Open Letter to Barack Obama: a Call to End the Disastrous Nuclear Era

6th February 2014

By  Ethan Indigo Smith

Contributing Writer for Wake Up World

I am a literary artist. I have written some philosophy and some satire. I wrote  The Terraist Letters, a satire that contrasts the promotion of nuclear experimentation with the prohibition of marijuana/hemp cultivation.

It is interesting to me our most practical agricultural source, the most integrative plant there is on Earth, is illegal, and yet the most dangerous undertaking imaginable is legal and promoted…. and called a ‘plant’.  The marijuana plant is illegal and nuclear power generation experiments, or the quaintly named nuclear power ‘plants’, are pushed by government.

As a writer, this is my juxtaposition in the spirit of artistic revolution that was so eloquently described by Nobel Prize laureate Albert Camus.

Revolutionary literature must work towards increasing the visibility of sickening social contradictions. ~ Albert Camus

I write to enhance thinking, to challenge people’s perceptions of our society. But it’s all inconsequential; everything I’ve penned, everything I’ve created, is meaningless next to the ongoing destruction of Earth Mother which nuclear experimentation has wrought.

A Call to Artists and Visionaries

What kind of art do you make? What kind of world do you create? No matter what it is, in order to ensure the survival of life as we know it, and that our art means something to future generations – and that there are future generations – we must take a stand against nuclear experimentation and raise awareness of its inevitable dangers.

This is a call, to all artists, to all creative and spiritual individuals, to all those who care about the future of our planet. It is a call to visionaries  of all sorts to come together and demand action to address the ongoing nuclear catastrophe in Japan, and the accumulation of nuclear waste at every so called nuclear power ‘plant’  in the world.

Dear Mr. President

The  Mendocino (California) County Board of Supervisors  penned this open letter to President Obama, and it perfectly sums up the absolute necessity to address the nuclear issue – see below.

Please  share this letter with President Barack Obama – and everyone involved in nuclear experimentation – and insist our nuclear institutions do something about the ongoing calamity in Japan, and prevent it from happening again elsewhere — like the now derelict  San Onofre nuclear experiment  in Southern California where “spent” fuel still remains. Share it with  your local media, nuclear institutions (national and corporate), governments, and all individuals who wish to create a safer, cleaner world for their grandchildren.

In the face of public criticism, it is my hope that mainstream news reporters may finally start addressing the nuclear experimentation conundrum, and that US nuclear institutions, both national and corporate, might assist Japan to mitigate the situation in Fukushima and prevent it from becoming exponentially worse – something that would affect us all.

I would like to write more, but really nothing I could create means anything next to the leviathan that is nuclear experimentation and its resulting dread.

Dear President Obama,

Deteriorating conditions at the Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear complex clearly constitute an international crisis of epic proportions that requires the highest level of international scientific and technological assistance in an effort to minimize the continuing damage to international health and safety. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe recently appealed to  the international community to provide the knowledge and expertise needed to avert disaster. We therefore call upon you to issue an Executive Order directing all appropriate federal agencies to assist in leading an international effort to avert what appears to be a looming catastrophe of unprecedented dimensions. We believe it would be appropriate for the United States, in cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency, to lead this effort and to assure that the needed resources will be available.

Of greatest immediate concern, the unit 4 fuel rods, which are precariously stored 100 feet in the air, in the damaged unit 4 building, must be brought to ground. Removing the fuel rods will be extremely challenging; but is imperative given the compromised condition of the building and the continuing threat of seismic activity or other natural disaster. Additionally, the reactor cores from units 1, 2, and 3 have melted down and are widely believed to have penetrated the floor of the reactor buildings. The fuel rods and the reactor cores must be continually cooled to minimize the release of radioactivity. Contaminated rainwater and cooling water is contained in 1,000 tanks haphazardly placed on site with almost daily reports of leaks. Groundwater also flows freely through the site resulting in the uncontrolled discharge of radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean.

Over two and a half years after the initial disaster of March 11, 2011, the situation remains highly unstable. The Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) remains in charge of the containment and cleanup of the site, but does not appear to have the resources or expertise to accomplish the task. TEPCO also does not plan to remove the melted reactor cores until 2020, virtually guaranteeing that contaminated groundwater will flow uncontrolled through the site and into the Pacific Ocean for the next seven years.

In addition to the requested Executive Order, we also call upon you to assure that the federal government is conducting all appropriate monitoring and testing to assess the level and impacts of radioactive contamination to west coast communities and the near shore marine environment. Our County’s link to these events also encompass personal relationships through Sister City partnerships between Fort Bragg and Otsuchi and between Mendocino and Miasa-Omachi.

Given the recent invitation from Prime Minister Abe, it is now both appropriate and imperative that the international community respond to this continuing international disaster without delay. Thank you for your attention to this request.

Sincerely,

Dan Hamburg,

Chair, Mendocino County Board of Supervisors

Click here to download a copy of this letter in MS Word format.

How to Contact the White House

To contact President Obama, please download or copy the Open Letter above and either email or post it via the following methods (from the  whitehouse.gov  website).

Email

Email is the fastest way to get your message to President Obama.  You can send a message to the White House by filling out the webform under this link.

I have tested this webform and, although the ‘Comments’ section appears as a small box at the bottom of the form, the character limit in that field is adequate for you to paste the entire Open Letter.

Post

Alternatively you can print and post your letter to Barack Obama at the following address:

        President Barack Obama

        The White House

        1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW

        Washington, DC 20500

        United States of America

Please include your return address on your letter, and if you have an email address, please consider including that as well.  Space has been included at the top of the downloadable letter so you can insert your name, address and email address before you print your letter.

Peace on Earth, only for real.

Previous articles by Ethan:

• The Pandora’s Box of the Nuclear Industry
• The 5 Tibetan Rites of Rejuvenation: 108 Movements to a Meditative Mind State
• How to Enhance Intuition: Understanding the Four Forms of Awareness
• A Little Green Revolution: the Rainbow Warriors will Heal the Earth Mother
• Hate: The Ultimate Social Control Mechanism
• UK’s Proposed Ban on Esoteric Knowledge: Why Institutions Seek to Limit Access to Information
• Presence and Mindfulness: the Meditative Value of 108
• Is Nuclear Experimentation Fascism?
• The Great Unsaid: What 1984 Can Teach Us About 2014
• The Brotherhood of Man: a Tibetan Perspective
• Oligarchical Collectivism and the Four Steps to Learning Politics

About the author:

Ethan Indigo Smith is the newest member of Wake Up World’s team of Contributing Writers.  Ethan was born on a farm in Maine and lived in Manhattan for a number of years before migrating west to Mendocino, California.

The events of September 11, 2001 inspired him to write his first book,  The Complete Patriot’s Guide to Oligarchical Collectivism, an insightful exploration of  history, philosophy and contemporary politics.

Blending philosophy, politics, activism, spirituality and humour, Ethan’s more recent publications include:

• The Matrix of Four, The Philosophy of the Duality of Polarity  on the subject of the development of individual consciousness
• the controversial  The Terraist Letters, a work that humorously contrasts the very serious issues of global nuclear experimentation promotion  and global  marijuana prohibition
• Tibetan Fusion  a book of simple meditative practices and movements that can help you access and balance your energy, and
• The Little Green Book of Revolution  an inspirational book based on ideas of peaceful revolution, historical activism and caring for the Earth like Native Americans.

Visit Ethan on  Facebook  and check out  Ethan’s author page  on Amazon.com

This article edited by Andy Whiteley for Wake Up World.