Fukushima - are we all going to die?

[ApatheticNoMore]

Ok that's ok as an aside point or humor (which was likely rosa rugosas point), but really to focus on the wording of the thread title and not the actual content posted, to get lost in a single sentence and to not be able read the whole for comprehension and the point being made. Maybe it's too mach twittering these days or something .... Maybe it's the radiation Even I noticed that someone could make a quip on the title after I posed it, so maybe the thread title was unwise, but whatever.

Now if people wanted to argue the actual risk, that's what I'm welcoming here and thanks to those who have engaged on such. Argue with me the risk those who raise the alarm on this raise is overblown. Or confirm it's scary as heck, and we could all get irradiated come November and see a massive carnage around us of cancer deaths even in the young either immediately or in a few years (that was the outcome of Hiroshima, although it was mostly localized), and that Fukushima is major threat that if things go wrong, could change the entire course of human history (perhaps by wiping out much of the Northern hemisphere as far as livability - so we can't even live in it anymore for the most part). Oh and "I don't know" is also a good answer. "I don't know" is usually alright with me, as the level of complexity of what we have to evaluate sometimes and all we don't know is often huge.

Because yes one could worry about every single possible threat out there, what if I get hit by lightening, what if, what? It might kill me! But we kind of already know both the odds and the effect of being hit by lightening and they aren't changing much. But the whole point of raising the topic was because the risk may be much more probable and much more deadly to many many more people than that and we DON'T know as well how to contextualize it.

If you actually fully visualize dying in a car crash every time you step in your car, if you actually spend every day on the verge of your mortality thinking: today I may die and it's not just an *intellectual* knowledge but it's completely emotionally real to you, ok you've reached an interesting state, either you're in the hospice passing your last hours right now (then why are you wasting them here and in a politics thread? ), or you've reached a highly evolved psychology long before your death date that few inhabit (enlightenment?), or else it's PTSD. I'm really not sure which. But most people live with a safety that is mostly false, thinking today will be much like yesterday, and tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow. There's a book called "The Denial of Death" that pretty much sums it up (he actually doesn't think people can deal with death directly without a spiritual and uncertain leap of faith - otherwise it's all denial or immortality projects).

But if someone wants to start a meditation on death as such, it should probably be a separate thread. Now Fukushima: how dangerous is it? I mean if the entire northern hemisphere even becomes "only" as poisoned with radiation as say parts of Iraq are with DU, that would be a BIG DEAL right? Major news right?

[bae]

ANM - I believe the "news" article you offered up as your data was typical of the media - lacking context and breathlessly misinforming readers to rile them up, sell newspapers/web hits, or whatnot.

I used to work in the field of radiation physics. I pull regular soil and water samples here for testing at a 3rd party lab, as is required for one of my enterprises. I maintain my own calibrated test equipment here at home as well. I am not worried about the Fukushima event, here on the Pacific island I live on, which is right in the path of some of the problem.

[sweetana3]

I think the issue for me is "is there anything that I can do about it right now with my level of knowledge"? Answer: No.

I am not going to live my life worrying about this since I believe the Japanese will do whatever they can (and I don't think we would do it any better) to try and fix it as best they can.

[rosarugosa]

Hey ANM: I apologize if I gave offense. It's true that I couldn't resist the quip at the thread title, but I would also echo what Sweetana3 says above. I tend not to worry much about the things I can't do anything about. I always sweat the small stuff!

[Tammy]

From Grist
http://grist.org/news/typhoon-and-ea...ign=socialflow

[ToomuchStuff]

So you really want a discussion, but the article in no longer linked?

On another board I visit, is a member who moved back to the states, this year, after living in Japan, for decades. His take was when it happened, due to Japanese culture, they couldn't publically say how bad it was as it isn't polite (the best way I can remember his description). Contrast that to our news, for instance "people are dying every day from doing bath salts, tune in on Thursday to see how you can stop this" (its Monday, so the new is going to let people die for a couple more days, uninformed). Ours, scare tactics.
So what can you do about it? Do you have an old bomb shelter, your going to live in?

To the death thing, yes, that is best in another thread. Suffice to say, once accepted, and not feared, you live differently.

[ApatheticNoMore]

So you really want a discussion, but the article in no longer linked?

all the links posted work, though I initially assumed most had probably heard lots of stuff about Fukushima and could just jump right in

On another board I visit[qo, is a member who moved back to the states, this year, after living in Japan, for decades. His take was when it happened, due to Japanese culture, they couldn't publically say how bad it was as it isn't polite (the best way I can remember his description). Contrast that to our news, for instance "people are dying every day from doing bath salts, tune in on Thursday to see how you can stop this" (its Monday, so the new is going to let people die for a couple more days, uninformed). Ours, scare tactics.

that may very well be about Japanese culture. I'm pretty skeptical that our culture (and politics, and economics, etc.) would be setup to handle a crisis like that well either (though the particular management of any given nuclear plant may not be as incompetent as Tepco's). I find the degree to which our culture probably isn't kinda troubling.

So what can you do about it? Do you have an old bomb shelter, your going to live in?

What we (the world community) should do? Take the handling of Fukushima off Tepco who has been nothing but incompetent. What I could do? Leave the west coast at least, leave the country, take off for awhile and go live in south america or something where the radiation exposure is likely to be less. A risky move in terms of employment but when you realize you start putting your job (that I don't even like) above survival itself, that's interesting isn't it? It could be said to be conventional but it can't be said to be rational now can it? (that is in the event of a real threat).

To the death thing, yes, that is best in another thread. Suffice to say, once accepted, and not feared, you live differently.

Not sure that's possible. Maybe I accept the psychologists critique, that everyone is plenty prone to self-delusion at all the times, one probably scarcely knows oneself even if one tries, if I think I'm better at something psychologically than the mass of humanity, there's a good chance I'm not (better at a particular skill now that I may very well be! But I'm talking purely psychology). So one may say they have no fear of death and perhaps feel differently when faced directly with it (a least if it comes "prematurely", the really old do seem to in many cases to some degree let go of life). But I just didn't want the thread to turn into a discussion of my psychology and what my fears and weakness may be, because that form of psychological warfare has been used before to try to win political threads (though not by you, but certain trollish types) and it's really not that interesting compared to actual topic discussion.

[Dhiana]

Many, many Japanese here no longer believe anything the gov't and TEPCO have to say about Fukushima Daiichi.
Every single nuclear power plant in this country is shut down because the Japanese people have requested it.

As far as cleaning up the mess at Fukushima there really aren't that many people in the world qualified to do it. Sure the gov't can take that responsibility away from TEPCO but who will they hire to do the clean up?

Living here in Tokyo I have a lot more to worry about, not just a release of more radiation come November but the spread of it into my daily life...where are my fruits & vegets grown that I buy at the grocers, where is the seafood from? Do I really think they are properly labeled if they are from Fukushima? No, and neither do most Japanese.

Ultimately there really isn't anything I can do about this danger in my life. It is a known, whereas I think of all the unknowns such as what was happening to the people in the Erin Brokovich movie and where is there a safe place on this planet? No where really.

These kinds of things are reminders to me to live my life to the fullest possible everyday. Living my life as big and as positive as possible I don't have time to worry about things I cannot change.

Fukushima Daiichi, so very appropriately named considering Dai means big or large, and ichi means one. Yes, Fukushima does have a Big One on their hands, one big mess

[Blackdog Lin]

Living here in Tokyo I have a lot more to worry about, not just a release of more radiation come November but the spread of it into my daily life...where are my fruits & vegets grown that I buy at the grocers, where is the seafood from? Do I really think they are properly labeled if they are from Fukushima? No, and neither do most Japanese.

Ultimately there really isn't anything I can do about this danger in my life. It is a known, whereas I think of all the unknowns such as what was happening to the people in the Erin Brokovich movie and where is there a safe place on this planet? No where really.

Dhiana - thanks for articulating what I've come to think. There is no safe practice, no safe place. We can only do what we can do, with what we have and where we are. I no longer microwave any plastics or use dryer sheets and I stay committed to energy-saving.....but I really don't know what multi-national company might be doing to my water supply or the air quality around me or the flour/sugar/canola oil I buy at the store every week.

[Bartleby]

Fukushima Daiichi, so very appropriately named considering Dai means big or large,

Actually it's a different kanji. Look it up.