Making Sense of the Japan Crisis
I have a passport, but haven’t traveled further than the Bahamas. Meanwhile my best friend has visited nearly every country, continent and corner of the world. To me Japan was this exotic country on the other side of the globe. I was intrigued by it, envious of its modern feel and technological edge and fascinated by its culture. But it’s the wake of this nuclear disaster that has me glued to the news and headlines pouring in from this booming metropolitan today.
And I have to admit, it’s awfully confusing trying to make sense of the true impact of the March 11th event. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that things are in a very fragile state in Japan—between the physical damage, the displaced residents and the long term implications of nuclear exposure and dwindling water/food supply. But how in the world are you supposed to understand what the Japan crisis means as a resident of a country continents away?
You read headlines about contaminated water somewhere between 5 to 7 million times the legal limit floating around the floor of the same nuclear plant where the initial collapse occurred. You’re bombarded with the latest news regarding a plan to dump low-level radioactive water into the pacific ocean—some 11,500 tons (that’s over 3 million gallons).
So why are they dumping the radioactive water into the Pacific? Seems they need to make space for the ever increasing amount of high-level radioactive wastes. You know the same dangerous wastes (at lethally radioactive levels) that have been leaking since the tsunami. Officials have tried to manage damage control (and understandable anxiety over this ocean dump) with claims that the radioactive isotopes will quickly dissipate and therefore cause for alarm is actually minimal. However, that seems to be only one opinion. There are other well respected officials that fear that the more harmful radioactive isotope cesium-137 has a much longer lifespan—which not only spells immediate danger for the sea life in the affected area, but may also mean concern for sea life pulled by fisherman from the same area months, perhaps years from now.
This move has forced countries like India to institute a 3-4 month ban of food articles (namely fruits and vegetables) imported from Japan. India is the first country to institute this blanket ban, but others may follow suit in the near future.
I won’t pretend to know where the crisis will go from here, but it would seem it’s bound to get worse before it gets better. And while I’m no alarmist, I strongly urge you to take measures to protect the health and well being of yourself and your family today.
This disaster has far greater implications than Chernobyl, and with nothing like it to compare to, it just makes sense to take preventative measures. I don’t care how many stories I read or how many officials suggest that the radioactive levels trickling in to our borders, shorelines and coastlines from Japan are below levels to be of concern, THERE SHOULD BE CONCERN! And it’s not just the levels (which continue to fluctuate which is why they are being monitored), it’s the accumulation and compounded exposure to the radiation that are the real concern.
The world can wait and see, experts can pontificate, but I’ll be taking my activated zeolite morning, noon and night to give me peace of mind.