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April 2010 - Nuclear Power, Boiling Spring

WELCOME TO GREEN FUTURES !
APRIL, 2010

“Well I'm not uptight
Not unattracted
Turn me on tonight
Cause I'm radioactive
Radioactive”

-The Firm


“April hath put a spirit of youth in everything.”

- William Shakespeare

 

O! BUMMER! – Barack owned by BIG ENERGY

In our February newsletter we mentioned Obama melting down …going radioactive.

Obama, the guy that put the kibosh on further development of the nuclear waste burial site at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, now embraces nuclear power generation with a passion.

Worldwide, highly radioactive waste from nuclear power plants is presently stored onsite. No one wants it …or really knows what to do with the waste …except for the Finns.

Although Yucca Mountain has a Presidential reprieve, construction of a highly secret nuclear waste dump, called “Onkalo,” is going on in Finland.

Finland’s “permanent” nuclear waste facility, consisting of tunnels cut out of solid bedrock, is being constructed to contain thousands of tons of radioactive nuclear waste for the next 100,000 years.

Once filled to capacity, the nuclear waste dump’s tunnels are to be sealed for eternity … and “Into Eternity” is the name of a film about the whole scary project, created and directed by filmmaker Michael Madsen.

Madsen’s film explores the folly of burying radioactive waste for an incomprehensible hundred thousand years and expecting it to remain hidden and the site unchanged.

A hundred thousand years ago many of our ancestors we were just beginning to leave the African savannah. The arrogance of Homo sapiens is staggering.

To view the “Into Eternity” trailer - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXif1MThJ6k

To listen to an NPR interview of filmmaker Madsen - http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=126221144

In March, Obama, eerily sounding like Sarah Palin, issued a “drill, baby drill” press release.

Here’s the first paragraph from that release: Washington D.C. --- As part of the Administration’s comprehensive energy strategy President Barack Obama and Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar today announced more details of the Obama Administration’s efforts to strengthen our energy security.  President Obama and Secretary Salazar announced that the Administration will expand oil and gas development and exploration on the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) to enhance our nation’s energy independence while protecting fisheries, tourism, and places off U.S. coasts that are not appropriate for development.

Are George Bush and Dick Cheney back in the White House? What’s going on here?

Rather than change the failed energy policies of the previous administration, Obama is embracing them.

It’s been proven that we can’t “drill” our way out of our dependence on foreign oil. It is past time to move away from fossil fuels.

Seemingly as punishment, Mother Nature has provided Obama …and unfortunately the innocent Gulf Coast environment …a major oil spill. Once again, an industry proclaimed failsafe, state of the art energy facility, has failed catastrophically. The technology does not exist for safe deepwater oil and gas extraction.

If we don’t possess the know-how to plug a leaking oil rig a mile below the surface of the relatively salubrious Gulf of Mexico …how do we control an major oil spill in the Arctic under extremely harsh climactic conditions? Quite simply, it can’t be done!

Closer to home it has become apparent that Obama supports the Hess LNG effort to site a tank containing 4.4 billion cubic feet of natural gas in an urban, residential neighborhood; ruin the fragile ecology of Narragansett Bay for foreign gas; and destroy the quality of life for thousands of coastal residents from Newport, Rhode Island to Taunton, Massachusetts.

An executive order could end this eight year ordeal, but we don’t expect to see Obama issue one.

Three strikes and you’re out! Obama supports radioactive-forever nuclear, environmentally damaging deep-sea oil extraction, “clean” coal, and dependence on foreign gas. Hey, that’s four strikes. What a shame.

 

BOILING SPRING – Headwaters of the East Branch of the Westport River

We recently lead a pleasant walk across the Southeastern Massachusetts Bioreserve to the Boiling Spring.

The heavy rains of the past month had the Boiling Spring really “boiling.”

 

This photo was taken looking directly down into the Boiling Spring. Photo by intrepid trekker Liz.

While at the spring we cleaned up some discarded cans and other litter left by less thoughtful and appreciative visitors.

 

Leaving the hemlock grove, that shelters Boiling Spring, we encountered this large, extravagantly bristled caterpillar. It is the larval stage of the Giant Leopard Moth.

 

 (photo - Asturnut en.Wikipedia)

MAY – A wonderful time to enjoy your outdoor environment

May is spring at its best. May is waiting for you, but only contains 31 days. Don’t squander them. Go exploring or click on our Calendar for more structured things to do.

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