The food warned by the Japanese government to be contaminated with radiation and dangerous to eat
Sand lance, kakina, turnip, cauliflower, cabbage, ostrich fern sprout, Korean lettuce, shiitake mushroom, celery, bamboo shoot, bok choy, parsley, broccoli, spinach, milk, garland chrysanthemum, and tap water
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The problems that current nuclear plants have - can we overcome them?
Since the accident of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, people and governments in many nations have been acting to shrink the nuclear power plant industry. The Japanese government has requested the Hamaoka nuclear power plant, which was not damaged in the 3.11 earthquake, to be shut down. Although the power plant is undamaged by the quake, it has a high probability of being hit by one in the future - in fact, there is 87% probability of magnitude 8 earthquake hitting the region within 30 years, according to the Japanese government. Although this decision made by the prime minister is not purely because of that - the government has been struggling with the poll, after the accident in Fukushima that affected the people and the economy greatly. This action of stopping a power plant might be a move to try to bring back or prevent the further loss of popularity of the cabinet. In other countries such as Germany, there have been multiple demonstrations demanding to stop the nuclear power plants within each country.
It might be a natural course of action to require the shutdown of power plants that can prove to be so harmful, as shown by the Fukushima or the Chernobyl from quarter of a century ago. But it cannot be put into action so easily. In many of the countries that have nuclear power plants, they are one of the major sources of electricity. For example, France relies as much as 80% of its electricity on nuclear power. Other countries such as United States rely on the nuclear power plants greatly. If all of the nuclear power plants are to be stopped in the regions, as some of the populace wants, there would be a great shortage in the electricity generation. In fact, there has been some shortage in the Kanto region of Japan, where people used to consume the electricity from Fukushima Daiichi. In the Kanto area, the energy crisis is predicted to be a bigger issue by the summer, when there is more electricity demand.
Since the accident of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, people and governments in many nations have been acting to shrink the nuclear power plant industry. The Japanese government has requested the Hamaoka nuclear power plant, which was not damaged in the 3.11 earthquake, to be shut down. Although the power plant is undamaged by the quake, it has a high probability of being hit by one in the future - in fact, there is 87% probability of magnitude 8 earthquake hitting the region within 30 years, according to the Japanese government. Although this decision made by the prime minister is not purely because of that - the government has been struggling with the poll, after the accident in Fukushima that affected the people and the economy greatly. This action of stopping a power plant might be a move to try to bring back or prevent the further loss of popularity of the cabinet. In other countries such as Germany, there have been multiple demonstrations demanding to stop the nuclear power plants within each country.
It might be a natural course of action to require the shutdown of power plants that can prove to be so harmful, as shown by the Fukushima or the Chernobyl from quarter of a century ago. But it cannot be put into action so easily. In many of the countries that have nuclear power plants, they are one of the major sources of electricity. For example, France relies as much as 80% of its electricity on nuclear power. Other countries such as United States rely on the nuclear power plants greatly. If all of the nuclear power plants are to be stopped in the regions, as some of the populace wants, there would be a great shortage in the electricity generation. In fact, there has been some shortage in the Kanto region of Japan, where people used to consume the electricity from Fukushima Daiichi. In the Kanto area, the energy crisis is predicted to be a bigger issue by the summer, when there is more electricity demand.
Many people want to get rid of the nuclear power plants that are proven to do great harm, but there would be a great lack of energy if we simply do so. Even if we replace them with power plants that use other energy sources, there would be other problems; if we were to replace them with non-renewable resources, the resources would be depleted faster than before, and would soon be gone. Also, nuclear power plants are known for emitting less carbon dioxide than those resources - that means that there would be more carbon emission, if we replace it with less eco-friendly ways of producing electricity, such as oil or natural gas. If we replace them with only renewable resources - there just won’t be enough energy. For example, one wind turbine generates around 1 to 8 MW of electricity, while Fukushima Daiichi with six reactors was generating 4696 MW while it was fully operational. There would have to be around 600 to 3000 wind turbines built to replace Fukushima Daiichi. That many turbines will need a vast area of land and much investment; they will not be efficient enough alone.
Then, what would be a realistic way to replace the nuclear power plants with safer, but yet still eco-friendly and cost effective? Is there ways to make the nuclear power plants safer? Actually, there is a safer way to use nuclear power to generate electricity. The leakage of radioactive substance from Fukushima Daiichi was caused by an explosion from a meltdown. There is a way to use nuclear power, but have no danger of a meltdown: nuclear fusion. Nuclear fusion is a technology of generating energy by fusing two water molecules (one deuterium and one tritium) to form a helium molecule and a neutron, and getting heat as the byproduct. In contrast, the nuclear fission reactors that we use now in all of the nuclear power plants produce energy by splitting the atomic nucleus. Unlike nuclear fission, fusion reactors do not produce radioactive waste that has to be kept safely for thousands of years. Nuclear fusion is a carbon-free energy source as well, and it also has the potential to be used to stabilize the radioactive wastes that has been produced by the use of nuclear fission reactors. The only reason we cannot use nuclear fusion now is that we still do not have the technology to keep the nuclear fusion reaction to continue at amount and efficiency high enough for commercial use. It is estimated that it would take couple more decades for the technology to advance to that level. Meanwhile, we can start replacing the fission reactors with renewable resources little by little.
What does Fukushima Daiichi look like now?
Presentation Reflection
I saw the presentations done by my classmates (B block) and the ones who went at the grand finale. I also got to see the recording of Allen's presentation, thanks to Herbert.
Konig - starvation in the world
He told us about how many people are starving in the world, some even starving to death, while we take more than we can eat and waste much of it. He made a nice contrast between us - who have too much food - and the people starving - who have too little food. The graph that he made by actually measuring the amount of wasted food was convincing. Although he could have made the connection between us wasting less food and more people getting food more clear, his presentation was successful in making us reflect upon ourselves. "If you don't eat all the rice in the bowl, you will marry a woman with many pimples." I'll remember that.
Kitty - Nanjing Massacre
She talked about the Nanjing Massacre, in which the Japanese imperial army slaughtered the populace at Nanjing. Her presentation reminded me again that even though it is my responsibility to know about my cultural and historical background, I know so little about it, so I have to gain more knowledge and understanding about those events. She talked about the incident and its cause in great detail. I have to know about these historical events, so that they will not be repeated again.
Grace - Education in Finland
Her presentation was on how the teenagers changed over time, and why the education of Finland has been so successful. In Finland, unlike other places such as Taiwan or Korea, there is little difference in scholastic ability among the students. This is due to the fact that education is offered freely and equally to everyone in Finland. Also, there are less restrictions on the teachers. I wonder what would happen if everyone on the planet had the equal opportunity to get education. It might come true in the near-future, with the help of the internet. What would happen then? Would there be a harder competition?
Annie - Human Trafficking
Her presentation was on a topic that had rarely come to my mind - human trafficking. Since I had never really thought much about it and possessed no knowledge about it, the story she told us was new and surprising to me. The facts such as 27 million people are being trafficked, many people in United States are buying those 'slaves,' and that it is not a problem in somewhere far away from us, but is happening here in Taiwan too, were surprising to me. She told a story of a particular girl being sent to US, and a specific example such as that was very effective.
Sean - Roman Soldiers
He told us about what the lives of Roman soldiers were like, and what it meant to be a Roman soldier in that time period. I was not so clear about what time period he was talking about, since he never mentioned it and I possess too little knowledge to know it without being told, but his talk about the armor and disciplines was interesting. He could have made it even more effective by making connections to our own lives, and telling us about the similarities and differences between them and us.
Celine - Kids in Cambodia
Mr. Kinzer is going to take us to Cambodia next summer, according to Celine. She talked about how the lack of education in the poor population of Cambodia in places such as Angkor was preventing poor people from getting out of poverty. It is shocking to know that less than half of the kids finish the primary school, when you are living in a country where way over half of the people graduate from college. She proposed several actual plans for giving those kids opportunities to learn, and that allowed us to think about what we can actually do to help.
Jennifer - Loss of Culture in Tibet
Her presentation was on how the people in Tibet are losing their culture more rapidly than ever before. She named the oppressive rule by the Chinese Government as one of the main causes of it. The Tibetan people are discriminated because of their race, and it is hard for them to compete against Han people and be successful economically, even when they have high level of education. It seemed to me that the loss of culture is not the only major problem the Tibetans are facing right now - there are other problems such as lack of opportunity to get medical treatment. Different cultures need to find a way to coexist; nothing will come out of hatred against one another.
Veronica - Stray Dogs in Taiwan
I have seen many stray dogs near my house, sometimes in large groups like eight or ten. I had been wondering where those dogs are from, and where they will go. Her presentation answered many of my questions concerning the stray dogs in Taiwan. They are the result of many irresponsible owners, and the future that would be waiting for them is 安楽死, or mercy killing. Veronica argued that it is not merciful at all to have many dogs born, and killing them off when they are no longer wanted and we want to get rid of them. I have never had any sort of pet bigger than a goldfish, so I can only imagine what it feels like to be an owner of a dog, but I must make right decisions if I were to be one in the future.
Austin - Taiwanese Baseball
He talked about the causes of decline in the popularity of baseball in Taiwan - multiple match fixing and bribery. Match fixing has been a big problem in the Japanese sumo recently. These scandals make the fans and supporters feel betrayed, and make them dislike or lose interest in the sport. However we could see that Austin has not given up on Taiwanese baseball yet; he talked about a big game which will be held in Kaohsiung in July. I just hope the baseball does not betray fans like him again.
Jessica - Global Issues
Yes, I do like to eat beef steak. What's wrong with that? Well, cows produce much methane gas. Since methane is 23 times as harmful as CO2, cows can do more harm to the environment than the exhaust from the transportation. That is an interesting fact to think about, since when we think about cows and all the other organic stuff, we consider them good for us and the Earth. But in fact they can be harmful; what can we do to solve this problem? The only solutions that I can come up with is to biologically engineer the cows to produce less methane (but who would want to eat mutant cows?) or to find substitutions that taste like cow meat but are more eco-friendly.
Lika - One-Child Policy
Lika talked about probably China's most well-known policy. It is sad to think that many girl babies are aborted (or killed right after birth in rural or less developed areas) because of 男尊女卑 or the sexism against women. The fact that the kids in China now are excelling academically because they are the only kids of the parents who also were raised under one-child policy. Will all these smart Chinese population boost the economical development of China even further? It would be hard for us to keep up with them.
