Cassi Creek: since
the earthquake and reactor disaster at Fukushima, there has been a steady
stream of agencies, groups, and organizations predicting that the radiation
release taking place on the Japanese coast will destroy all life on earth. It is a true disaster. However, going grocery shopping with a Geiger
counter is not yet indicated.
During the
Cold War there was widespread open air and underground nuclear weapons testing
taking place with seemingly no regard for the populations that lived down wind
of the fall out patterns created by the prevailing winds. The airborne particles of cobalt, cesium, and
other metals that competed with calcium for uptake by plants made cow’s milk a
rather unhealthy component of meals.
About the
time it became politically incorrect to detonate nuclear warheads in the open
atmosphere, Bonnie Dobson penned a plaintive little song about the risk of fall
out on humankind. “Walk me out in the
morning dew” had substance but far less impact than it should have had.
Along came
The Grateful Dead, who took Dobson’s song and ran it through the Garcia-Lesh
treatment, making it a thunderous anthem.
I’ve often
seen on-line discussions in which younger Dead Heads wanted to know what the
song was about. For Boomers,
particularly we older Boomers, it’s always been all too clear. We grew up with “Duck and Cover” Conelrad, fallout
shelters in municipal office buildings, and the images of Hiroshima, Nagasaki,
and Bikini Atoll. We recall the days
when SAC bombers loaded with nuclear bombs flew around the clock on airborne
alert.
The Gen-X and
Millenials have never experienced that dark dance with invisible death. Fukushima is their first real exposure to the
genie that lurks in the blue glow of a reactor core. They have a right to be worried. Just how worried they should be remains to be
seen.
The link
below is an impressive and frightening piece of discovery and art. I was fairly well informed about nuclear
weaponry. I lived much of my life within
30 minutes of our nuclear missiles. However,
while I knew that tests were still taking place here and in other nations, I
had no idea that we had exploded so many of these devices. Watch the whole piece of work. Dr. Strangelove is waiting.
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