re: #235 Aceofwhat?

Yeah, there was more. None of it made the reader believe that the environment wasn’t doing 10x better than one would have expected 20 years ago.

Disagree, if you want, but I’ve been linking and quoting the whole time. It’s your turn.

“The effects of the Chernobyl catastrophe are still being felt today—whole towns lie abandoned, and cancer rates in people living close to the affected areas are abnormally high.”

Yeah, well tough cookies. Let’s get down to brass tacks here:

“But it turns out that the radioactive cloud may have a silver lining. Recent studies suggest that the 19-mile (30-kilometer) “exclusion zone” set up around the reactor has turned into a wildlife haven.”

Now, how cool is that!

“Roe deer bounce though the deserted houses while bats roost in the rafters. Plants and trees have sprung back to life, and rare species, such as lynx, Przewalski’s horses, and eagle owls, are thriving where most humans fear to tread.”

Assholes. Pass the deer-meat, would ya’. Tender as anything!

And in the towns where humans have moved out, plants and animals seem to have moved in.

“Wild boar like to live in former villages, and I have found many birds’ nests in the buildings,” Gaschak said.”

Man, nature is so fucking mysterious and…and…ASTONISHING!

“I met a hare in the sarcophagus area, and birds nest there,” said Gaschak, referring to the concrete and steel shell that encases the still smoldering reactor.”

Yum! Wabbit! A real hare of the Beast that bit him.

“But while wildlife seems to be proliferating in the Chernobyl exclusion zone, not everyone is convinced that these plants and animals are healthy.”

Yeah, we know who those people are, don’t we?

“Moller and Mousseau have shown that certain species in the area have a higher rate of genetic abnormalities than normal.”

Aw, who gives a shit! People always wanting a perfect world. Assholes, I tell ‘ya.

“Late last year Moller and Mousseau published a paper in the Journal of Animal Ecology showing that reproductive rates and annual survival rates are much lower in the Chernobyl birds than in control populations.”

Good. Birds are parasites. And they’re always shitting on my SUV.

“Mutation isn’t the only adverse effect of the radiation. Working in the Red Forest area, James Morris, a USC biologist, has observed some trees with very strange twisted shapes. The radiation, he says, is confusing the hormone signal that the trees use to determine which direction to grow.
“These trees are having a terrible time knowing which way is up,” Morris said.”

Pass the Kleenex, bro. Jeez, first it’s PETA and now the goddam Tree-Huggers.

“Gaschak, the Kiev ecologist, believes such radiation effects will diminish over time. He is celebrating the way that Chernobyl has burst into life and hopes that the area will become a national park one day.”

Tell ya’ what, Ace: my treat for your ticket of admission for the new national park when it opens. No man, don’t thank me… it’s one from the heart.

“But Mousseau is less optimistic. “One of the great ironies of this particular tragedy is that many animals are doing considerably better than when the humans were there,” he said. “But it would be a mistake to conclude they are doing better than in a control area. We just don’t know what is normal [for Chernobyl]. There just haven’t been enough scientific studies done.”

SCIENCE!?

We don’t need ya’ stinkin’ science.

And neither do those animals and plants!