already contaminated anyway beyond repair, then start pouring from the air tons and tons of Boron and cement etc. day and night until the crater is completely filled. Just maybe we can save our breathing air this way and people simply don’t eat any more seafood. Any better solution and I urgently want to know! Thanks.

  2. As a species, we seem to be the only one foolish enough to invent things beyond our abilities to control them….This disaster, and the subsequent denial of the truth by all media is amazing. If this isn’t fixed, a good part of the planet will be uninhabitable. Our food chain has already been destroyed by the radiation of fish, soil, crops and air.
    I am a historian, and have often wondered if illness, disease, war, plague, etc. is what destroyed the ancient civilizations causing them to vanish overnight. Perhaps it is this same insane denial of the truth (whatever it might have been) that caused it.
    We seem to be able to progress only so far before our progress destroys us. I think our demise started with the splitting of the atom. It was a technology that should never have been revealed. If we could have stopped somewhere before WW I in development, we might have been able to go on for centuries. From 1800-1920 We went from candlelight to electric lighting, horse and buggy to autos and aeroplanes. We developed the telephone, telegraph, railroad….so many things that will be remembered as as golden era. Now, we face disaster, and our leaders deny it as if by pretending it doesn’t exist, it won’t hurt us.
    We may well be experiencing our own extinction.
    Thanks for a great article not seen elsewhere.
    Sincerely,
    Marilyn Gjerdrum

  3. @nateobie: We included your nitwiticism as another glaring example of the anonymous ‘experts’ that like to goo up the works by insulting folks here. We don’t explain how “fission works” rather use the word twice in this long piece to refer to the unfortunate process of uncontrolled radioactive goo going critical once again achieving fission outside the (semi) controlled space of an intact and functioning reactor. Professor nateobie here ought to stick to looking at the neat photos.

  4. @nateoble – Could you please educate all of us “uneducated” on how fission really works? If you know something we don’t it would be great to know. I, for one, would love to know that we really don’t have a problem here. Then I could go back to my old easy life and stop worrying.

  5. p.s. great pics tho.

  6. Wow…This author is seriously uneducated on how fission actually works. Go back to school buddy. Stop freaking people out because you are ignorant. All you readers, try getting a second opinion before you believe any one man’s claims. Wow…you must be one of those believers in dihydrogen monoxide.

  7. We will all be dead men walking if reactor #4 becomes the cause of a world-wide nuclear catastrophe. And, if it were not for your amazing articles, Michael, it really would be almost a totally dead silence….with emphasis on “dead”.
    Why are not ALL of the major newspapers putting articles like this on their front page, and in the headlines? This is surely denial on steroids!
    I thank you again and again, Michael, for your knowledge, your writing and for having the strength and bravery to keep at it, no matter what. If any lives get saved here, it will be thanks to you!

  8. Randall Hanstead

    IRRESPONSIBLE, TREASON TO HUMANITY, INCOMPETENCY,TOTAL NEGLECT. THE WORLD IS IN DIRE STRAIT.EVEN YOU THAT PUT THE HEALTH OFF THE PEOPLE OF JAPAN CANNOT ESCAPE THIS DISASTER THAT IS ABOUT TO HAPPEN. GET WITH IT PICK IT UP GOVERNMENTS OF THE WORLD BEFORE ITS TO LATE.

  9. cant they just nuke the thang?

  10. Exactly! Excellent article.

    “We are on our own. But we are not helpless…”
    – Michael Collins

    “I want to live free, free of contaminated air, water and food.” – Chase

    Why and how, did this basic right of existence get corrupted, stolen and forever changed and possibly destroyed?

    Does it matter now?
    Do the masses really care?
    Do most people really understand?

    I cannot answer these questions directly, because none of this makes any real sense to me. Corporations and militaristic governments playing God I guess.

    from a comment elsewhere:
    “The reactor that is my soul has reached criticality.”
    – user johnnyo enenews

  11. Dina Dixon Davis

    “Judging by the pollution content of the atmosphere, I believe we have arrived at the late twentieth century.”
    –Spock in ‘The Voyage Home’

    Sub in ‘radioisotope pollution’ for ‘pollution’ and ‘early twenty-first century’ for ‘late twentieth century’, and I think he’ll have it about right.

  12. Those with huge IQ’s in the industry, or remotely tied with the industry knows these things, yet nothing is done to prevent this outcome? Have we overstepped technology? The powers of magical thinking have brought us to this point. It says a lot about how our psyche’s choose to perceive ultimate destruction. If we could only step out collectively of our current illusion and be adult enough to face and tend to reality. Has television corrupted our minds to this extent? Or is it the brains attempt to calm our unsteady nerves?

  13. Michael in Japan

    The 60 ton lid placed on #4 SRP is protecting it from the structure to be built that will facilitate the eventual removal of the rods for dry cask storage. This cover will ensure any construction debris that could fall, will not hurt the remaining condition of the rods.

  14. Funny how unit 4 exploded when it was out of service for refueling – you even have a picture of its containment lid sittting in its holder. So do tell how did the reactor explode? Also how come no mention of reactor 3 the real story it did explode and it was full of plutonium mox fuel? You know the most toxic substance known to man.

  15. The world leaders are sociopaths! They always end up in control inevitably causing death, misery and suffering. We sheeple just follow along like the blind fools that we all really are.

    Greed and stupidity do not make answers for why we are being continually poisoned and tortured in just so many ways. Look all around you and ask why are we continually be subjected to out and out negative scenarios in every way shape and form as we go along here?

    The time is now to wake up people! Wake up from the dream they are creating for you, or shall i say nightmare! This is our only chance to change what awaits or future. I will assure you that it will not be pleasant unless we wake up now!!

  16. The people of Japan are “Dead Men Walking” thanks to TEPCO and Government politics….Lies Lies Lies… and soon they might take down the whole world.

  17. Here’s my article that analyzes the likelihood of another big quake, the topic of the last section of your dynamite article:

    Humanity at the Height of Folly
    Nuclear Power and Earthquake Zones
    http://dissidentvoice.org/2012/05/humanity-at-the-height-of-folly/

  18. Michael, Great article. I had not kept up on the lid issue. That is very freaking weird to be sure. Arnie Gunderson keeps telling them to get the fuel rods out of there as soon as possible, but since their logic is so opaque at best we cannot know what Tepco thinks and at worst your speculation may be correct: THESE PEOPLE ARE COMPLETELY BONKERS.
    I live in Japan and have written a number of articles about this (see below). Most people here are in complete ingnorance/denial of the seriousness of it all. A professor I know even said an article by Mr. Muramatsu, the diplomat who has done so much to expose the Unit 4 crisis, as “tabloid journalism”! And I am afraid this is typical of the silly pride/stupidity of people in general. Thanks for your great work Michael, we love you, Concrete man

    Tokyo Electric Power
    Company’s Radioactive Lies
    The Arsonist Investigating The Fire
    http://www.rense.com/general95/tokyoars.html

  19. 6~20~5993

    We are fighting the radiation by taking Iodine drops in water, Boron, Green Tea Extract, VitC, D3, Magnesium, and other liquids, capsules. Replaced cows milk with Almond milk because Almonds help kill cancer. Please keep informed!
    We are also sealed in the Names of the Father and Son (Yahweh and Yahshua), Revelation 14:1. Now we know WHY!
    Yahshua returns SOON!

  20. Please, people, make a positive difference in this worst tragedy ever…

  21. Where is Superman when you really need him ????

  22. Me thinks the nationwide burning of rad debris is to purposely raise the overall background in the country, the same old modus operandi of the Department of Energy and Nuclear Regulatory Commission witnessed here stateside. After all, this Fukushima is an American-esque Chernobyl: created, engineered, and continually educated by American professors — whether we yanks like it or not. Higher background measurements equals less money spent on cleaning up radionuclide contamination as we have learned from your marvelous coverage of the Rocketdyne mess. Higher background also lulls one into a sense of complacency in mistakingly believing food tested on an Inspector device near background is safe to consume; the news is in, IT IS MOST DEFINITELY N-O-T!

    ‘GENERAL ELECTRIC’ does not have any Japanese in the name. What is going on in Japan today was gleaned from their allies, the Americans — plain and simple. Investigate the authoring of the Japanese Constitution, see for yourself just how postwar Japan came to be…

    Next they will declare National Sacrifice Zones in Japan, just like guess where? The good ol’ USA. Gee, thanks so much DOE!

    If you are a responsible male, I implore you: get a genetic test before going about creating any new life (ie., baby making). Cesium-137 concentrates in the testes. FYI, UCLA has the capability to run this test. Write Planned Parenthood and teach them the problem please, then maybe free testing for couples will become the norm.

    http://www.massey.ac.nz/massey/about-massey/news/article.cfm?mnarticle_uuid=7B5D3A49-96BF-57FE-A849-E369E6196A27

    Boycotting General Electric though? Yes, by all means. Let’s start today. Ostracizing Jeffrey Immelt? The President already has, FWIW. Nailing idiots who pursue nuclear anything? As long as we start with the fat cats with deep pockets first (USA, France, Russia, China, UK, Israel, India, Pakistan, Koreas, and et al.)

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *