Enslaved by the Energy that Destroys Us

Both coal and nuclear energy are extraordinarily DIRTY, CONTAMINATING energy sources.

Both produce radiation that destroys life. Both cause birth defects and cancer.

Yet, we are enslaved by these energy-technology complexes as these two headlines illustrate:

Op-Ed Contributor: Appalachia Turns on Itself. The New York Times. By JASON HOWARD
Published: July 8, 2012
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/09/opinion/appalachia-turns-on-itself.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20120709

[Excerpted] Appalachia is engaged in a civil war of sorts over coal, with miners and their families pitted against environmental activists. The central issue is mountaintop removal, a radical form of strip mining that has left over 2,000 miles of streams buried and over 500 mountains destroyed. According to several recent studies, people living near surface mining sites have a 50 percent greater risk of fatal cancer and a 42 percent greater risk of birth defects than the general population.

Despite the evidence, the coal industry and its allies in Washington have persuaded the majority of their constituents to ignore such environmental consequences, recasting mountaintop removal as an economic boon for the region, a powerful job creator in a time of national employment distress.

 
Japan Pro-Nuclear Official Wins Vote. The Wall Street Journal. By C. Dawson. July 9, 2012, A10 (print edition)

[Excerpted] "A Japanese governor who supports the restart of a nuclear plant in southern Kagoshima prefecture won a new term by a landslide on Sunday in a closely watched election...

The Sunday vote shows how despite deep opposition to nuclear energy nationally, the mostly rural prefectures hosting the reactors are hesitant to pull the plug as they depend on them for jobs and subsidies--and worry other power-starved businesses may flee"

MAJIA HERE: We build these dirty, non-sustainable complexes and then we are enslaved by them.

This dialectic between our technological production and our enslavement has been examined in science fiction in films such as 2001: A Space Odyssey and The Matrix.

We know how this works; yet, we cannot free ourselves.

Our very survival as a species hinges upon our emancipation.

The reason we remain enchained is because we allow profiteers to benefit at the expense of the common good,

and because we fail to aid communities, often poor communities, that are dependent upon the vampire energy sources....