May 3
Our Blue Oceans are soon to be Contaminated
It has been more than 11 years since the tragic Japan’s 9.2 magnitude earthquake in the northeast part of Japan brought the worst nuclear disaster since the Chornobyl — the Fukushima Nuclear Plant accident in March 2011. Japan has been dealing with, and still is, the aftermath of the tragic disaster and the environmental impacts it has made on the region is still making noise in and out of the country. There has been scientific evidence that cancer rates have risen in this region and the local farm produces have many questions in terms of its safety and harmfulness to be consumed. Those who lost their homes and neighborhoods have been told to return by the Japanese Government insisting it is now fully safe and secure. However, people are resisting for many reasons you and I know. It’s an ongoing battle between the Japanese Government and the people, human activist organizations, and environmental agencies and quite believe it will not end in the near future. Radioactive and nuclear waste is a serious problem for both humans, the land, and the sea.
And now we’re learning that the Japanese Government is going to dispose of their nuclear wastes in the Pacific Ocean as early as 2023. This creates a huge buzz around the Far East Region as well as around the globe since the Pacific Ocean is the biggest ocean on the Earth and is a critical source of nature for the entire humanity. Japan’s decision to dump nuclear waste cannot go without resistance from neighboring countries — Korea, China, Taiwan, Southeast Asia Nations, and the USA to the other end of the Pacific Ocean.
Japan has been working vigorously to find a solution to dump their nuclear wastes since they’re running out of storage places to keep them. Being an island nation, Japan lacks the empty lands to simply keep their nuclear wastes. They must find a permanent resolution to keep them off their lands as they cannot continue to stockpile these nuclear wastes. The Japan Government and their scientists insist that what they’re dumping in the ocean is not the nuclear waste and that all radioactive materials are removed, so it’s essentially just water they’re dumping back into the ocean — meaning, it’s safe.
But, do we really trust that?
What if they’re wrong? What if they’re hiding the truth? This can go down biggest disaster to the Earth's environment as we cannot have our source of life be contaminated by the nuclear waste and unable to use/enjoy.
Do we really believe what the Japanese Government is saying here? Are we sure that what they plan on dumping is non-toxic? What if they come out in a few years saying “oh, sorry, we made a mistake in our calculation, it’s actually a bit toxic and we should all stay away from the ocean” Is that it? Is that the end of the great Pacific Ocean as we know it? Elementary school children know the importance of the ocean to humanity and life on earth. Don’t we think we should be more serious and conscious about what we plan on dumping into the ocean? Especially when nuclear, radioactive chemicals, are involved?
Japanese Government is probably facing pressure on these nuclear wastes. It is costly tremendous amount just to keep them away from people and simply let them sit in the wasteland, the land they don’t have.
Many nations, especially those in the Pacific, are hard against this move. They’ve hired a bunch of smart environmental scientists, oenologists, and nuclear engineers to find out what Japan is saying is true and believable. You and I can only trust what these scientists say and what the media is feeding us. Media can greatly influence our beliefs and I hope to find more sounding news in the coming months to know whether I can eat Sushi again. Because I really want to eat Sushi until I die.
