Looking At All Sides
by cricketjeff on April 1, 2011. © Jeff Green, All rights reserved
Reality is hard to comprehend —
We only see a corner of the truth.
The clearest clues defeat the honest sleuth
Who buys the lies that others recommend.
The lazy way’s to back each passing trend,
Due diligence seems pointlessly uncouth.
The rumour mill can boast a sharper tooth
Than evidence that shows another end.
Our press is filled with nuclear alarm,
Three minor burns outweigh the earthquake dead.
How many more will suffer fatal harm,
If we return to burning coal instead?
The Fukushima fires provoke our fear
But smuts and ash kill thousands every year.
Author notes
Even including the disaster at Chernobyl, hundreds more die for every Megawatt
of coal fired electricity than for nuclear (the UN estimates 13,500 a year in
the US alone! Against a total nuclear death toll of around 10,000 in 60 years,
(most of those not killed by Chernobyl being uranium miners, and that’s much
safer than mining coal). Renewables are no better, burst damns in China killed
over 100,000.
Yes the nuclear plants were badly designed, but a melt-down isn’t a nuclear
bomb, it is some very hot metal burning through concrete into a hole in the
ground. So far three workers have been sent to hospital for the equivalent of
mild sunburn.
English