The 2011 Japanese Earthquake, and Some Friendly, Neighborhood Advice...

I'm sure by now news of Japan's recent major earthquake has long gone under the radar, thanks to the conflict going over in Libya, as well as Washington's so-called "budget disputes". To be frank, I would've written something earlier about my reaction to the earthquake, but last month was absolute bedlam, in terms of getting the time to sit down and compose something lucid. It's easy for me to write reviews (hence the glut I've bestowed upon you all, lately), but posts like these take me a good 30-45 minutes or more, to put together. Now, my life's schedule has slowed down considerably; I'm still waiting to hear back from one more of my law schools that I applied to, but things are finally starting to come together. Anyway...

As many of you are well aware of, Japan just recently had a catastrophic earthquake. Moreso catastrophic because of the damage brought onto several of the coastal nuclear reactors, and the radiation breaching into the water supply during the aftermath. As it so happens, my next-door neighbor is Professor Frank von Hippel of Princeton University. Von Hippel is a nuclear physicist who worked in the Clinton Administration as Assistant Director for National Security in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. And on a far less-important, but sentimental note; I've personally known him since I was at least four years old. Back on March 15th, he appeared on NBC Nightly News to discuss the nuclear crisis. The following link provides the video from said interview:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42093747/ns/nightly_news/?fb_ref=story_header&fb_source=profile_oneline

Sound advice, but what concerns me even more strongly is how much of a Pandora's Box the media has made nuclear power out to be. And I ask myself: Is the mainstream media, for all it's sensationalism, correct on this one, for once? How prepared are we to grapple with the consequences of a nuclear meltdown, when many of these plutonium powder kegs threaten the existance of adjacent human settlements; built to accomodate the plant employees, or otherwise? I look at the response the Japanese government took towards remedying the initial catastrophic situation of the damaged plants with disturbance. Dumping water onto the exposed components that were the main threat of a meltdown may have been the only option, but it may have also been partially responsible for the contamination of Japan's water supply with significant levels of radiation, due to the runoff slipping into the country's groundwater. Needless to say, who knows whether or not the government made the right choice?

I still don't know a lot about the disaster response perogatives or how extensive the radiation levels have reached in the affected areas of Japan, but I do hope this event serves as cautionary evidence that proposals towards alternative energy research should be taken more seriously. The sooner societies can adopt safer power sources, the less likely we as a global community may face domestic, and even environmental ruin from such unpredictable energy implementations like nuclear power. I know my views may seem quixotic to some, but I would hope that others out there are taking the initiative to figure out some sort of solution to challenging problems, like these.

Peace,
- Jon