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This is the money quote: >The prevailing scientific view of the exclusion zone has become that it is an unintentional wildlife sanctuary. This conclusion rests
by dos1 14y ago
This is the money quote:
>The prevailing scientific view of the exclusion zone has become that it is an unintentional wildlife sanctuary. This conclusion rests on the premise that radiation is less harmful to wildlife populations than we are.
I don't consider myself an environmentally focused person, but the effects humans have on the ecosystem cannot be overstated. I'm not saying the effects are negative or positive, just that we as a species need to be very cognizant of the changes we cause, and we need to think critically about what ramifications those changes have.
- stevoski 14y agoSpecies that have much lower lifespans than humans are less likely to develop cancer in their lifetimes. These species particularly benefit from the lack of humans around Chernobyl more than they suffer from the high radiation.
- mikeash 14y agoAnimals are a lot more tolerant of death and mayhem, too. For example, if radiation caused e.g. a 10% incidence of horrible birth defects, a lot of animal populations could survive that just fine, but humans would be horrified at the very idea.
- Dylan16807 14y agoDespite the fact that somewhere around a third of pregnancies already miscarry. People are weird.
- Shorel 14y agoHumans will survive just as well. 'Being horrified' is not a credible threat to survival. In fact, in both cases the affected individuals of any species will die and the rest will go on.
- mikeash 14y agoOf course humans will survive, but they'll avoid the area if they can.
- d0mine 14y agoHumans deal with it just fine. In 2009, there were 31 countries reported in which at least 10% of children under five died. For comparison: In 2011, the world average was 51 (5.1%), down from 87 (8.7%) in 1990. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_mortality http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_mortality
- mikeash 14y agoWe "deal with it" in the sense that we can survive and even thrive in such an environment. But we don't "deal with it just fine" in terms of accepting it when we could easily change it by e.g. avoiding a particular area.
- valgaze 14y agoThe "no man's land" DMZ between the Koreas is doing very well: http://news.discovery.com/earth/korean-dmz-teems-with-wildlife-120217.htm http://news.discovery.com/earth/korean-dmz-teems-with-wildli... Edit: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/sep/06/wildlife-haven-korean-dmz-threat http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/sep/06/wildlife-h...