Well, there’s an old phrase, “Somewhere along the line, there must be the Piper to pay.” But more to the point, the wastes associated with nuclear energy, no idea how to deal with them. No idea what to do with them. . . . Where are you going to put that screaming hot radiation?
We’re talking about things with half-lives of 30 thousand years. You’re not going to sit around under a swimming pool for 30-thousand years.
To fix it is an interesting problem. How are you going to get a universally understood, by an aboriginal person who has no knowledge of reading and writing, a symbol that says, “This is dangerous. Stay away from it”?
As I was beginning to transcribe Volume III of The Nature of Drugs, I came across this excerpt in which Sasha explores the concept of the horizontal energy economy. In Volume III, Sasha gets into things that many wouldn’t initially think of as drugs, such as radioactivity and environmental pollutants. At the time of this course (the 1980s), increased concern was beginning to surface amongst the general population over pressing questions about environmental degradation and consumption of energy. While new challenges and information about the nature and extent of the problem have emerged since the recording of this lecture, I found this clip to be particularly timely and powerful.
Please enjoy this unique audio excerpt, where Sasha delves into this territory, exploring the modern perils of the delicate cycle of life on Earth.
Audio Clip
(short version)
Audio Clip
(long version)
