The Bee-Log

Two if by sea…Three if by food…

Nuclear radiation, aka nukes, is coming our way. In fact it has already been detected in places far from Japan. Last Friday it was reported that “miniscule amounts” of radioactive elements so small that they “pose no health concern” were found in samples taken in San Francisco, Seattle and Anaheim.

On Wednesday, March 25, 2011, tiny traces of nuclear fallout reached Iceland and were expected to reach Europe shortly. Both French and German authorities were expecting miniscule amounts of radioactive fallout some time on Wednesday. Austrian officials said weather conditions could bring more radioactive material inland rather than out into the Pacific. Looks like nuclear containment is easier said than done.

The pollution is in the air and on the move both near and far depending on the wind currents and other weather factors. The fallout knows no geographic or political boundaries and it never goes away. Once the nukes are in the air they may eventually find their tiny destructive way back to Mother Earth. What goes up must come down. Nuclear pollution may fall into the oceans, rivers, streams and lakes; spreading contamination to our fish, seafood, seaweeds, hatcheries and reefs.  Nukes may settle on our cities, towns, and rural communities in the countryside and on farms. Fallout may settle on our food.

People living close to the Fukushima disaster area may have many health and other concerns to deal with. Our hearts and prayers go out to the Japanese people who are most impacted in dealing with this unprecedented human tragedy.

Because only small amounts of radioactive mater have been released the immediate danger is not great. But on the other hand, these small releases have in fact increased the total amount of global radiation we will all be living with. Fukushima has increased the global background radiation levels forever. The levels can only go up from here. This is now the new global radiation baseline. The new starting point. Our children, grandchildren and all of the world’s flora and fauna will inherit the results of our nuclear folly.

Different geographical regions will be exposed to different radiation levels. In some areas radiation readings will be higher than other areas. While there will be places experiencing virtually no impact at all. We will all be at the mercy of Lady Luck.

Besides geographical regions we also have a multitude of other factors, which influence the specific levels of radiation in any given area. It will be impossible to check every place for answers to questions like, when the radioactive plume was over your location did it rain? Snow? Dew? What was the barometric pressure at the time? Was the plume over a city? Over crops? Did it settle on beehives? Pollinating bees? Children out in the schoolyard playing? And on and on.

So when you hear someone say the radioactive fallout from the Fukushima catastrophe will not have much impact, we must in return ask; what are the long-term health and environmental consequences of Fukushima? The weakness with our question is we will not see many negative health and environmental issues surface for 10, 20 or more years. Even then, at the rate humanity is going, we will not have enough brains to link the increased rates of cancer and other diseases to this increase of background radiation.

The more I think about the title of this post it becomes more and more obvious the title is totally inaccurate. The Nukes are Coming…The Nukes are Coming…should read:

The Nukes Are Here…The Nukes Are Here…

This Monday, March 28, 2011 will be the 32^nd anniversary of the Three Mile Island Disaster.

Please read my blog post from two years ago, on the 30^th anniversary of Three Mile Island

COMING…Cousin Richie’s Nuke Protection Medicine Chest