Action needed -- "The fate of the world depends on Reactor 4"

Dear friends, Fukushima is not safe, and without urgent attention the crumbling site could spark an unprecedented nuclear disaster. Amazingly, the Japanese government is denying the risks. Nuclear experts are now saying international intervention is critical, but only a massive global call can push the United Nations to take emergency action. Sign the petition now: I'm writing with a personal plea for help from Japan. A nuclear inspector just said that the fate my country and much of the world depends on Fukushima's Reactor Number 4. If this damaged structure collapses, the spread of radiation would go way beyond Japan's borders and be truly catastrophic. Since last year's tragic earthquake and tsunami in Fukushima, a pool of highly dangerous spent nuclear fuel is being held in reactor 4’s crumbling structure. Experts say another strong earthquake would cause the pool to collapse and emit such high radiation that my family and the 35 million people in Tokyo would be forced to evacuate. It would also contaminate the skies across the Pacific and into Asia. The area around the toxic pool is vulnerable to regular seismic shocks, but, amazingly, my government is denying the risks, likely desperate not to cause panic. Global nuclear experts, a US Senator and tens of thousands of people across Japan are raising the alarm. My country has the technology to stop this disaster, but not the political will. The best way to curb this lethal threat that would dwarf last year's disaster is a global wave of public pressure on my government to agree an emergency plan with UN experts. Click below to sign the petition to the UN and Prime Minister Noda and forward this to everyone: http://www.avaaz.org/en/stop_japans_nuclear_meltdown_global_b/?vl The reactor 4 pool has no walls or roof and there are thousands of spent fuel rods inside containing ten times the amount of radioactive material than was released in the Chernobyl nuclear accident. This material, Cesium 137, is one of the most hazardous materials on the planet -- it gives off radiation that can remain dangerous for hundreds of years. To avoid spontaneous fire due to radioactivity alone, the dilapidated pool must be constantly cooled. If it collapsed and a fire ensued reactor 4 is just 50 meters from the other reactors that contain thousands more spent fuel rods. The scope of disaster is nearly unfathomable! Nuclear scientists say the spent fuel must be removed from the storage pool as fast as possible to a dry and safe facility. But so far the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), Japan's embattled nuclear energy giant responsible for the clean up, insists they have reinforced the structure and is relying on the vulnerable pool storage system. People across Japan distrust TEPCO and do not understand why my government is leaving it up to this agency when they were already caught lying about the safety of Fukushima reactors before last year's disaster. The Japanese people should not have to live on the brink of nuclear disaster. And fears that an accident would have global impact led one Japanese politician to call the risk, ‘the ultimate catastrophe for the world’. Global experts are now raising their voices and US Senator Wyden, who just visited the site, has publicly called for action and offered US help. I appeal to you to help get the UN's attention now to force my government to welcome an international team of nuclear experts to clean up Reactor 4 and remove this risk forever. Sign the urgent petition then forward this to everyone: http://www.avaaz.org/en/stop_japans_nuclear_meltdown_global_b/?vl The people across my country are still reeling from last year's earthquake, tsunami and nuclear catastrophe, but together, Avaaz members here have helped make Japan the first developed nation on earth to go nuclear free. Now let's together remove this last remaining lethal threat before it is too late. With hope and determination, Michiharu, for the whole Avaaz team MORE INFORMATION Fukushima Reactor 4 poses massive global risk (CTV) http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/World/20120518/fukushima-dai-ichi-risk-reactor-4-120519/ The Fukushima Nuclear Disaster Is Far From Over (Huffington Post) http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-alvarez/the-fukushima-nuclear-dis_b_1444146.html Doomsday scenarios spread about No. 4 reactor at Fukushima plant (The Asahi Shimbun) http://ajw.asahi.com/article/behind_news/social_affairs/AJ201205100051 Japan Nuclear Plant May Be Worse Off Than Thought (New York Times) http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/30/world/asia/inquiry-suggests-worse-damage-at-japan-nuclear-plant.html?_r=1 Take action -- "The fate of the world depends on Reactor 4" sign the petition at avaaz.org For a greener planet website  For a greener planet ( blog - this blog in: Atom - RSS ) More websites by Ak Malten

The Coming Global Water Crisis

What happens when demand for this essential resource starts exceeding supply in many parts of the world? By Stewart M. Patrick May 9 2012 The recent UN alert that drought in the Sahel threatens 15 million lives is a harbinger of things to come. In the next twenty years, global demand for fresh water will vastly outstrip reliable supply in many parts of the world. Thanks to population growth and agricultural intensification, humanity is drawing more heavily than ever on shared river basins and underground aquifers. Meanwhile, global warming is projected to exacerbate shortages in already water-stressed regions, even as it accelerates the rapid melting of glaciers and snow cover upon which a billion people depend for their ultimate source of water. This sobering message emerges from the first U.S. Intelligence Community Assessment of Global Water Security. The document predicts that by 2030 humanity's "annual global water requirements" will exceed "current sustainable water supplies" by forty percent. Absent major policy interventions, water insecurity will generate widespread social and political instability and could even contribute to state failure in regions important to U.S. national security. (Look here for a webcast from the Woodrow Wilson Center of experts and U.S. government officials discussing the findings.)..... The coming Global Water Crisis is man made and avoidable. The water is not gone, but is wasted on large scale by industry and agriculture. Most of it will end up in the sea or will be polluted with heavy metals. The answer to this salination and pollution is the Watercone on small scale and the Sahara Forest Project on large scale. The Watercone will make the polluted or salinated water fresh and drinkable on family scale. For more information on the life saving Watercone technique and where to order it The Sahara Forest Project makes the desert fertile and ready for agriculture and reforesting.  It desalinates water and is powered using solar energy, but also produces more energy then needed for the project itself. Sahara Forest Project Converts Desert into Oasis We could also save an enormous amount of water by: - stop polluting our environment. - using sustainable forms of energy and production. - fight Global Warming. - invest in peace instead of war and in this way stop producing useless weapons, like nuclear weapons and alike. - stop spraying our garden or field and use Drip irrigation. - Greenhouses in desert area make sense to save as much water as possible. - Eating less meat. The production of vegetable needs much less water then the wasteful production of meat in terms of water and food. - The use of Anti-conception in overpopulated areas. and so on.... Ak Malten, Pro Peaceful Energy Use The complete article at theatlantic.com For a greener planet website  For a greener planet ( blog - this blog in: Atom - RSS ) More websites by Ak Malten

Fukushima Update !!!!!

Press Release: Coalition Sends Urgent Request for UN Intervention to Stabilize the Fukushima Unit 4 Spent Nuclear Fuel May 2, 2012 Press Release--Fukushima Coalition Sends Urgent Request for UN Intervention to Stabilize the Fukushima Unit 4 Spent Nuclear Fuel For immediate release: 2 May 2012 Kyoto, Japan--On 30 April, seventy-two Japanese NGO organizations lead by Shut Tomari and Green Action send an urgent request to the UN and Japanese government urging immediate action to stabilize the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant Unit 4 spent nuclear fuel. The letter was endorsed by experts from Japan and abroad. The letter warned that the seriously damaged Unit 4 spent nuclear fuel pool contains Cesium-137 (Cs-137) that is equivalent to 10 times the amount released at the time of the Chernobyl nuclear accident. If an earthquake or other event were to cause this pool to drain, this could result in a catastrophic radiological fire. The letter urged the United Nations to organize a Nuclear Security Summit to take up the crucial problem of the Fukushima Daiichi Unit 4 spent nuclear fuel pool. The letter stated that the United Nations should establish an independent assessment team on Fukushima Daiichi Unit 4 and coordinate international assistance in order to stabilize the unit’s spent nuclear fuel and prevent radiological consequences with potentially catastrophic consequences. Letters were sent to both UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, the latter asking that Japan ask immediately for the UN's help. Nearly all of the 10,893 spent fuel assemblies at the Fukushima Daiichi plant sit in pools vulnerable to future earthquakes, with roughly 85 times more long-lived radioactivity than released at Chernobyl. Kaori Izumi of Shut Tomari stated, "Fukushima Daiichi is no longer a Japanese issue but is an international issue. It is imperative for the Japanese government and the international community to work together on this crisis before it becomes too late." Nuclear experts from the US and Japan such as Arnie Gundersen, Robert Alvarez, Hiroaki Koide, Masashi Goto, and Mitsuhei Murata, a former Japanese ambassador to Switzerland, and, Akio Matsumura, a former UN diplomat have continually warned against the high risk of the Fukushima Unit 4 spent nuclear fuel pool. Shut Tomari and Green Action are seeking endorsements from civil organizations abroad (deadline 20 May). More Japanese civil organizations are expected to sign on in addition to the seventy-two organizations. (Deadline for signatures: 20 May.) For full text of letter/endorsements/signatories, see: http://wp.me/p1FMPy-B6 Press release issued by: Shut Tomari (Japan), 1-2, 6-4 Higashisapporo, Shiroishi-ku, Sapporo 003-0006 Japan TEL: +81-90-2695-1937 FAX:+81-11-826-3796 email: kaori-izumi@ta3.so-net.ne.jp Green Action (Japan), Suite 103, 22-75 Tanaka Sekiden-cho, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8203 Japan Tel: +81-75-701-7223 Fax: +81-75-702-1952 email: info@greenaction-japan.org There is more to be found at the link below, I advice all to read it.... Ak Malten, Pro Peaceful Energy Use The article at: http://fukushima.greenaction-japan.org/ For a greener planet website  For a greener planet ( blog - this blog in: Atom - RSS ) More websites by Ak Malten

What the UNFCCC's Christiana Figueres is Looking to Get Out of Rio+20

April 18, 2012. Mark Leon Goldberg, UN Dispatch, Category: Climate, Topics: Rio+20, UNFCCC You have probably heard, by now, of Rio+20. This is a major conference on sustainable development being hosted by the United Nations in Rio de Janeiro on the 20th anniversary of the historic "Earth Summit." There is a lot on the agenda. I had the opportunity to speak with the Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change Christiana Figueres about her expectations for Rio+20. Figueres is the top international diplomat in charge of herding member countries and others toward creating a post Kyoto international climate change protocol. The UNFCCC is not hosting this meeting, but does have a key stake in its outcome. I was curious to learn how the Rio+20 summit might affect the ongoing struggle to create a global climate change regime. For the past several years, we have grown accustomed to climate focused meetings, like Bali, Copenhagen, or Durban in which pressure groups and governments have urged very specific outcomes (e.g. the precise tonnes of carbon that should be reduced; temperature reduction targets; specific amounts of money devoted to specific projects; dates by which agreements must be ratified, etc). Figueres stressed that Rio is not about the nuts and bolts. It is about the big picture: "Rio is not a technical negotiation. Rio is about a bigger picture conversation about what kind of society to do we want...It is about asking ourselves: do we want to be a society that on the one hand wastes natural resources and on the other hand has not been capable of dealing with poverty, or do we want to have a society that is more responsible in the way it uses natural resources and at the same time can effectively address poverty and growth in developing countries?" I think this is a useful frame for understanding the significance of Rio+20. This meeting is all about agreeing on a set of ideals. It is not about the specifics. Rio+20 is all about finding common aspirations about the environment and development that every government on the planet can support. Agreeing on ideals can be dismissed as fluffy, but it is still a monumental task considering that every government is included in the process of ideals-making. I could not agree more with what UNFCCC's Christiana Figueres hopes to get out of Rio+20. Forget Cap and Trade that leads to nowhere ! Ak Malten, Pro Peaceful Energy Use The article at: www.undispatch.com For a greener planet website  For a greener planet ( blog - this blog in: Atom - RSS ) More websites by Ak Malten