Butterflies have been discovered in Fukushima that have suffered mutations due to radiation. It is just one piece of news among so many. It is also a small piece of news compared to the ups and downs of the risk premium and the roller coaster of ...
Butterflies have been discovered in Fukushima that have suffered mutations due to radiation.
It is just one piece of news among so many. It is also a small piece of news compared to the ups and downs of the risk premium and the IBEX roller coaster. It is a piece of news as ephemeral and inconsistent as butterflies are.
I know that this news can be approached from the certainty that it is a warning, that butterflies, like any living being whose life cycle is measured in a matter of days, are a useful indicator of the rate of mutations. Their short life cycle allows the consequences of any mutagenic agent to appear in a short period of time in several generations.
But no. I am not interested, at least today, in that "scientific" aspect of the news, I am only left with the impact that the tortured wings of the butterfly have on me.
Surely radiation has also affected other insects, worms, arthropods, bacteria... who knows.
Surely zucchini, chard, soybeans, millet, and God knows how many more plants, have also suffered more or less visible mutations and who knows how livestock and poultry, and wild animals have been affected.
Surely radiation will probably affect thousands and thousands of Fukushima residents and in the coming years there will be endless talk about the consequences of the nuclear accident.
Today, however, I am only left with that obscene image of the perverted beauty of the Fukushima butterfly and I think about the arrogance and recklessness that has led us to release the atomic genie from the bottle without knowing how to put it back in its place.