Halfway between Austrailia and Hawaii in the middle of a seemingly endless pacific ocean we find a chain of islands that together form the nation of the Marshall Islands. Spread over 2 million square kilometres in the central pacific lie the Marshall Islands, a scattering of more than 1,000 islands and islets and few people have heard of Enewetak but it is the ground zero of US nuclear testing in the pacific.
This particular chain of islands is extremely remote and full of beauty but this beauty hides a dark, dirty secret. The US detonated 43 atomic bombs around the island chain in the 1940s and 50s and four of Enewetak’s 40 islands were completely vaporised by the tests. Enewetak’s population had been re-located to another island in the Marshalls ahead of the tests and they weren’t allowed to return for 30 years.
When leaving the islands America simply buried any radioactive waste left over and covered it with an 18 inch thick dome. However, now the sea is rising and the dome appears to be leaking and the men who tried to clean it up are dying.
I am not religious, but I did study the Bible, and I read a passage that stated one-third of the oceans will die, and I thought to myself that there is no way that could happen, but now with Fukushima poisoning the Pacific, and possibly the Dome poisoning the Pacific, and the melting fresh water entering the North Atlantic ocean which disturbs the pumping action of the Gulf of Mexico which effects the current flow, and with all of this coming together at the same time it could create a living nightmare; after all, we depend on the oceans for many things including food, and if that nightmare comes true, I must admit I feel foolish for saying “No Way.” The 21st Century feels like a Century that will test the Human Race. It is even more disturbing that the first to respond of September 11, 2001 in Manhattan New York are dying faster than that of nuclear radiation poisoning. EYE 5
It seems incredible that more people don’t know about this. I knew about Enewetak and rising sea levels, but had never heard of the Dome. Appalling and fascinating in equal measure, it’s hard not to be moved by the plight of these people and the price they are paying for the activities of developed countries. The US shouldn’t just be compensating these people for medical expenses, lost income etc but should be spearheading a repatriation program to rehouse all the residents whose island they have destroyed. More people need to watch this film.