Monday Mar 14, 2011
The Cold Path
Flower in the Ashes
Today, I heard on the radio that the nuclear power plant meltdowns in Japan were ‘not as serious’ as Three Mile Island or Chernobyl.
Not as serious is misdirection. While this may be factual, the reality is that such ‘accidents’ poison the planet. And, after many decades, there is still no safe way to dispose of all the radioactive waste produced by nuclear energy plants. Do you want to live near one?
Of course, we are greedy for energy, and it must come from somewhere. Years ago, in the 1960’s, there were warnings about committing to the nuclear energy cold path. No matter how well built and designed, nuclear energy plants are fodder for disaster in Mother Nature’s volatile kitchen.
I am no luddite. There are organic means to humanity’s need for energy. Of course, politics, vested interests, and apathy keep us from such solutions. We have been riding the unsustainable bus, which is now speeding toward the cliffs of regret.
As artists, we see our art and our world as it is—without illusion or prejudice. With all the science at our disposal, humankind can’t create a single flower—like the one pictured, growing out of the ashes of our ignorance.
Your insightful writing is prose, yet the feelings you express are poetry.
Namaste
