What
happens to nature after a nuclear accident? And how does wildlife deal with the
world it inherits after human inhabitants have fled?
In 1986 a nuclear
meltdown at the infamous Chernobyl power plant in present-day Ukraine left miles
of land in radioactive ruins. Residents living in areas most contaminated by the
disaster were evacuated and relocated by government order, and a no-man's land
of our own making was left to its own devices. In the ensuing 25 years, forests,
marshes, fields and rivers reclaimed the land, reversing the effects of hundreds
of years of human development. And surprisingly, this exclusion zone, or "dead
zone," has become a kind of post-nuclear Eden, populated by beaver and bison,
horses and birds, fish and falcons -- and ruled by wolves.
Access to the
zone is now permitted, at least on a limited basis, and scientists are
monitoring the surviving wildlife in the area, trying to learn how the various
species are coping with the invisible blight of radiation. As the top predators
in this new wilderness, wolves best reflect the condition of the entire
ecosystem because if the wolves are doing well, the populations of their prey
must also be doing well. Accordingly, a key long-term study of the wolves has
been initiated to determine their health, their range, and their
numbers.
Radioactive Wolves examines the state of wildlife populations in
Chernobyl's exclusion zone, an area that, to this day, remains too radioactive
for human habitation.
We are not trying to ruin one of your favourite dishes: Pasta. Pasta with tomato sauce or any way you like it is yum!, yum!. It is delicious! That is, if you are not allergic to gluten.
But it might not be gluten what bothers your gastrointestinal tract.
The truth is that pasta is not only durum wheat. There is more to it.
We live in an ocean of radiation. Some of this energy is natural, other is man-made. An example of natural radiation is the light and heat form the Sun. We are bathed daily by sunlight. Life as we know it depends on this type of radiation on Earth. Man also generates radiation from his technological inventions:
Radiowaves for communication,
Microwaves for cooking,
Electromagnetic waves from mobile telephone units and towers, power lines and other domestic electrical appliances,
X-ray for medical applications and investigations,
Radar for navigation,
Gamma rays and alpha and beta particles from nuclear plants or nuclear accidents,
Neutron particles from nuclear reactors.
Depending on how it affects matter, there are two kinds of radiation: ionising and non-ionising.
That ionising radiation has harmful effects on living organisms is a well known fact. We only have to remember the nuclear disasters of Chernobyl and Fukushima.
On the other hand, the question of whether or not non-ionising radiation can cause damage in humans or other living organisms has long been debated by scientists.
According to the IARC, non-ionising radiation can produce non-mutagenic effects, such as inciting thermal energy
in biological tissue which can lead to burns (Wikipedia, 2014).
The IARC has also stated that radiofrequency electromagnetic fields (including microwave and millimeter waves) could have a carcinogenic effect in humans.
The IARC from the WHO (World
Health Organization) has published two volumes on non-ionising radiation and its effects on living organisms:
Both volumes are available to the public:
NON-IONIZING RADIATION, PART 1 - STATIC AND EXTREMELY LOW-FREQUENCY (ELF)
ELECTRIC AND MAGNETIC FIELDS.
Jill Phipps era un activista inglesa vegana por los derechos
animales que murió atropellada por un camión de transporte de animales que
trataba de detener antes de que fuesen enviados al matadero.
Murió tal y como vivió… luchando sin temor por los animales.
Este documental se adentra en su vida y constante lucha por los animales.
JillPhippswas anEnglishvegananimal rightsactivistwhodiedcrushed under atruck that was transporting calves. She was trying to stop the
truck in an effort to save the lives of the animals that were taken
to the slaughterhouse.
She diedas she lived...fearlesslyfightingfor animals.
This documentarydelves intoher life andconstant struggle for
the rights of animals.
If you canmake a donationto the funddedicated to keepingher memory, please visit this site:
In the past five years the federal government has
dismissed more than 2,000 scientists, and hundreds of programs and
world-renowned research facilities have lost their funding. Programs that
monitored things such as smoke stack emissions, food inspections, oil spills,
water quality and climate change have been drastically cut or shut down. The
fifth estate requested interviews with two senior bureaucrats and four cabinet
ministers with responsibility for resources, the environment and science. All
of those requests were denied.
On Tuesday, the fifth estate received a statement from the
office of Greg Rickford, Minister of State for Science and Technology, and the
Federal Economic Development Initiative for Northern Ontario.
"Our government has made record investments in
science," it stated. "We are working to strengthen partnerships to
get more ideas from the lab to the marketplace and increase our wealth of
knowledge. Research is vibrant and flourishing right across the country."
But members of the scientific community disagree. CBC’s the
fifth estate spoke to scientists across the country who are concerned that
Canadians will suffer if their elected leaders have to make policy decisions
without the benefit of independent, fact-based science.
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For those of you who missed the documentary "Britain´s Real Monarch", here it is. It is the story of the legitimate line to the British Throne, the descendants of George
Plantagenet, Duke of Clarence, son of Richard, Duke of York. At least from the historian´s perspective.
Don´t
fall asleep on it. Pay attention, for at the same time you will see
that the whole damn business of royalty, or any business where a seat of power is involved for that matter, of who sits on any throne or helm of power,
boils down to a mere dog fight to see who has the biggest fangs and is the strongest to get the fucking "royal or number one bone", the biggest juicy bone anyway,
This
is for those who crave and prefer privileges, eating fancy meals and
throwing farts charged with smells of rotten meats and expensive
desserts rather than being nobody, perhaps starving in a corner of the
world and pooping shells of beans, if lucky.
And
once the winner has this bone, very few are willing to let go of it. It
has been said that the way to the Lord´s Kingdom is narrow and full of
thorns whereas the one that leads to Hell is wide and pretty.
But such is man´s nature. Flesh is weak.
For
a few days that we trample on this planet we might as well live enjoy it
and live it well. At least this is the way most people think and
approach life.
And
the result of following this selfish path is everywhere to be seen:
Destruction, pollution, decay, poverty... And a series of deep
ecological, social and economical crises.
So we ask:
What
the fuck is the use of living surrounded by luxury, having tonnes of
money, being attended and watched by a crowd of ass kissers when you
really live in hell inside your head, with fears of being sent to the
croaking line, scared shitless of death coming too soon to take
everything away from your grasping hands?
What is the difference between these greedy folks and most people who never seem to reach the line above enough is enough?
So why not ask this too, to start out following the line of the title of this article:
What does a humble slug have that we don´t know of, for instance?
Peace. Real inner peace. We envy them!
But how do we know slugs have peace? We don´t, of course. We are not even aware of your own awareness.
Without going into the labyrinth of evolution, we may conjecture that slugs are in peace. Why not? Are we the only ones to claim the monopoly of such a state? We doubt it.
We have no qualms in believing that these humble creatures have realities we have yet to dream. They are not meerely machines. They living, sentient beings.
Besides, we knowing how peace feels like, we can say one thing: We can have only what they have.
It is not the other way around. That would be too self-centred, one of our biggest faults.
In the accordion of life they were first.
Does the fish not still dwell in us during our ontogeny? Is our hearing system not an evolutionary reconstruction of what they had first, the second pair of gill slits and its complementary skeleton?
We are not the pinnacle of evolution. Mother Nature has not yet spoken her last word on evolution.
"Humans are indeed, among the vertebrates, the least removed from the ancient prototype, morphologically and anatomically. Man preserved the original orthograde body position of his lineage. This bipedal, former aquatic, form was not only man’s ancestor, but also the ancestor of all the today living - and extinct - mammals, of the birds, reptiles, batracians and of the diverse water vertebrates", has stated zoologist François de Sarre (2000a).
This skull opening starts out situated on the ventral side of the skull during the embryonic period and is retained this way during the post-embryonic life, for man´s bipedal position.
Other higher primates, for example chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), have also a ventrally situated foramen magnum but only during the first embryological stages, after that this opening rotates backwards and upwards, thus adjusting its position forthe animal´s quadrupedal lifestyle (pers. obs.) This is an apomorphic character, i.e., a derived state. Or in plain language, its position is an innovation or an advanced feature.
So the assumption most anthropologists make that man evolved from a quadrupedal creature is wrong. It is the other way around, that nonhuman primates and man share a common bipedal ancestor.
In a way, this is much in the line of what the Vedic texts explain, that a "highly intelligent creature" gave rise to all the myriads of life forms on the planet. In other words, life goes from the complex to the simple. Evolutionists believe that life goes from the simple to the complex. Like someone said once: "Monkeys and apes are men who have been pushished by turning them into monkeys and apes". By whom? Nobody knows.
Of course, it goes without saying that humans have a very specialised central nervous system. And because of this, they are creatures with a delicate brain, always on the brink of going crazy.
Being
born a human can be hell or heavens. It all depends upon where and with whom
we land into this world and where we will tilt the balance to in our lives.
And once on our own, to truly learn to which end we must tilt the balance, hell or heavens. It is a life´s endeavour.
Are you working on this? We are.
And now let us move on and get tothe wise slugs.
Slugs do have a lot to teach us. If only we are willing to pay deep attention to them.
What can slugs teach us?
Quite a few important and relevant things for all of us, humans.
Slugs can teach us a different perspective in and for our lives. A relative of slugs, a snail taught a lot to Elizabeth Tova Bailey (2010). A humble snail opened Bailey´s heart to the grandeur of life.
But first, before we get to the lesson of the slug, let us watch the documentary (Video 1) we have already mentioned at the beginning:
Video 1. Britain´s real monarch. Learn more: Descendants of George
Plantagenet, Duke of Clarence, son of Richard, Duke of York: Click HERE.
All of these people have missed the lesson of the slug.
And haven´t most of us?
But what is the lesson of the slug about?
The lesson of the slug
In order to capture the lesson of the slug, we must open a window in our heart. We must be humble. We must have an open mind. We must be loving and caring with Mother Nature.
Ready?
Show your best colours. Have you fiund one yet? If not, Spring will soon come and you will get the chance to see one.
Whenever or wherever, please don´t smash it. Let it be. Respect it. Look at it. Appreciate it, even if it is eating your veggies in you precious garden. It cannot eat it all.
If there are too many of them, it is because we are doing something wrong in the ecology of things.
Considering the state of things in the world nowadays, perhaps they do this because they do not have anywhere else to go.
Remember, we humans have taken over the entire planet as our own without taking into consideration their needs.
Now, let us learn the lesson of the slug:
Patience,
Fearlessness,
Humbleness,
No hurry,
Never crazy,
Never bored,
Never concocting intrigues,
No warmongering,
No squandering of resources,
Taking only what it needs,
Ever and overflowing with vital energy,
Total integration and full cooperation with the maintenance of the Biosphere,
Fullness of being in total union with That Which Is,
Manifesting the Manifested,
Etc.
What have you seen? Nothing? Something?
Do you care about them now? Or do you feel like killing them?
"Damn it!, they are eating my crop!", is a very common expression amongst gardeners and farmers.
And the first these people do is to go and get some poison to kill them. Thus, humans get their surroundings poisoned. Slowly, surely and deadly.
And this is exactly what has happened. Following our stupid shortcuts and environmental shortsightedness, we now have a contaminated planet (Video 2).
Video 2. A contaminated planet (Un planeta contaminado).
No, slugs have not caused this deplorable state: An ecological crisis. We humans have.
Let us us go back to the drawing board and see how the slugs do it.
We can surely learn a few things from them.
Slugs are our Elder Brethren. Slugs have been on Earth longer than we humans have.
We have just arrived and yet we are already in a hurrypacking up to go back to the Ocean of Nothingness.
That ocean which is nothing without nothing but has something in nothing full of nothing and yet is that which is, everything being out of nothing.
