“This is paradise, but our paradise is poisoned.”
July 30, 2024 4:07 PM Subscribe
In 1974, a radioactive cloud from a French nuclear test drifted over Teahupo’o, Tahiti, now the surfing venue for the Paris Games. Villagers still feel the effects.
NZ sent a couple of frigates to Moruroa/Aopuni atoll to protest pacific nuclear testing in 1973. And of course our erstwhile allies, the French, committed an act of state terror (via the DGSE) by blowing up the Greenpeace vessel The Rainbow Warrior in Auckland harbour in 1985 killing one crew member - Fernando Pereira.
posted by phigmov at 8:18 PM on July 30 [4 favorites]
posted by phigmov at 8:18 PM on July 30 [4 favorites]
"The men’s triathlon event at the Paris Olympic Games .. has been postponed by a day after the water quality in the river Seine did not meet the required standards, adding to months-long concerns about holding Olympic events in the polluted river."
Only postponed by one day? Or they booked time in a pool? Anyways I suppose the river becomes immeidately unusable again after the games. lol
posted by jeffburdges at 2:31 AM on July 31 [2 favorites]
Only postponed by one day? Or they booked time in a pool? Anyways I suppose the river becomes immeidately unusable again after the games. lol
posted by jeffburdges at 2:31 AM on July 31 [2 favorites]
Radioactive Fallout From Nuclear Weapons Testing
Effects of nuclear explosions on human health
Article gives few technical details: Did France not supply the Islanders with Iodine suplements, so they all ingested Iodine-131? Or it's long-term radiation from the 30 year half-life elements Cesium-137 & Strontium-90?
posted by jeffburdges at 2:55 AM on July 31
Effects of nuclear explosions on human health
Article gives few technical details: Did France not supply the Islanders with Iodine suplements, so they all ingested Iodine-131? Or it's long-term radiation from the 30 year half-life elements Cesium-137 & Strontium-90?
posted by jeffburdges at 2:55 AM on July 31
Only postponed by one day?
The water quality fluctuates day-to-day, and is acceptable about 85% of the time. A one day postponement is to let the e coli concentrations dip into the safe range.
With updated sewer infrastructure the river should become usable for the first time in like a thousand years. I'd love to see it!
posted by MengerSponge at 8:23 AM on July 31
The water quality fluctuates day-to-day, and is acceptable about 85% of the time. A one day postponement is to let the e coli concentrations dip into the safe range.
With updated sewer infrastructure the river should become usable for the first time in like a thousand years. I'd love to see it!
posted by MengerSponge at 8:23 AM on July 31
Even setting aside the radioactivity, it sounds like the spot they've chosen is seriously dangerous already (ungated archive of an NYT Magazine link).
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 10:44 AM on July 31 [1 favorite]
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 10:44 AM on July 31 [1 favorite]
Growing up in New Zealand in the 1970s, it was perfectly normal to hate the French for the violent attack on NZ by the French Government (as noted above by phigmov), in what would be considered an act of war by most definitions. But I guess that's fallen into the memory of old people and not such a big thing nowadays, albeit I understand there's still an underlying anti-French sentiment that most people don't really understand.
But that was nothing compared to what the French did to the people living in the Pacific. A fine act of colonialism to consider the 'natives' to be lesser humans that it wasn't important to protect. Not necessarily worse than what a range of other countries did, of course, not the least of which is the US testing bombs, albeit on their own soil and killing their own people rather than some far-off land. Similar to what the UK did in Australia, I guess.
Nuclear weapons are the gift that keeps on giving. But only for a few thousand years. It's a small price to pay for freedom...
posted by dg at 11:25 PM on July 31
But that was nothing compared to what the French did to the people living in the Pacific. A fine act of colonialism to consider the 'natives' to be lesser humans that it wasn't important to protect. Not necessarily worse than what a range of other countries did, of course, not the least of which is the US testing bombs, albeit on their own soil and killing their own people rather than some far-off land. Similar to what the UK did in Australia, I guess.
Nuclear weapons are the gift that keeps on giving. But only for a few thousand years. It's a small price to pay for freedom...
posted by dg at 11:25 PM on July 31
> not the least of which is the US testing bombs, albeit on their own soil and killing their own people rather than some far-off land
own soil: are you referring to the Nevada Test Site? That's Western Shoshone land, sparsely populated, but not empty. Maybe the Pacific Proving Grounds? That was some bullshit rubber stamped by the UN.
own soil: are you referring to the Nevada Test Site? That's Western Shoshone land, sparsely populated, but not empty. Maybe the Pacific Proving Grounds? That was some bullshit rubber stamped by the UN.
Since 1956, the U.S. has paid at least $759 million to Marshall Islanders as compensation for their exposure to U.S. nuclear testing.posted by ASCII Costanza head at 9:58 PM on August 2
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posted by MengerSponge at 7:14 PM on July 30 [2 favorites]