Environmentally Romantic Semantics

Save the Trees?

Environmental Protection or Protection from the Environment. That will be the question for this blog post today. I think today, I will choose an easy topic.  So, what is the  purpose of ENU4641 Applied Radiation Protection? Should we be using this knowledge to protect ourselves from the environment or protect our environment?

Well, I feel this to all come down to personal opinion. With an appropriate definition, either task seems like a worthy endeavour. However, personally I feel that I would reside on the protecting our environment side. There are a few simple reasons. A "protect ourselves class" seems more like shielding. That class seems to have a learn to protect yourself and then you can protect others philosophy. I also feel that the majority of time spent in this class was spent on the environmental impact: dispersion, modeling, waste, and such. Although, I guess the end self-improvement material could be considered protecting ourselves from the challenges of the real world.

I also feel that protecting the environment to be a slightly more worthwhile goal, although again they are both great. If you don't protect yourself you can't protect the environment. There are real threats in the natural world and background radiation and radon gas can be scary things. But the majority of exposure seems to come from lifestyle. For my definition of protecting the environment, though I believe it can be a much harder task but with necessary responsibilities.

Yes we should save the trees. The trees, the plants, the animals are beautiful creatures that deserve our respect and protection. I also want to state quickly that a majority of nuclear power activities have negligible effect on the biology of its environment.  But, we need to keep it that way. We need to keep exposures low and not only low if the pathway comes back directly to us. We still need to innovate and model and try to protect our surroundings that really has no earnings from the nuclear plants or any plants that are built. This is where I like to make my definition clear. It's not only the plants and environment that need protection. We need to protect our surroundings: all the elements outside of our industry that have come together to provide for our ability to built a plant. Whether it be the ecosystem right outside our walls, or the rivers that we use to cool the plant, the nearest city, or the farmer and his family a few miles south. They have graced us with the ability to be here and we should protect the environment that has given us so much, and we hope to give back to.

Yup. Well that's as soap-boxy as I can get for the day. Thanks as always.