Japan, Radiation, Cars and You! pt 2

This follow up article was not planned, unfortunately though it is needed. In no way is this article meant to harm the people of Japan. I view them as friends in a conveyance called, Earth, on a mutual journey and we should do our best to get along and help each other.

The problems are very dynamic in Japan and are getting worse everyday, not better.  The information that is needed to protect ourselves is not forthcoming from any government. We can only monitor what governments do, not what they tell us, and make decisions as to what the real information is.

Since the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, radiation has been leaking from the TEPCO (Tokyo Electric Power Company) Fukushima plant damaged cooling systems at all six (6) of the plant's reactors. TEPCO has found even more water leaks at the Fukushima plants, that they were not even aware of! Elevated radiation levels have been detected in the soil, sea water, fish and agricultural products for kilometers around the plant.

TEPCO says that the total amount of radiation released could actually surpass the amounts from Chernobyl (which is still continuing today). TEPCO stated it aims to greatly limit radiation leaks in three to six months, and later plans to cover the reactor building. At Chernobyl they did this, it cost many lives to build the containment structure and today Chernobyl needs another containment structure to cover the first structure, but there is no money for it!

Japan raised the radiation contamination level to the highest, 7. The Japanese government through legislation has taken the initiative of shutting down Chubu Electric's Hamaoka plant to build a large seawall and improve other safety structures. The Hamaoka facility lies along a fault line. 

TEPCO needs the government of Japan to help pay for the damage they caused, so they are basically bankrupt. Japan has a debt that is about twice what their Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is, so where will Japan raise the money needed to rebuild? Maybe Japan will legislate some rebuilding tax that will tap the cash reserves held by listed firms in Japan, which hit a record high in the business year through March.

China plans to conduct a survey near the Okinotori islands on the impact on ocean waters following the release of contaminated water from the damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan. When countries close to Japan through their actions show their concern for the spreading of radiation, can we afford to be any less vigilant?

According to the Japanese Auto Manufacturers Association (JAMA) the auto manufacturers “tested” cars in shipments and found that the radiation on them can we washed away! They only discussed the exterior of the cars, not the interior or components which according to their statements none of which was ever tested. Yes, the exterior can be washed. But where does it go when you wash it away? It goes into the sewers and drainages that end up returning the water with the radiation to our fresh water supplies. So now we contaminate other natural resources and all of us get to drink the radiation as well.

The United Nations just released a study showing humanity is pushing the limits of our planet to provide natural resources.  Some of those natural resources such as water, food, energy, metals are finite and any damage we do to one impacts another. "Our report calls for an urgent rethink of the links between resource use and economic prosperity," stated report co-author Fischer-Kowalski (courtesy IPS News).

The government of Japan has decided to export their radiation to the world just like the US Federal Reserve Bank has exported the US debt to the world. We can no longer just blindly trust that any product is safe. So now to protect ourselves from radiation contaminated products, every family member needs to carry their own NukAlert or similar device everywhere they go since the contamination is making its way into every natural resource of our planet.

We the people that inhabit this planet need to find a better solution to our individual country’s problems and solve them at our respective borders, rather than exporting them to the rest of the world. We need to force our governments to be honorable and tell us the truth, even when it hurts. If that means that we decouple economic prosperity from our use, destruction, and contamination of our planets natural resources, so that our children and grandchildren can have a chance at enjoying a fruitful existence then I am all for that idea. Let’s all get together on the same page and deal with these global problems from truth and knowledge.