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Japan's Chaos is a Wake-up Call

Japan's Chaos is a Wake-up Call

Read an interesting piece of writing today by Alice Slater that I wanted to share.
It´s a piece I agree with, expressing worries I´ve had too in the wake of the triple-whammy disaster that hit Japan earlier this month. They were hit not only by a huge earthquake and the following tsunami, they also suffered a nuclear disaster in the aftermath of the earthquake.
The article starts with the following paragraph:
Sometimes chaos comes along as a wake-up call to humanity. Japan's double-whammy earthquake-tsunami is overwhelmingly tragic. Being at the mercy of the total chaotic effect of the elements--able to be wiped out by a wave of water from the sea--is an insult to the arrogance of modern humanity that thinks it can insulate and protect itself with technological know-how from the calamities visited upon our earth by Mother Nature.
Mother Nature and her calamities are things we can´t do anything against. We can build our buildings to earthquake-proof standards and build huge sea walls to protect against tsunamis. Countries such as Japan and New Zealand protect against earthquakes in this way. Japan and The Netherlands, for instance, have built fortifications against the water. However these are only precautionary measures, to protect us against forces beyond our control, forces we can´t change or do anything about.
A force not beyond our control is to do with the third disaster that hit Japan - the nuclear disaster. This is one thing we can protect ourselves against. Having lived in New Zealand for many years, a country very proud of its no-nuclear policy, helped form my opinions about nuclear energy. Growing up in a Europe that remembers Chernobyl, it´s helped too.

While I understand the need for people to have enough energy to run their societies, I do not understand why we use potentially dangerous energy sources such as nuclear power. We live in a world that contains everything we need to survive, from air to breathe and water to drink to food to eat and sunshine to keep us healthy. And that one word - everything - it also includes the wind, the water and the sun, all amazing energy sources that cost absolutely nothing, won´t run out and won´t cause disasters that can harm millions of people the way a nuclear disaster could.
Wake up, world, to working with Mother Nature instead of poisoning our planet!

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