Spaceship Earth Has No Escape Capsule.

         April 26 1986, marks the 28th. anniversary of what was probably the world's worst man made disasters, to date, namely Chernobyl, we are still measuring Fukushima. Though that babbling brook of bullshit the mainstream media, has long since dropped it as a subject worth reporting, the disaster lingers on. Neighbouring towns and cities within a 30km exclusion zone were abandoned, and residents have still not been allowed to return. Within 36 hours approximately 50,000 residents were evacuated. Most scientist agree that it will not be safe to inhabit for thousands of years. Radiation from the explosion contaminated soil, water and solid matter, across large swaths of Europe and Western USSR. Deaths from cancers etc. are put in the 100's of thousands and we are still counting.

      Although the disaster was at Chernobyl, the workers lived in a nearby town specially built for them called Pripyat. A once new town with grand buildings, schools and shops, it is now an eerie ghost town hardly recognisable as nature slowly takes over. The town's concrete square is now broken with trees and shrubs pushing up and slowly turning it to rubble. Once fine buildings stand with trees and other vegetation sprouting from balconies, floors and window frames. The surrounding forest is slowly taking back the town. Standing as a symbol of the disaster is the towns new amusement park, with its giant yellow ferris wheel, meant to open for May Day 1986, was used for a couple of hours to amuse the residents on the 27 April, before they were ordered to evacuate.It now stands trees, shrubs and other vegetation, slowly but surely strangling it, as nature wants its territory back.

       Capitalism being what it is, can't miss an opportunity to make a buck, so there are tour companies that will arrange guided tours around this eerie ghost town. Though it is illegal to take items in or out of Pripyat for fear of spreading the radioactive contamination. The town's inhabitants are now wild boar, wolves and stray dogs, of course there will be the usual smaller life, rabbits etc. though I doubt if any of it is worth hunting. A handful of individuals have returned to their contaminated towns and villages and live there without official permission, they are known as “self-settlers”.

         This is a large slice of the planet that we probably can never use again, and with the ongoing saga of Fukushima, spilling into the ocean, it looks like we are about to repeat the disaster on a larger scale, on both land and sea. This is contamination on a permanent scale, a poisoned heritage for our grandchildren, yet the babbling brook of bullshit, spews out information of football managers losing their job, privileged parasites prancing about with their kid, and the latest scandal from some soap. We should remember, Spaceship Earth has no escape capsule.

An extract from a more detailed article from Nautilus Blog:

        Born of human error, continually generating copious heat, the Elephant’s Foot is still melting into the base of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. If it hits ground water, it could trigger another catastrophic explosion or leach radioactive material into the water nearby residents drink. Long after bleeding from the core, this unique piece of waste continues to be a testament to the potential dangers of nuclear power. The Elephant’s Foot will be there for centuries, sitting in the dark basement of a concrete and steel sarcophagus, a symbol of one of humankind’s most powerful tools gone awry.

Read the full article HERE:

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