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Displaying items by tag: West Michigan Environmental Action Council
GR's green infrastructure investments worth the cost, GVSU study finds
Grand Valley State University researchers have found the benefits outweigh the costs of Grand Rapids' investment in green infrastructure to limit stormwater runoff.
Energy efficiency financing mechanism 'outpaced' by current market trends
GRAND RAPIDS — A group of investors hoping to redevelop one of downtown's last vacant buildings believes energy-efficient infrastructure could serve as one method to achieve greater affordability.
Q&A: Bill Wood, Executive Director, West Michigan Environmental Action Council
After a decade of working with Habitat For Humanity in Kentucky and Pennsylvania, Bill Wood hopes to put his sustainable development expertise to use in Grand Rapids' booming construction market. As the new executive director of the nearly 50-year-old West Michigan Environmental Action Council, Wood says he sees numerous opportunities to reduce waste from demolition and construction while also gearing policy toward being revenue-neutral or revenue-positive for the area's business community. In an interview conducted on the green roof of WMEAC's office in the East Hills neighborhood of Grand Rapids, Wood spoke to MiBiz about how he hopes to tackle environmental policy issues.
Local nonprofits learn to apply human-centered design to drive outcomes
Kent County to explore sustainable business park at Byron Center landfill
BYRON CENTER — West Michigan could become a hub for innovative waste processing companies in the coming years.
GVSU considers new ways to foster entrepreneurial growth
GRAND RAPIDS — The formation of a new support system to foster entrepreneurship in West Michigan severs what had been a direct link between higher education and the venture capital community.


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subset: commoncrawl


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Orkney Islands Council properties are allocated through our Lettings Policy and are not usually advertised on this site.
However, there are situations where a property becomes available and there are no current applicants meeting the qualifying criteria. We therefore advertise these properties on this page.
If you are interested, please do not hesitate to contact the Housing Management section by telephone on 01856873535 or via email.
|Type of Property
|None at present.
Please note that these properties will be allocated in accordance with our Lettings Policy and you will therefore have to complete a Housing Application Form if you are not currently on the waiting list.
A detailed overview for each listed property is available from the 'Related Downloads' section on this page.


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Not sure, but something looks shady in the classified section.
two different casitas for sale same guy different names different years different states.
i got two emails about trailers for sale, same content different trailers different states, 2003 and a 2009 sprint deluxe.
maybe nothing just looks strange, read about creigslist scams don't want them to get into our forums. both posts ask for 'green money'.
just want to let someone know about it, if it's nothing that's fine, just strange.


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Got a new mouse so to put it to good use I decided to install rox-filer again. I'm using rox 2.5 from Debian testing.
I need to do some icon tweaking to reduce and standardize size. My new jwm theme (work in progres) is "pearl" and I'll post it to my theme thread at the DSL forums when I get it all sorted out. I set up aterm and mrxvt to open maximized, no border, no title; I left xterm alone to "float" on the desktop.
The fourth icon from the left is my wrapper to force-resume screen. To reiterate my pro-WIMP point yesterday, one click on that icon sets into motion everything that it would take multiple keystrokes (and even tabbing for autocompletion) to do. The screenshot was taken and scaled with the same command from my ratmenu entry, piped into my jwm menu (vim rocks); I also have it bound to xbindkeys so I can press one button. Icons are messy and time consuming? I clicked on my home folder and dragged the icon for the image over the gimp icon on the desktop. Voila, I opened the image in gimp and edited ever so slightly.
My impressions of the updates to rox since version 1.2 (which is what I've used from MyDSL) are that it's matured very well. It works fine in Linux even though the RISCOS-centric stuff like application directories aren't exactly suited for Linux. Among the features that are different, I appreciate the customizable menus. I need to read through the changelogs and see what else has changed. I also have a lot of MIME-types to set up.
FWIW, I have more anti-WIMP window managers installed than I have ones designed for icons and menus and taskbars. And most of what I do in jwm is bound to keystroke (which I'm increasing even more since installing the bloated xbindkeys and related packages yesterday). I don't agree with the arguments against WIMP because they tend to throw the baby out with the bathwater — there are sensible ways to configure systems to maximize productivity and ease of use. Menus and icons and all the rest can be part of that solution. Dogmatic objection to such use isn't productive.


text: Nurturing future leaders at Xinghua Primary School 08 Feb 2019 Student leaders at Xinghua Primary School conducting a sharing session for their peers. (Photo: Xinghua Primary School) It's been four years since Muhammad Amirul Fitrii Muhtadiin graduated from Xinghua Primary School, but he clearly remembers his stint as head prefect in 2015. "I remembered giving motivational speeches, led workshops for my juniors and organising our school's Teachers' Day concert," recounts Amirul, who is now a student of Victoria School. "In my role as head prefect, I had to interact with others a lot. It gave me the opportunity to step out of my comfort zone." Amirul's learning experiences are what Xinghua Primary School hopes to impart to its students through its leadership programme. Every student has a role to play. They get to serve their class through different responsibilities, such as subject monitors or administrative leaders. Those who show greater leadership potential would be endorsed by their teachers for bigger responsibilities, such as leading their co-curricular activities (CCAs) or becoming prefects. However, students' leadership journeys do not just end with carrying out projects for the school. They would also be role models to their peers. Experienced prefects would be tasked with conducting workshops to impart their knowledge on leadership to their younger counterparts. CCA leaders become ambassadors for their activities, while house leaders take charge of promoting healthy living habits to their peers. Beyond positive contributions to the school, the programme also creates rich learning experiences by encouraging students to leave their comfort zones and socialise and be positive influences to their peers. These responsibilities allow students to learn that their team members in their group may have different opinions and they are challenged to rally them together and find a consensus. "They learn to listen, respect and work together as a team," says Ms Diana Yin, Xinghua Primary School's subject head for pupil leadership. "These skills enable students to interact effectively and harmoniously with others." Leaders' actions and decisions will inevitably affect the people who are supporting them. At Xinghua, students learn to look beyond their own interests and be aware of how they impact their friends. "I have to give my best in my role so that I can help others. I would have to take the initiative to learn the song so that I can teach my friends if they don't understand," explains Huang Jing, leader of the Guzheng CCA. "In times when my decisions affect others – such as how to react to members who do not listen during practice sessions – I need to be able to make the right and fair choice." While all the students get to take on a leadership role in their classrooms at some point, not all of them will be assigned to more prominent positions such as CCA leaders and prefects. Thus, students may feel disappointed or even envious, if their schoolmate was chosen for a role which they had been hoping to get. Not being selected is not a setback, but rather, it is a teachable moment. "As teachers, we set out the roles and expectations of each leader and we have chats with those who are feeling disappointed about not getting a certain role," says Ms Yin. "We encourage the students not to give up, continue to work towards the role and support their friends. This will definitely help them grow as leaders."


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It was indeed one of the most appreciated commercials we did. The idea promotes kids creativity and freedom of choice. The family has to carefully observe and guide the kids into the direction they are showing talent in. In our case the cute actor girl is doodling on a window and the mom has no worries or concerns about cleaning it after. There is an easy and convenient way of handling that, Service Lösningar their choice for home and windows cleaning.
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YOUR BEST SOURCE FOR PRO AUDIO GEAR. Carl Martin HeadRoom Spring Reverb Guitar Effects Pedal Head Room Footswitch. Carl Martin HeadRoom Spring Reverb Guitar Effects Pedal. The Carl Martin Headroom is the most simple to operate reverb pedal on the market.
This purely analogue'real spring' reverb has two identical identical channels, each with tone and level controls to select the depth and tone of your reverb. This allows you to have a soft, small room reverb on Channel A and a much more dramatic and dark large-room reverb on Channel B (or vise versa) The two foot-controlled switches control which channel you are in, and whether you wish to bypass the effect completely. It is like having two separate reverbs in your amp! Additional features on the Carl Martin Headroom include solid metal casing, cool vintage chicken head knobs, double mounted springs to minimize stage feedback, and remote jacks for Bypass and Channel Select (which allows you to place the effect in your rack or in the back of your amp to save real-estate on your pedal-board), as well as your input and output jacks. Of course you also get that famous Carl Martin quality that you have come to expect..
The Carl Martin Headroom runs on 9V DC, and as always, we recommend using a regulated power supply for optimum performance. The item "Carl Martin HeadRoom Spring Reverb Guitar Effects Pedal Head Room Footswitch" is in sale since Tuesday, January 8, 2019.This item is in the category "Musical Instruments & Gear\Guitars & Basses\Parts & Accessories\Effects Pedals\Delay, Echo & Reverb". The seller is "*pitbullaudio*" and is located in National City, California. This item can be shipped worldwide.


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Ministry to test growing veggies on cleansed soil in Fukushima
Environment Minister Shinjiro Koizumi, center, inspects a test project on reusing soil decontaminated following the 2011 nuclear accident on farmland in Iitate, Fukushima Prefecture, in February.
May 7, 2020
Despite strong public opposition to the proposal, the Environment Ministry will soon start a trial demonstration to confirm the safety of growing food crops in soil decontaminated following the 2011 nuclear accident.
The ministry received nearly 3,000 public comments about its proposal to revise an ordinance to enable the soil to be reused across Japan, most of which opposed the proposal.
Many people are opposed to reusing the soil, saying, "It will spread contamination."
At a news conference on May 1, Environment Minister Shinjiro Koizumi acknowledged, "I strongly recognize the fact that there are people who are opposing (the reuse of decontaminated soil). We will provide detailed explanations to seek understanding for our willingness to take a step forward even if it's just a small one."
The project, to start by the end of May at the earliest, will be conducted in the Nagadoro district in Iitate, Fukushima Prefecture. The district is designated as a "difficult-to-return" zone, where radiation levels remain high since the triple meltdown at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant following the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami.
The ministry is seeking to reuse decontaminated soil for public construction work and farmland development if the radiation level of the soil is below certain standards. In the last fiscal year, which ended in March, flowers and crops used to make solid fuel for biomass power generation were grown on land using the decontaminated soil.
The ministry initially planned to revise a related ordinance in April to enable the soil to be reused, saying it obtained "results that showed the soil was safe enough (to be used for growing crops)."
However, the ministry decided to postpone the revision after hearing requests from local residents who want to grow food crops as well. The ministry must check the safety of the soil once again since such crops will be intended for human consumption. The ministry will grow vegetables including tomatoes and cucumbers during the test project.
In the Nagadoro district, there is a demonstration plot of farmland that spans about 600 square meters in total. The land comprises an 800-cubic-meter embankment of soil whose radiation level is 5,000 becquerels or lower per kilogram, and the embankment is covered with uncontaminated soil that is 50 centimeters thick.
Decontaminated soil is currently stored at interim storage facilities in Okuma and Futaba in Fukushima Prefecture. The law stipulates that the final disposal of the soil should be conducted outside the prefecture within 30 years from 2015, when the facilities began storing the soil.
The total amount of soil stored at such facilities is expected to reach about 14 million cubic meters, equivalent to 11 Tokyo Domes, located in Tokyo's Bunkyo Ward. The ministry is considering reusing the soil to reduce the amount of soil that needs to be disposed of.
New School Opens in Nuclear Crisis-Hit Fukushima Village
Sacrificing the youth in the simulacre of a return to normalty…
Iitate, Fukushima Pref., April 5 (Jiji Press)–A new school offering nine-year compulsory education opened on Sunday in a northeastern Japan village affected by the country's worst nuclear accident nine years ago.
Iitate Hope Village Academy is the first facility for compulsory schooling launched in a former no-go zone set up after the unprecedented triple meltdown at Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc.'s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, which was damaged by the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami.
The institution in the village of Iitate in Fukushima Prefecture aims to improve the quality of education by integrating school functions after the number of students fell sharply due to an exodus of residents following the nuclear accident. The academy, run by the government of the village, will provide education programs for elementary and junior high schools.
An opening ceremony, held on Sunday, was attended by 50 of the 65 students and some 150 guardians and guests. While taking measures, such as wearing face masks, to prevent infection with the novel coronavirus that is raging across the country, participants sang the school song written by poet Madoka Mayuzumi and composed by singer Kosetsu Minami.
"As a top-grade student, I'm ready to lead younger students," Ryosuke Watanabe, 14, said, receiving the new school flag at the ceremony.
Bee swarm affected by Fukushima radiation
Fukushima tragedy: The day of black snow
Fukushima village hit by 2011 meltdowns starts raising dairy calves again
Hopefully that milk from these local dairy farms will NOT end up in school lunch…
Fukushima, the impossible return to the villages of the former evacuation zone: the example of Iitate
- JAEGLER Hugo, POINTURIER Fabien, ONDA Yuichi, HUBERT Amélie, LACEBYAD Patrick J., CIRELLAB Maëva, EVRARD Olivier (2018), "Plutonium isotopic signatures in soils and their variation (2011-2014) in sediment transiting a coastal river in the Fukushima Prefecture, Japan", Environmental Pollution, Volume 240, Sept. 2018, Elsevier, pages 167-176.
- HIRANO Katsuya and KASAI Hirotaka (2016) : ""The Fukushima Nuclear Disaster is a Serious Crime": Interview with Koide Hiroaki", The Asia-Pacific Journal, Japan Focus, volume 14, issue 6, Number 2.
- IMANAKA Tetsuji, ENDO Satoru, SUGAI Masuro, OZAWA Shoji, SHIZUMA Kiyoshi and YAMAMOTO Masayoshi (2012) : "Early radiation survey of Iitate village, which was heavily contaminated by the fukushima daiichi accident, conducted on 28 and 29 march 2011", in Health Physics Society, pp. 680-686.
- IMANAKA Tetsuji, ENDO Satoru, SHIZUMA Kiyoshi, SUGAI Masuro, OZAWA Shoji (2011), Interim Report on Radiation Survey in Iitate Village area conducted on March 28th and 29th, 11 p. [pdf]
- MCNEILL David, MATSUMOTO Chie (2017) : "In Fukushima, a land where few return : The evacuation orders for most of the village of Iitate have been lifted. But where are the people?", Japan Times, 2017 May 13.
- MIZOGUCHI Masaru (2013) : "Remediation of Paddy Soil Contaminated by Radiocesium in Iitate Village in Fukushima Prefecture", in T.M. Nakanishi and K. Tanoi (eds.), Agricultural Implications of the Fukushima Nuclear Accident, pp. 131 – 142.
- SATO Akihiko, (2017) : Challenges of just rebuilding, case studies of Iitate Village and Tomioka Town, Fukushima Prefecture, in Rebuilding Fukushima, Mitsuo Yamakawa, Daisaku Yamamoto, pp. 39-47.
- TSUJIUCHI Takuya, (2015) : Mental Health Impact of the Fukushima Nuclear Disaster: Post-Traumatic Stress and Psycho-Socio-Economic Factors, Fukushima Global Communication Programme Working Paper Series Number 8, United Nations University.
- "The struggle to repopulate Fukushima, Six years after the nuclear disaster, Japan is pushing villagers back to the homes they left", The Economist, May 2017.
- Cécile Asanuma-Brice : (2018) « L'être en son milieu, du rapport humain-objet-milieu au Japon comme ailleurs sur la planète », Libération, 11 juin 2018,
- Cécile Asanuma-Brice (2017) "Atomic Fission and Japan's Nuclear Meltdown: When politics prevails over scientific proof", in Christophe Thouny and Mitsuhiro Yoshimoto (eds.), Planetary Atmospheres and Urban Society After Fukushima, Palgrave McMillian.
- Cécile Asanuma-Brice, « Les migrants du nucléaire », Géoconfluences, octobre 2017.
- Cécile Asanuma-Brice (2016). La mémoire de l'oubli, une forme de résistance à la résilience, publication des actes du colloque « Après le désastre, réponses commémoratives et culturelles », Éditions de l'Université de Tôkyô (en français).
- Cécile Asanuma-Brice (2016) Franckushima, rédaction de la Préface et chapitres, Direction Géraud Bournet, L'utopiquant.
- Cécile Asanuma-Brice (2015) « De la vulnérabilité à la résilience, réflexions sur la protection en cas de désastre extrême : Le cas de la gestion des conséquences de l'explosion d'une centrale nucléaire à Fukushima », Revue Raison Publique, no. « Au-delà du risque Care, capacités et résistance en situation de désastre », Sandra Laugier, Solange Chavel, Marie Gaille (dir.)
- Cécile Asanuma-Brice (2015) « À Fukushima, la population est dans une situation inextricable », CNRS Le Journal, mars 2015.
- Cécile Asanuma-Brice (2014) « La légende Fukushima », Libération, septembre 2014.
- Cécile Asanuma-Brice (2013) « Fukushima, une démocratie en souffrance », Revue Outre terre, mars 2013.
- Cécile Asanuma-Brice (2012) « Les politiques publiques du logement face à la catastrophe du 11 mars », in C. Lévy, T. Ribault, numéro spécial de la revue EBISU de la Maison franco-japonaise n° 47, juin 2012.
Autres articles de l'auteure à consulter ici :
Thin Lichen Exhibits Remarkable Radioactivity Bioaccumulation in Iwate
Via Marco Kaltofen
From our sampling with Fairwinds in Iitate, Japan; thin layer of lichen exhibits remarkable bioaccumulation of environmental radioactivity.
Evacuation Orders Lifted for Iitate, Kawamata, Namie, Tomioka
The Japanese government has lifted evacuation orders for zones it had designated as "areas to which evacuation orders are ready to be lifted" and "areas in which residents are not permitted to live" as a result of the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident. The orders were lifted in Iitate, Namie and the Yamakiya district of Kawamata on March 31 and in Tomioka on April 1. Evacuation orders for "areas where it is expected that residents will face difficulties in returning for a long time" (or, more briefly, "difficult-to-return zones") remain in place. The evacuation orders originally affected a total of 12 municipalities, but had been lifted for six of those as of last year. The latest rescission of orders has brought the ratio of refugees allowed to return to their homes to about 70%, with the area still under evacuation orders reduced to about 30% of its original size. TEPCO intends to cut off compensation to these refugees, with a target date of March 2018, roughly a year after the evacuation orders were lifted. Additionally, the provision of free housing to "voluntary evacuees," who evacuated from areas not under evacuation orders, was discontinued at the end of March 2017.
Lifting of Orders Affects 32,000 People
The number of people forced to abandon their homes due to the Fukushima nuclear accident reached a peak of 164,865 people in May 2012, when they had no choice but to evacuate. Now, even six years later, 79,446 evacuees (as of February 2017) continue to lead difficult lives as refugees.
In the six municipalities for which the evacuation orders were lifted last year, the repatriation of residents has not proceeded well. Repatriation ratios compared to the pre-disaster population have been about 50 to 60% for Hirono and Tamura, about 20% for Kawauchi, and not even 10% for Naraha, Katsurao and the Odaka district of Minamisoma, where radiation doses were high (see Table 1).
The number of evacuees affected by the current lifting of evacuation orders for the four municipalities is 32,169. The ratio of positive responses to a residents' opinion survey conducted by the Reconstruction Agency from last year to this year saying they would like to be repatriated was rather low, with about 30 to 40% for Iitate and Kawamata, and less than 20% for Namie and Tomioka. During the long course of their evacuation, spanning six years, many of the residents had already built foundations for their lives in the places to which they had evacuated.
House and Building Demolition Proceeding (Namie)
A total of 15,356 evacuees (as of the end of 2016) are affected by the rescission of evacuation orders for Namie, amounting to about 80% of the town's residents. Results of an opinion survey published by the Reconstruction Agency in November showed 17.5% of the residents saying they wanted to return to Namie. Most replied that they did not want to return or that they could not return yet.
A temporary shopping center named "Machi Nami Marushe" has been newly opened next to the main Namie Town Office building, where the evacuation orders have been lifted. The rail service on the Joban Line to JR Namie Station was restored when the orders were lifted. In the area around Namie Station and the shopping center in front of it, houses and buildings are being demolished and decontamination and road repair work are proceeding at a high pitch.
Meanwhile, Namie's residents say their houses have been made uninhabitable by damage from various wild animals, including boars, raccoon dogs, palm civets, raccoons, martens and monkeys. Many houses have been ruined, necessitating their demolition.
'Forward Base' for Reactor Decommissioning (Tomioka)
A total of 9,601 evacuees (as of January 1, 2017) are affected by the rescission of evacuation orders for Tomioka, about 70% of the town's residents. Results of a residents' opinion survey show no more than 16% of them wishing to return to the town.
Last November, a commercial zone called "Sakura Mall Tomioka" was established along National Route 6. A supermarket and drug store opened for business there at the end of March. Nearby is the "Energy Hall"—TEPCO's nuclear power PR facilities. Right next door to that, housing is being built for reconstruction workers, consisting of 50 detached houses and 140 apartment complex units. There are plans to relocate JR Tomioka Station to a position near these.
The town will play a role as a "forward base for reactor decommissioning." The Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) is promoting the construction of an international research center for the International Research Institute for Nuclear Decommissioning (IRID), scheduled for completion by the end of March. It will carry out research on human resource development and methods for the disposal of radioactive wastes. These facilities are not meant for returning residents. Instead, they are being promoted as part of plans for a new "workers' town" and will have decontamination and decommissioning workers move in as new residents along with decommissioning researchers.
On the other hand, the "difficult-to-return zones" of about 8 km2, including the Yonomori district, famous for its cherry tree tunnel that used to be lit up at night, will remain under evacuation orders. At a residents' briefing, people expressed worries about matters like having to see the barricades to those zones on a daily basis.
Non-repatriating Residents Cut Off (Iitate)
The village of Iitate, located about 40 km northwest of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, is making a massive decontamination effort across its entire area, including agricultural fields, to prepare for repatriation of its residents. About 2.35 million large flexible container bags into which contaminated waste is stuffed are stacked in temporary storage areas, accounting for about 30% of the total 7.53 million bags overall in the special decontamination area (for decontamination directly implemented by the national government). Prior to rescission of the evacuation orders, Iitate Mayor Norio Kanno made the controversial remark, "We will honor support from residents who repatriate to the village." This brought an angry response from the residents, declaring that they were adamantly opposed to an attitude of treating those not returning as non-residents. The village's position on repatriation is that it should be up to the judgement of the villagers themselves.
Three Requirements for Lifting Evacuation Orders
On December 26, 2011, Japan's government determined three conditions needed to be fulfilled before evacuation orders could be lifted. These were (1) certainty that the accumulative annual dose at the estimated air dose rate would be 20 mSv or less, (2) that infrastructure and everyday services had been restored and decontamination work had proceeded sufficiently, especially in environments where children would be active, and (3) that there had been sufficient consultation with the prefecture, municipalities and residents. In May 2015, the government decided on a target of March 2017 for lifting the evacuation orders for all but the "difficult-to-return zones." They proceeded with the decontamination work and provision of infrastructure for the residents' return, but gaining consent was a hopeless cause.
Requirement 1: Coerced Exposure The annual 20 mSv standard the government established is puzzling. The ICRP's recommendations and laws such as Japan's Nuclear Reactor Regulation Law stipulate a public radiation exposure limit of 1 mSv a year. The government is repatriating the residents even at radiation doses exceeding this, and of most concern is how this will affect their health. The residents argue, "We cannot return to places with such a high risk of exposure."
Trial calculations of the radiation doses received by individuals staying in Namie and Tomioka to conduct preparatory work were published prior to the rescission of evacuation orders for those towns, showing annual doses of 1.54 mSv for Namie and 1.52 mSv for Tomioka. These are below the government's standard of 20 mSv a year (3.8 μSv per hour)* for lifting evacuation orders, but both exceed the annual limit for public exposure. They are not conditions ensuring "safety and security" as the government says.
At the residents' briefings, the government explained that its basis for lifting the orders was that decontamination had been completed. However, even if the annual radiation dose has not fallen below 1mSv (the government's decontamination standard, equivalent to an hourly dose of 0.23 μSv) after decontamination, they will press ahead with lifting the evacuation orders anyway. This drew strong reactions from the residents who said, "Are you making us return just because of the decontamination?" and "Are you forcing us to be exposed?"
Requirement 2: Shopping Close By
Prior to the earthquake and tsunami disaster, the Odaka district of Minamisoma, where the evacuation orders were lifted last July, had six supermarkets, two home centers, six fish shops and three drugstores. All of those, however, were lost in the disaster. At last, after the evacuation orders were lifted, two convenience stores opened, but they are far from the residential area near JR Odaka Station, and cannot be reached on foot. A clinic reopened, but since there is no pharmacy, there is no way for patients to buy prescribed medicines. Repatriated residents have to travel for about 20 minutes by car to the adjacent Haramachi district about 10 kilometers away to supplement their shopping and other necessities. Residents without cars, such as the elderly, have difficulty living there. They say, "Nobody wants to reopen the stores because it is obvious that they'll run at a loss." A vicious cycle continues, with stores unable to open because the residents who would be their customers are not returning.
Requirement 3: Spurn Residents' Wishes Almost none of the residents attending the residents' briefings have been in favor of lifting the evacuation orders. Nine or more out of 10 have expressed opposition. They are always given the same canned explanation, with the national and municipal governments brazenly and unilaterally insisting on lifting the orders.
"It is too soon to lift the evacuation orders," complained one resident at Namie's residents' briefing on February 7. The 74-year-old woman living as an evacuee in Tokyo had been getting by on 100,000 yen a month in pension payments and compensation for mental anguish and was living in a single-bedroom public apartment (UR Housing) in Tokyo that qualifies as post-disaster public-funded rental accommodation. Her compensation will be cut off, and if she chooses to continue living in the housing where she currently resides, the rent is expected to exceed 100,000 yen. She considers how many years she could continue paying and doesn't know what she would do if she became unable to pay. Such constant thoughts increase her anxiety. The minute the evacuation orders are lifted, she too will be rendered a "voluntary evacuee."
The woman said, "Even if they tell me to go back to Namie because it is safe, I will not return." They have finished decontaminating her house, but high levels of radiation remain, measuring 0.4 μSv per hour in her garden and 0.6 μSv per hour in her living room. With regard to this, Namie Mayor Tamotsu Baba keeps repeating the same response that "the environment is in good order for people to come back and live in our town."
A multitude of residents expressed a litany of angry opinions, such as, "If the government says it is safe, they ought to send some of their officials to live here first," "Say we come back, but if we are going to live next to where dangerous decommissioning work is going on, are they still going to cut off our compensation?" and "The government and town officials say they are striving for the safety and security of the residents, but we can't trust them at all." Following this briefing, though, on February 27, the town of Namie accepted the national government's policy of lifting the evacuation orders, formally deciding on the end of March as the date for rescission. They pooh-poohed the views of many of the town's residents opposed to lifting of the orders.
Conclusion In a Cabinet Decision on December 20, 2016, the Japanese government adopted a "Policy for Accelerating Fukushima's Reconstruction." This policy promotes the preparation of "reconstruction bases" in parts of the "difficult-to-return zones" and the use of government funds for decontamination toward a target of lifting the evacuation orders for these areas in five years and urging repatriation. "Difficult-to-return zones" span the seven municipalities of Futaba, Okuma, Tomioka, Namie, Iitate, Katsurao and Minamisoma. By area, they account for 62% of Okuma and 96% of Futaba. The affected population numbers about 24,000 people.
The government's repatriation policy, however, is resulting in bankruptcies. Rather than repatriation, they should be promoting a "policy of evacuation" in consideration of current conditions. Policies should be immediately implemented to provide economic, social and health support to the evacuees, enabling them to live healthy, civilized lives, regardless of whether they choose to repatriate or continue their evacuation.
Ryohei Kataoka, CNIC
* This calculation is based on a government approved formula which assumes that people will be exposed to 3.8 μSv per hour only for 8 hours per day when they are outside the house. It is assumed that they will be indoors for 16 hours per day and the screening effect will reduce the exposure rate to 1.52 μSv per hour. On a yearly basis, this calculates to slightly less than 20 mSv per year.
In Fukushima, a land where few return
The evacuation orders for most of the village of Iitate have been lifted. But where are the people?
The build-up of contaminated bags is slowly changing the landscape of Iitate, Fukushima Prefecture.
IITATE, FUKUSHIMA PREF. – Some day when I have done what I set out to do, I'll return home one of these days, where the mountains are green, my old country home, where the waters are clear, my old country home.
— "Furusato," Tatsuyuki Takano
A cherry tree is blooming in the spring sunshine outside the home of Masaaki Sakai but there is nobody to see it. The house is empty and boarded up. Weeds poke through the ground. All around are telltale signs of wild boar, which descend from the mountains to root and forage in the fields. Soon, the 60-year-old farmhouse Sakai shared with his mother and grandmother will be demolished.
"I don't feel especially sad," Sakai says. "We have rebuilt our lives elsewhere. I can come back and look around — just not live here."
A few hundred meters away the road is blocked and a beeping dosimeter begins nagging at the bucolic peace. The reading here is a shade over 1 microsievert per hour — a fraction of what it was when Sakai's family fled in 2011.
The radiation goes up and down, depending on the weather, Sakai says. In gullies and cracks in the road, and up in the trees, it soars. With almost everyone gone, the monkeys who live in the forests have grown bolder, stopping to stare at the odd car that appears instead of fleeing, as they used to.
A cluster of 20 small hamlets spread over 230 square kilometers, Iitate was undone by a quirk of the weather in the days that followed the nuclear accident in March 2011. Wind carried radioactive particles from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, which is located about 45 kilometers away, that fell in rain and snow on the night of March 15, 2011. After more than a month of indecision, during which the villagers lived with some of the highest radiation recorded in the disaster (the reading outside the village office on the evening of March 15 was a startling 44.7 microsieverts per hour), the government ordered them to leave.
Now, the government says it is safe to go back. With great fanfare, all but the still heavily contaminated south of Iitate, Nagadoro, was reopened on March 31.
A radiation monitoring post is installed in the village of Iitate on March 27, ahead of the lifting of an evacuation order for most areas of the village. The post bears the message 'Welcome home.'
The reopening fulfills a pledge made by Mayor Norio Kanno: Iitate was the first local authority in Fukushima Prefecture to set a date for ending evacuation in 2012, when the mayor promised to reboot the village in five years. The village has a new sports ground, convenience store and udon restaurant. A clinic sees patients twice a week. All that's missing is people.
Waiting to meet Kanno in the government offices of Iitate, the eye falls on a book displayed in the reception: "The Most Beautiful Villages in Japan." Listed at No. 12 is the beloved rolling patchwork of forests, hills and fields the mayor has governed for more than two decades — population 6,300, famous for its neat terraces of rice and vegetables, its industrious organic farmers, its wild mushrooms and the black wagyu cow that has taken the name of the area.
The description in the book is mocked by reality outside. The fields are mostly bald, shorn of vegetation in a Promethean attempt to decontaminate it of the radiation that fell six years ago. There is not a cow or a farmer in sight. Tractors sit idle in the fields. The local schools are empty. As for the population, the only part of the village that looks busy is the home for the elderly across the road from Kanno's office.
A school sits deserted in Iitate, Fukushima Prefecture, in April.
"The village will never return to how it used to be before the disaster," Kanno says, "but it may develop in a different way."
Recovery has started, Kanno says, wondering whether returnees will be able to start building a village they like.
"Who knows? Maybe one day that may help bring back evacuees or newcomers," Kanno says. "Life doesn't improve if you remain pessimistic."
Even for those who have permanently left, he adds, "it doesn't mean that their furusato can just disappear."
The pull of the furusato (hometown) is exceptionally strong in Japan, says Tom Gill, a British anthropologist who has written extensively about Iitate.
Yearning for it "is expressed in countless sentimental ballads," Gill says. "One particular song, simply titled 'Furusato,' has been sung by children attending state schools in Japan since 1914."
The appeal has persisted despite — or perhaps because of — the fact that the rural/urban imbalance in Japan is more skewed than in any other developed nation, Gill says; just 10 percent of the nation's population live in the country.
This may partly explain the extraordinary efforts to bring east Fukushima back to life. By one study, more than ¥2.34 trillion has been spent decontaminating an area roughly half the size of Rhode Island.
There has been no official talk of abandoning it. Indeed, any suggestion otherwise could be controversial: When industry minister Yoshio Hachiro called the abandoned communities "towns of death" in September 2011, the subsequent outrage forced him to quit a week later.
Instead, the area was divided into three zones with awkward euphemisms to suggest just the opposite: Communities with annual radiation measuring 20 millisieverts or less (the typical worldwide limit for workers in nuclear plants) are "being prepared for lifting of evacuation order," districts of 20-50 millisieverts per year are "no-residence zones" and the most heavily contaminated areas of 50 millisieverts or more per year, such as Nagadoro, are "difficult-to-return."
In September 2015, Naraha, which is located 15 kilometers south of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant, became the first town in the prefecture to completely lift the evacuation order imposed after the triple meltdown. Naraha has a publicly built shopping street, a new factory making lithium batteries, a kindergarten and a secondary school.
A team of decontamination workers has been sent to every house — in some cases several times. Of the pre-disaster 7,400 residents, about 1,500 mainly elderly people have returned, the local government says, although that figure is likely inflated.
In Iitate, the cost of decontamination works out at about ¥200 million per household. That, and the passage of time, has dramatically reduced radiation in many areas to below 20 millisieverts a year. However, Kanno says, the cleanup extends to only 20 meters around each house, and three-quarters of the village is forested mountains. In windy weather, radioactive elements are blown back onto the fields and homes.
"All that money, and for what?" asks Nobuyoshi Itoh, a farmer and critic of the mayor. "Would you bring children here and let them roam in the fields and forests?"
Nobuyoshi Itoh walks through a forest by his land in Iitate, Fukushima Prefecture.
Itoh opted to stay in one of the more heavily toxic parts of the village after everyone fled, with little apparent ill effect, although he says his immune system has weakened.
One of the reasons why Iitate was such a pleasant place to live before the nuclear crisis, he recalls, was its unofficial barter system. "Most people here never bought vegetables; they grew them," he says. "I would bring someone potatoes and they would give me eggs. That's gone now."
At most, he says, a few hundred people are back — but they're invariably older or retired.
"They alone will not sustain the village," Itoh says. "Who will drive them around or look after them when they are sick?"
As the depth of the disaster facing Iitate became clear, local people began to squabble among themselves. Some were barely scraping a living and wanted to leave, although saying so out loud — abandoning the furusato — was often difficult. Many joined lawsuits against the government.
Even before disaster struck, the village had lost a third of its population since 1970 as its young folk relocated to the cities, mirroring the hollowing-out of rural areas across the country. Some wanted to shift the entire village elsewhere, but Kanno wouldn't hear of it.
Compensation could be a considerable incentive. In addition to ¥100,000 a month to cover the "mental anguish" of being torn from their old lives, there was extra money for people with houses or farms. A five-year lump sum was worth ¥6 million per person — twice that for Nagadoro. One researcher estimates a rough figure of ¥50 million for the average household, sufficient to leave behind the uncertainties and worries of Iitate and buy a house a few dozen miles away, close enough to return for work or to the village's cool, tranquil summers.
Masaaki Sakai stands outside his home in Iitate, Fukushima Prefecture.
Many have already done so. Though nobody knows the true figure, the local talk is that perhaps half of the villagers have permanently left. Surveys suggest fewer than 30 percent want to return, and even less in the case of Nagadoro.
Yoshitomo Shigihara, head of the Nagadoro hamlet, says many families made their decision some time ago. His grandchildren, he says, should not have to live in such a place.
"It's our job to protect them," Shigihara says. He lives in the city of Fukushima but returns roughly every 10 days to inspect his house and weed the land.
Even with so much money spent, Shigihara doubts whether it will bring many of his friends or relatives back. At 70 years of age, he is not sure that he even wants to return, he says.
"I sometimes get upset thinking about it, but I can't talk with anyone in Fukushima, even my family, because we often end up quarreling," he says. "People try to feel out whether the others are receiving benefits, what they are getting or how much they received in compensation. It's very stressful to talk to anyone in Iitate. I'm starting to hate myself because I end up treating others badly out of frustration."
Kanno has won six elections since 1996 and has overseen every step of Iitate's painful rehabilitation, navigating between the anger and despair of his constituents and the official response to the disaster from the government and Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings (Tepco), operator of the crippled nuclear plant.
Ground Self-Defense Force members decontaminate areas tainted with radioactive substances in Iitate, Fukushima Prefecture, in December 2011.
He wants more money to complete decontamination work (the government claims it is finished), repair roads and infrastructure. Returnees need financial support, he says. However, it is time, he believes, to end the monthly compensation, which, in his view, induces dependency.
"If people keep saying that life is hard, they will not be able to recover," he says. "What we need is support for livelihoods."
A new system gives seed money to people who voluntarily come back to start businesses or farms.
"We don't want to give the impression that we are influencing people's decisions or forcing them to return," the mayor says, using the phrase "kokoro ni fumikomu," which literally means "to step into hearts."
Yet, next year, thousands of Iitate evacuees will face a choice: Go back or lose the money that has helped sustain them elsewhere for six years. Evacuation from areas exposed to less than 20 millisieverts per year will be regarded as "voluntary" under the official compensation scheme.
This dilemma was expressed with unusual starkness last month by Masahiro Imamura, the now sacked minister in charge of reconstructing Tohoku. Pressed by a freelance reporter, Imamura tetchily said it was up to the evacuees themselves — their "own responsibility, their own choice" — whether or not to return.
The comment touched a nerve. The government is forcing people to go back, some argued, employing a form of economic blackmail, or worse, kimin seisaku — abandoning them to their fate.
Itoh is angry at the resettlement. For him, politics drives the haste to put the disaster behind.
"It's inhuman to make people go back to this," he says. Like the physical damage of radiation, he says, the psychological damage is also invisible: "A lot of people are suffering in silence."
Itoh believes the government wants to show that the problems of nuclear power can be overcome so it can switch the nation's idling nuclear reactors back on. Just four are in operation while the fate of 42 others remains in political and legal limbo. Public opinion remains opposed to their restart.
Many people began with high hopes in Iitate but have gradually grown distrustful of the village government, says Kenichi Hasegawa, a farmer who wrote a book titled "Genpatsu ni Furusato o Ubawarete" ("Fukushima's Stolen Lives") in 2012. Right from the start, he says, the mayor desperately tried to hide the shocking radiation outside his office.
"Villagers have started losing interest," Hasegawa says.
Meetings called by the mayor are poorly attended.
"But they hold meetings anyway," Hasegawa says, "just to say they did."
Kanno rejects talk of defeatism. A tourist shop is expected to open in August that will attract people to the area, he says. Some villagers are paving entrances to their houses, using money from the reconstruction budget. As for radiation, everyone "has their own idea" about its effects. The lifting of the evacuation is only the start.
Itoh says he once trusted public officials but those days are long gone. By trying to save the village, he says, the mayor may in fact be killing it.
Bags filled with contaminated waste sit in a field in the village of Iitate, Fukushima Prefecture, in March 2016.
Fukushima village begins sowing rice for first time since nuclear crisis
A farmer plants rice at a paddy for commercial sale in Iitate, Fukushima Prefecture, on Wednesday for the first time since the meltdowns at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant in 2011. In the forefront is a sign warning against an electric fence set up for wild boars.
FUKUSHIMA – Rice planting for commercial sales began on Wednesday in a village in Fukushima Prefecture for the first time since the 2011 disaster at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
A total of eight farms in Iitate plan to resume growing rice this year in a combined area of about 7 hectares after evacuation orders were lifted at the end of March for large parts of the village.
With much of the area contaminated by radiation following the nuclear crisis, the total arable area has shrunk from around 690 hectares before the disaster, according to the village.
The farmers will conduct radiation tests before shipping their rice. No rice grown in the village has shown levels of radioactivity exceeding the safety standard since experimental rice planting began in 2012.
"(I feel) comfortable. We want to get back even a step closer to the village of six years ago," said Shoichi Takahashi, 64, while working a rice planting machine.
The municipality has supported farming efforts, including installing electric fences around the area to protect the rice fields from wild boar and working the soil after decontamination.
Measures to encourage evacuees to return to Fukushima are also slowly underway.
On Wednesday, an Upper House committee passed a bill aimed at boosting government support so evacuees can return to their homes earlier in areas which are off-limits in principle in the wake of the March 2011 nuclear meltdowns.
The Upper House plenary session is expected to clear the bill soon, allowing the government to fund more infrastructure rebuilding such as roads and get rid of radioactive substances in the area.
The bill already cleared the House of Representatives on April 14 but deliberations in the upper chamber stalled after Masahiro Imamura, who served as reconstruction minister, sparked outrage following a series of gaffes and ultimately resigned on April 26.
Minamisoma Mayor Katsunobu Sakurai called on Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Wednesday to help introduce an advanced medical care system in the city north of the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant.
Sakurai made the plea during his meeting with Abe at the Prime Minister's Office.
The evacuation order was lifted last July in one part of the city but medical institutions and clinics had been on the decline even before the natural disasters and nuclear crisis.
In a bid to ease residents' health concerns, the city office is developing a system where residents have access to doctors online.
Goichiro Toyoda, head of Medley Inc., which provides the remote medical care system, asked the government to revise regulations to allow a broader reach for the program.
Abe said he will do his best.
Japan Lifts Evacuation Orders for 3 Fukushima Areas
Fukushima, March 31 (Jiji Press)–Japan on Friday lifted its evacuation orders for the village of Iitate and two other areas that had been enforced due to the nuclear disaster at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power station in northeastern Japan.
The move came six years after Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc.'s <9501> power station suffered meltdowns after the huge earthquake and tsunami in March 2011, triggering evacuation orders in many places in Fukushima Prefecture, including Iitate and the other two areas.
Residents of Iitate, the town of Namie and the Yamakiya district in the town of Kawamata, totaling some 22,100 at the end of February, can now return home, except in a handful of places included in no-go zones where radiation levels are still too high.
With the evacuation order set to be removed for the town of Tomioka on Saturday, Okuma and Futaba, the host towns of the crippled power station, will be the only Fukushima municipalities without an area where an evacuation order has been lifted.
Meanwhile, municipalities where evacuation orders have been removed have their own problems: a slow return of residents.
SYMPOSIUM: Locals, experts discuss radiation risks, solutions, future in Iitate
FUKUSHIMA–Even after six years, lingering concerns over radiation loom large over the lives of evacuees from a village in northeastern Tohoku ravaged by the Great East Japan Earthquake and nuclear disaster in 2011.
Residents have agonized over whether to return to their homes in the village of Iitate, one of the most heavily contaminated areas, since evacuation orders are to be lifted on March 31.
Masanobu Akaishizawa, 67, head of an administrative district of Iitate, expressed his concerns at a recent symposium held here in mid-February.
"Experts say radiation doses don't affect us as long as we stay home," he said. "But I wonder about the quality of my life if I can neither go to the mountains nor the river."
Iitate was in the direct path of radioactive materials that spewed from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, operated by Tokyo Electric Power Co., following the triple meltdown due to the earthquake, tsunami as well as the government and TEPCO's shortcomings on March 11, 2011.
Ahead of the lifting of the evacuation order for most of the village of Iitate on March 31, researchers and journalists, who have conducted field surveys since immediately after the accident, shared their views on radiation effects on health and avoiding health risks with villagers at the symposium.
The symposium, titled "Think about the future of Iitate villagers," was hosted by the Iitate-mura Society for Radioecology, which comprises academics and citizens who committed themselves to continue their support for residents through their expertise.
During the session, Tetsuji Imanaka, a researcher at the Kyoto University Research Reactor Institute, estimated the annual average radiation exposure to residents if they immediately return to the area after the evacuation orders are lifted. He put the figure at approximately 5 millisieverts of radiation.
"How can residents come to terms with the health risks caused by radiation exposure? That's the issue," Imanaka said.
Katsumi Furitsu, a doctor at the Hyogo College of Medicine, highlighted the government's responsibility.
Furitsu has conducted research in the areas devastated by the crippled Chernobyl nuclear plant in Ukraine, site of the world's worst nuclear accident in 1986.
"Low-dose radiation exposure also has health risks in accordance with the amount," Furitsu said.
"Offering appropriate health management and medical benefits (for the disaster victims who have been exposed to radiation) is the government's minimum responsibility just like it issued 'hibakusha' (A-bomb victims) health books in Hiroshima and Nagasaki," Furitsu emphasized.
Hibakusha health books have been awarded to those certified by the government as radiation victims of the 1945 atomic bombings, making them eligible for special health-care benefits, including allowing them access to free medical assistance.
Such a book could also become a powerful weapon to force the government to take responsibility for Fukushima evacuees for future damage to their health potentially related to radiation exposure.
Villagers expressed, however, concern that this could lead to possible future discrimination.
"We understand the necessity of issuing the radiation exposure record books to protect victim's health," said one resident. "But high school girls have fears and worries about possible future discrimination that is likely to be caused by possessing the books by posing such questions as, "Can we get married?" or "Can we have children?"
In response to those poignant voices from the disaster victims, Furitsu said, "In Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the same concerns were expressed. However, unjustified discrimination occurred not because of the health book, but because those who should take responsibility didn't take it."
"The government should take measures that help residents who had been burdened with unnecessary risks," Furitsu said, referring to such matters as providing health management, medical benefits, education and other activities to raise awareness of discrimination against disaster victims, especially if they have been exposed to low-dose radiation.
Yoshinobu Ito, 73, a farmer who moved to Iitate before the disaster, was especially worried about the risk radiation could have on children when they return to the village.
He released the results of measurements of radiation levels around his house that he has taken since the Fukushima nuclear disaster.
"Although the levels of radiation dose have dropped, they are still 10 times higher than the figures before the disaster. Even if I return to Iitate, rebuilding agriculture is a hardship," said Ito.
The effects of radiation also cast a shadow over Japanese cattle farmers such as Kiyomi Shigihara, 62, of Nagadoro in the southernmost section of Iitate. Nagadoro was designated as the only "difficult-to-return zone" in the village.
With regard to the government policy of decontaminating only reconstruction base areas and then lifting an evacuation order after five years, Shigihara said, "Under these circumstances, even if I return home, there's nothing I can do."
Unable to repress his emotions, Shigihara wiped tears from his eyes.
No Return to Normal in Fukushima
Just 6 years ago Fukushima was struck by a deadly earthquake, and then a nuclear disaster. For the survivors, there's been no return to normal.
High radiation risks in Fukushima village as government prepares to lift evacuation order – Greenpeace
A recent Greenpeace Japan led survey team found radiation dose rates at houses in the village of Iitate well above long-term government targets, with annual and lifetime exposure levels posing a long-term risk to citizens who may return. Evacuation orders will be lifted for Iitate no later than 31 March 2017, to be followed one year later by the termination of compensation payments.
"The relatively high radiation values, both inside and outside houses, show an unacceptable radiation risk for citizens if they were to return to Iitate. For citizens returning to their irradiated homes they are at risk of receiving radiation equivalent to one chest X-ray every week. This is not normal or acceptable," said Ai Kashiwagi, energy campaigner with Greenpeace Japan [1].
As Japan nears the six years from beginning of the nuclear disaster, the Japanese government last week confirmed that it has not yet conducted any assessments of lifetime exposure risks for citizens if they were to return to Iitate.
The Greenpeace Japan survey results are based on thousands of real-time scanning measurements, including of houses spread over the Iitate region. This data was then used to calculate a weighted average around the houses, which were then computed to give annual exposure rates and over a lifetime of 70 years, taking into account radioactive isotope decay. The survey work also included soil sampling with analysis in an independent laboratory in Tokyo, the measurement of radiation hot spots and the recovery of personal dose badges that had been installed in two houses in February 2016.
For lifetime exposure due to external cesium radiation exposure, the dose range has been calculated, at between 39 mSv and 183 mSv, depending on either 8 or 12 hours per day spent outdoors, for citizens living at the houses over a 70 year period beginning in March 2017 [2]. Among the thousands of points Greenpeace Japan measured for each house, nearly all the radiation readings showed that the levels were far higher than the government's long term decontamination target of 0.23µSv/h, which would give a dose of 1 mSv/yr.
The weighted average levels measured outside the house of Iitate citizen Toru Anzai was 0.7µSv/h, which would equal 2.5 mSv per year; even more concerning in addition, was the dose badges inside the house showed values in the range between 5.1 to 10.4mSv per year raising questions over the reliability of government estimates [3].
These levels far exceed the 1 mSv annual maximum limit recommended by the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) [4] , yet the decontamination program is being declared complete for the area that will have its evacuation order lifted next month.
"The government is not basing its policies on science or in the interest of protecting public health. It has failed to provide estimates of lifetime exposure rates for Iitate's citizens, nor considered how re-contamination from forests will pose a threat for decades to come," said Jan Vande Putte, radiation specialist with Greenpeace Belgium.
"The Abe government is attempting to create a false reality that six years after the start of the Fukushima Daiichi accident life is returning to normal. In the real world of today, and for decades to come, there is and will be nothing normal about the emergency radiological situation in Iitate," said Vande Putte.
Greenpeace is demanding that the Japanese government provide full financial support to survivors, so that they are not forced to return for economic reasons. It must take measures to reduce radiation exposure to the absolute minimum to protect public health and allow citizens to decide whether to return or relocate free from duress and financial coercion.
Greenpeace has launched a public petition in solidarity in defense of human rights of Fukushima survivors.
Notes to Editors:
The report can be accessed here: "No Return to Normal".
Photo and video is available here.
[1] X-ray dose rates range depend on multiple factors, including the equipment used and the patient. A typical dose per chest X-ray would be 0.05mSv, which if given each week would be 2.6 mSv over a year.
[2] These figures do not include natural radiation exposures expected over a lifetime, nor does it include the external and internal doses received during the days and weeks following the March 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident. In the case of many citizens of Iitate, evacuation was both delayed and complex, the early-stage external radiation exposure estimated for the 1,812 villagers where estimations of external radiation dose average 7 mSv, with the highest being 23.5 mSv according to Imanaka. Internal exposure from consumption of contaminated food products is also not included.
[3] The government estimates that levels of radiation inside houses is 60 percent less than outside due to the shielding effect of the building. The Greenpeace results raise the possibility that this is not a reliable basis for estimating dose levels in houses.
[4] ICRP recommendations for the public, sets the maximum recommended dose for areas that are not affected by a nuclear accident at 1 mSv a year. However, the Japanese government set a condition that it is acceptable for the public to receive up to 20 mSv per year in Iitate, as a response to an emergency right after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident.
Stricken village holds 1st event for 'new' adults since disaster
Young people in colorful kimono and other attire pose for a commemorative photo after being reunited with an elementary school teacher during Coming-of-Age Day event on Jan. 8 in Iitate, Fukushima Prefecture.
IITATE, Fukushima Prefecture–Young people dressed to the nines to celebrate Coming-of-Age Day on Jan. 8, the first time the ceremony has been held here since the Fukushima nuclear accident in 2011.
For many, the public holiday was an opportunity to reunite with old friends also reaching the age of majority, 20 years old, during the year ending in March.
Iitate remains one of the most heavily contaminated areas where evacuation orders still remain in effect because of the triple meltdown at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant triggered by the earthquake and tsunami disaster.
Despite the catastrophe, the village went ahead with the ceremony in light of the government's decision to lift the evacuation orders in the most of the village at the end of March.
"With its abundant nature, Iitate is our home and where our lives are rooted," said Keita Matsushita, a sophomore at the Miyagi University of Education in Sendai, during his speech at the ceremony he delivered on behalf of 61 "shin-seijin," literally new adults.
"I am grateful for those who are committing themselves to the rebuilding of Iitate," he said.
Matsushita, who was a second-year junior high school student when the 2011 disaster struck, expressed delight at running in to old friends again and catching up on their lives.
He also expressed concern about the future of the village.
"I am not sure whether the dose of radiation in the village is at a safe limit yet," Matsushita said.
"The infrastructure has not been rebuilt yet, so I won't be going back."
Thirty-nine municipalities in Fukushima Prefecture held Coming-of-Age Day ceremonies.
For areas where evacuation orders still remain in effect–Okuma, Namie, Tomioka—the ceremonies were held outside the towns.
Young people in colorful kimono and other attire pose for a commemorative photo after being reunited with an elementary school teacher during Coming-of-Age Day event on Jan. 8 in Iitate, Fukushima Prefecture.
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Flashback Friday: Three 6 Mafia and Young Buck
Some of y'all have mentioned that I rarely show Tennessee rappers love here on Soul In Stereo. And you know, you're right. So today, let's swing by Nashville and Memphis for a couple of old favorites.
Three 6 Mafia, When the Smoke Clears: Sixty 6, Sixty 1 (2000)
I'll admit that I was never a huge Three 6 fan but I can't deny that the boys had hits — many of 'em reside on my iPod. Early 2000 is when they finally kicked their way into the national spotlight and invaded clubs across the country. Less than a decade later, they'd have an Academy Award. Life is crazy.
Also check out:
Young Buck, Straight Outta Cashville (2004)
Remember when 50 Cent's G-Unit RAN the game? In this music reviewer's humble opinion, the hottest album from 50's protégés wasn't from the beloved Lloyd Banks (and lord knows it wasn't from Tony Yayo) – nah, Young Buck held the crown. His gritty presence alone was enough to turn heads, but it was his surprisingly inspired wordplay that really won me over. It was one of the most slept-on albums of the era.
Also check out:
"Stomp," featuring Ludacris, TI and The Game
"Bonafide Hustler," featuring 50 Cent and Tony Yayo
Now, it's your turn. Email firstname.lastname@example.com hit me up on Twitter @etbowser, or stop by the comments section and share your Flashback Friday album. Leave a couple of sentences describing what makes it so great. I'll feature your album on the blog.


text: This is a specially made 11mm insert for the Carta! Thicker than the original, and created to fit the Carta. NOT COMPATIBLE with the stock carb cap due to thickness of the insert and the tube that goes inside on the carb cap, but fully compatible with my Bubble and marble caps that work much better! I hope you like them!


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MCALLEN, Texas — Previously deported sexual predators with criminal convictions continue to be a regular sight at federal hearings following their arrests by U.S Border Patrol agents.
Last week, Jose Manuel Segovia Granados went before U.S. Magistrate Judge Dorina Ramos who ordered he be held without bond.
Segovia is a 22-year-old criminal alien from El Salvador. He was arrested last week near Roma, Texas, moments after having crossed the Rio Grande River, court records obtained by Breitbart Texas revealed.
Border Patrol agents were able to determine that Segovia was deported in April from Phoenix, Arizona. Segovia had been convicted of attempted sexual assault of a child last November. He had been sentenced to serve only 30 day in prison.
Last week, authorities also arrested 47-year-old Pablo Medrano Banda, a previously deported Mexican citizen who had been living in South Texas.
Medrano claimed to have crossed the Rio Grande River in April through Progreso, Texas. He had been deported in March, 2013, through Laredo, Texas. The deportation came after he served a prison sentence in the institutional division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. On September, 2010, Texas State Judge Rudy Delgado convicted him of indecency with a child by sexual contact and sentenced him to four years in prison.
Just last month, Breitbart Texas reported on the arrest of 23-year-old Mauricio Toto Xolo, a previously convicted criminal alien who was arrested near the Texas border. Xolo spent 12 months in prison following a 2010 rape conviction. He was then deported on November 1, 2011 through Laredo, Texas.
Also last month, authorities arrested 22-year-old Joel Silva Duran, a convicted child rapist who was also recently caught near the border city of Roma just months after having been deported.
Breitbart News has also reported in the past about the number of criminal aliens who continue to be released into the U.S. despite their criminal history under the new Priority Enforcement Program. This programs allows many convicted criminal aliens to remain in the United States.
Ildefonso Ortiz is an award winning journalist with Breitbart Texas you can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook.


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In the following video, from the Vayehi Or Workshop, Nigel Savage, founder of Hazon, discusses Hazon, Jews, food and Climate Change. Nigel and Hazon have been working with JCI on the Seven Year Plan for the Jewish People on Climate Change and Sustainability, and in this piece, Nigel offers some hopeful and practical tips towards how the Seven Year Plan can be most effective. Enjoy! (And feel welcome, as always, to leave your comments and feedback).
Archive for the 'Jewish Environmentalism' Category
Nigel Savage on What the Jews can (and cannot) do about Climate Change
Posted in Climate Change, food, Jewish Environmentalism, Religion and Climate Change, Taking Action, tagged alliance for religions and conservation, Climate Change, diaspora, Global Warming, hazon, israel, Jewish Climate Initiative, jewish people, nigel savage, seven year plan, sustainability on April 30, 2009| 1 Comment »
Calling All Voices
Posted in Climate Change, Jewish Climate Initiatve, Jewish Ecology, Jewish Environmentalism on June 15, 2008| Leave a Comment »
"For the Jewish community to make a difference on environmental issues, we need brutal honesty to begin with. Jews are now roughly 0.2% of the world's population; less than the margin of error on the Indian census. If all the Jews in the world recycle their newspapers it will make… pretty much no difference whatsoever. Nor if we put a solar-powered ner tamid in every synagogue, nor, more radically, if every Jew in the world swapped their existing car for a hybrid."
-Nigel Savage, founder of Hazon. Click here for the full article.
"Our home planet Earth is undergoing rapid and sustained destruction of its eco-systems… Muslims comprise at least one fifth of the human community and they can contribute much to the thinking that is vital to re-evaluate the future direction of the human community and save its home for itself and other life forms."
– The Islamic Foundation for Ecology and Environmental Sciences (IFEES)
What a difference one fifth of the world could make!
And us Jews? We sure are a little nation, but as history tells us, we have tremendous power to inspire ethical behavior, mobilize social change and spearhead the technology with which to bring that change about.
If our species is to control the ecological crises that we face today, then we'd best focus where we each can help, and filter out where we cannot.
I recently led a session at Green Up Your Campus, a program of Derech Hateva/Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel for gap-year students in Israel beginning college next year, on Sustainability's "Three R's," Reduce, Reuse and Recycle.
To introduce the discussion, each member of the group was to list one area of "green" living that they did not want to incorporate into their personal lives, or something they'd much rather not give up in the name of fixing the world.
I spoke about loving new books. The smell, their look on home's bookshelf, the crispness of new book covers. One girl mentioned long showers. Someone else said he could never give up on driving.
And then we began to analyze: If I really love new books, maybe I can lend them to someone who doesn't. Perhaps even to the guy who loves driving. And he can give me rides, because I don't care that much about driving. The long showers girl can be ultra-conservative with water when she washes dishes. Or she can engage in something of a Kyoto Protocol on Hygiene- trading "Shower-water" credits with friends.
Common sense might imply that the more we negate our "Footprint" on the world the better off the world will be. But "Ecology" tells us about ecosystems-relationships between species, many to most of which we are a part. And as any good relationship goes, all sides must contribute of themselves- of what makes them individual- in order for the whole to thrive.
At Jewish Climate Initiative (JCI), we are working to develop the Jewish voice- to channel our collective passion and individual ingenuities to impact our fellow humans, to view our climate of change as an opportunity that begs us to live in a conscious harmony with the universe, its creations and resources.
We invite you to visit us at www.jewishclimateinitiative.org and learn more. The whole climate change thing is pretty terrifying- but we're an optimistic People, and do not believe we're given challenges we cannot handle. And if we tackle this one creatively and with a hopeful spirit, it is going to a have a happy ending, and many proud and better people to show for it.
Why is this climate change organization different…?
Posted in Israel Environment, Jewish Climate Initiatve, Jewish Environmentalism on March 11, 2008| Leave a Comment »
Why a Jewish Climate Initiative? Surely climate change is a global problem? Isn't everyone today concerned about it?
We spent quite a few late nights and Espressos debating these questions ourselves.
Our answer is that yes, many people are, and we applaud and support their efforts.
But the scale and urgency of the problem requires everyone to play their part. We have barely begun to imagine, let alone make, the immense shifts in individual behavior, government policy and ethical consciousness that will be necessary if we are to avoid dangerous climate change.
We believe that the Jewish people has a large, unique and until now, untapped contribution to make, through its combination of ethical wisdom, scientific and business know-how and activist passion.
Jewish Climate Initiative aims to be a catalyst to mobilize these strengths for the good of our children and of the planet.
Part of what makes our response distinctive lies in recognizing the holistic nature of the climate change crisis. The challenge of global warming requires a marriage of moral and spiritual vision with scientific and entrepreneurial innovation. Neither well-meaning ethical exhortations nor purely technical solutions will be sufficient by themselves.
One of the many things we believe faith-inspired approaches to climate change can offer is hope. Hope is a scarce resource in the current climate change discourse. Al Gore observes in "An Inconvenient Truth" that many have passed straight from denial that climate change is a problem to despair that we can do anything about it, without passing through an intermediate stage of hope.
Rabbi Jonathan Sacks argues that hope is a distinctively (though not exclusively) religious virtue. It is not the same as optimism. Optimism is the belief that things will get better. Hope is the belief that together we can make them better.
We hope that you'll send us your thoughts, responses and suggestions so that together we can help make things better for our children and grandchildren.


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|Making the fire!
|A beautifully finished crown
What an amazing day today in the woods! We had so much fun and such variety! it was a jam packed day and it seemed that no one sat down for even a minute - apart from when needing to roast sausages or make crowns and masks. Lots of families came down to the Easter egg and nut hunt which started at 11am. The weather was glorious and it held out all day!
|Easter bunny!
|Earwig on crown...can you spot it
We started the day making Easter Crowns in the bell tent. It was incredibly hot in there so we didn't last long! There were many different kinds of crowns - Jack made a Ninja band and Megan made a beautiful simple crown with moss and Mathilde stuck a dead earwig on hers! We then went to make a fire! Many of the children had done this before and yet they all really enjoyed trying it again and getting involved. They counted how long it would take them each to light it with a flint and some did it straight away and others took a lot longer! After making the crowns we went and got ready to do the Easter egg hunt, which took us all the way to lunch time. We went everywhere in the woods and the children left no stone unturned as they looked for eggs, for chicks and for yellow markers to tell them where the Easter bunny had been and where he might be found! Sounds of squeeling and delight could be heard throughout the woods every time a chick was found and an egg or two uncovered.
|Beautiful mentoring in process!
Story telling!!
We went back to camp to check out our goodies. Some people had eggs and chicks, others had found rabbit fur and stag beatles! There was a little something for everyone, and there were what seemed like hundreds of sausages for everyone as well.
We all ate sausages and wonderful lemon drizzle cake (THANK YOU Trish, what would we do without you) and there were also some very beautifully made chocolate cornflake cakes with gorgeous little easter libunnies and easter eggs on. There were children of all ages and even then littlelest ones really enjoyed themselves!
|Nuts for the Nutter!
|Dinosaur head!
After lunch there was another hunt to go on, but this time it was nut hunt! It was all about finding nuts lito identify what sort of mice might be nibbling them! There was some seriously brilliant nut nibbling identification and collecting going on. We didn't find any mice, but there were plenty of holes they could have been hiding in. We did however a find a dinosaur and it was very growly and made lots of noise! Mathilde fell in love with it and did not want to leave it at the end of the day, but we did persuade her in the end!
We also found spiders, wood lice, worms and a really wonderful snail that came out of its shell to say hello. There were also plenty of ticks to be found and we are hoping that we have all avoided them attaching to us!
Only time will tell!
|Mr Snail!
After the great nut hunt we went and sat in the silver birch clearing towards the edge of the wood where the sun was beaming down on us. We were so lucky to have Clare Viner with us who tells the most wonderful stories and she sat with us and painted wonderful pictures with words as she told the story of the grandmother spider who brought fire to humans, and after, the story of Bethusta the young girl who dances with the the white lady of the silver birch woods whilst she ought to be spinning wool for the market instead. The children were really enthralled and got involved in the stories as they were being told. Spinning around and around in the clearing until they were dizzy, singing the song she sang as she spun or raising their hands and flying like an eagle. It was brilliant to watch and to take part in and we hope that Clare will come and do some more stories in the woods soon.
|Wood nymph!
|Nut hunting!
Thank you so much to everyone who came!


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As usual, the costumes that the children are wearing are amazing! Thank you to everyone for all your efforts in making this such a special day. There was a World Book Day assembly this morning and a Book Bring and Buy sale this afternoon.
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Today's flavor comes straight from the Stroud Farmer's Market and Hill End Farm in Brinkworth.
Creamy, pungent, earthy and slight hit of sweet that comes from the cream, Brinkworth Blue cheese is amazingly delicious. It happens to go amazingly well with a slice of 9 seed bread from the Artisan Bakery.
Brinkworth Blue Cheese is handmade on a family farm in Brinkworth, Wiltshire, U.K. It's described as a medium strength, creamy blue cheese from Friesian cows. (I am now on a mission to find a blue from a Jersey or Guernsey to see if I can tell the difference).
Blue cheese is created by adding the mold Penicillium to fermenting cheese so that it creates a blue, green or gray vein of mold through the cheese. Sounds a bit off putting when you read about it but trust me, it's absolutely delicious on your plate.
I love blue cheese on its own or as a side with a nice savory game, like venison or wild boar. It also is amazing with bolder vegetables, like broccoli or kale.
From a health perspective, blue cheese is actually a very heart healthy food. Research demonstrates that blue cheese in particular has a very anti-inflammatory impact, so it helps relieve oxidative stress, systemic inflammation and increases cardiovascular health. Side note and total bonus: The research also indicates that pairing the blue cheese with a good red wine increases the heart healthy potential and the yum factor incrementally. I'm sure it's all about moderation but really, could there be a better pairing for your health? (:
Chances of finding a Brinkworth Blue in the area outside of Wiltshire, U.K. are slim but I would venture to guess if you wanted to go on an adventure in your area you would more than likely find a comparable blue that would excite your palate and enhance your overall well-being.


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Unlock your child's potential ...
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How to enrol ...
A subject for everyone ...
Primary School – Y1 to Y6– we follow DfE (department for education) guidelines when teaching primary school Maths. Each student of ours in Y1 to Y6 will learn the following topics:
- Number (place value & operations)
- Fractions
- Ratio and proportion
- Algebra
- Measurement
- Geometry
- Statistics
Secondary School – Y7 to 11– The DfE (department for education) outlines six areas of study for children in year 7 to year 11 which we teach alongside all UK schools. These areas are:
- Number
- Algebra
- Ratio, proportion & rates of change
- Geometry and measure
- Probability
- Statistics
Y1 – Y6 – Our English lessons are created to work alongside all UK schools and to follow the guidelines set out by the DfE (department for education).
The modules that we will ensure that your child is confident in are:
- Spelling, punctuation and grammar
- Writing – composition and transcription
- Reading – comprehension
- Vocabulary – developing use of a wider range of words
Y7 – Y11– each school in the UK follows the UK national curriculum and follows the guidance of an exam board for students preparing for GCSEs. We have different tutors who are specialists in teaching for each specific exam board.
The main guidance provided by the government which we teach is as follows:
- Reading (including studying Shakespeare, Classical Literature & Poetry)
- Writing
- Grammar and vocabulary
- Spoken English
Alongside the government guidance, our Tutors will be following your schools chosen exam board.
Y1 – Y6 – Many of our parents choose to prepare their primary school children in Science as it does become a core subject in secondary school.
The areas that the UK national curriculum asks us to cover for primary school children are:
- Living things and their habitats
- Animals
- Evolution and inheritance
- Light
- Electricity
- Forces
- Earth and space
- States of matter
Y7 – Y11– Science is secondary school is a core subject. We follow the national curriculum to ensure that we teach your child the same content as their school. Science is split between the following modules:
- Biology
- Chemistry
- Physics
Your childs' school will follow an exam board for GCSE. We have different Tutors to teach each exam board to ensure success at GCSE level.
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Boat wash stations, are available just south of the Denmark launch and at the West Bridgton Fire Station, near the Route 302 launch. Spraying any plant fragments off of your boat, motor and trailer will help stop the spread of invasive plants.
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xRapid [Potential] flows double overnight: MoneyGram flooring it?
Money transfer giant MoneyGram's partnership has been a major leap for Ripple as a payments company. The same applies to MoneyGram for being a traditional payments company using blockchain solutions for money transfers. Discussion of the partnership was one of the highlights of the recent Swell conference.
That wasn't all however, as during the conference, potential xRapid flows between the U.S. and Mexico surged by more than 100%.
Using publicly available data, HMX, who goes by the screen name @hmatejx on Twitter, set up charts to observe potential xRapid transfers between known corridors. These charts showed a bump in ODL [On-Demand Liquidity] from the usual $1 million to $2.2 million on November 7, 2019, between Bitstamp [the U.S. corridor for xRapid txns] and Bitso [Mexican corridor for xRapid txns].
As seen in the chart above, there was a total of 8 million XRP transferred between Bitstmap and Bitso. The same destination has been active since August and has transferred an average of $1 million every day since November 2019.
On-Demand Liquidity
Ripple's ODL is a trump card for people who are transacting across borders as it removes pre-funding, which is a common approach for cross-border payments in traditional payment methods.
MoneyGram had announced that 10% of its transactions take place between the U.S. and Mexican corridor via Ripple's payments solution, On-Demand Liquidity (ODL), that leverages the cryptocurrency, XRP. CEO of MoneyGram, Alex Holmes, stated,
"What has amazed me the most is the amount of pressure that legacy players face.The fundamental challenge of moving money around the world is that there isn't a lot of coordination between financial institutions and there should be more solutions to connect all of these pieces. More and more companies are looking to make the economy move like it should."
Although there is no concrete proof that the destination tags belong to MoneyGram, there is a probability that it might be so. A quick visualization of the ODL was shared by HMX.
"This is how the market making supporting ODL looks like. What destination tags 25370527 & 47175592 transfer from USD → MXN, destination tags 36427656, 97376688, and 80025555 transfer back from MXN → USD."
via https://www.ohnocrypto.com
Akash Girimath, Khareem Sudlow


text: Castle Falkenstein was far ahead of its time when it was released in the 90's and I can't say I would have stumbled on anything remotely like it. Sure, there are dozens of steampunk roleplaying games with orcs and elves but none have the same dedication to atmosphere and making it all work as whole. System and design choces make sense in what the game tries to establish, it's not D&D with guns. Propably the first and still the best best game in steampunk fantasy.