400 Nuclear Powerstations

Its shocking to face the fact that in our hunger for energy we have allowed 400 nuclear power stations to be built around the world without any way of ensuring their safety into the future, which will be needed for many hundreds of years to come.

But I hold onto one possible solution which might help to soften the immense fear this prospect evokes:

A few years ago I  experienced a powerful deep ecology workshop with Joanna Macy, where people were invited to imagine a future where  nuclear reactors are placed in the hands of religious sects, for whom these monolithic structures and their toxic waste have become holy temples to revere and protect. They create monasteries around them and pass the knowledge of how to keep them safe from generation to generation.

ONLY in this way, as  Joanna Macy explained, can we hope that the nuclear waste can be contained safely until it is expended naturally.

In the history of civilisation, there is ample evidence that no ruling system or social group has the consistency, reliability or longevity to be trusted with such a huge responsibility. She sees this scenario, where religious monastics assume  this vital role, as the only feasible and safe guardianship for the monstrous time-bombs that we have created.

So here is a possible solution that, like so many approaches to the planetary crisis that we are being told to expect, can really only be resolved by evolving a spiritual and evolutionary consciousness perspective.