Durga’s fury

If the rate of consumption doubles, the source will be exhausted all the sooner. A competent and safe nuclear plant costs the earth and takes about nine to 15 years to build. If global use continues to expand, then many power plants will be completed after the supply of high quality uranium has been exhausted. The Cambridge Research group report that the energy required to process low grade ore exceeds the energy output, which may not dissuade the most ardent nukeaholic.

India is merely an exemplar of what is a very alarming trend, one which Prime Minister John Howard is eager to reward. If one takes into account Amartya Sen’s reflections about the addiction of war and weapons that the Veda’s warn us about, then the Prime Minister can be likened to a pusher, selling an addictive substance to those who have a craving for nihilistic growth.

The silent movie farce of Vietnam has exposed the game. Growth is a chimera which keeps us running over the desert in a feverish attempt to catch the image of happiness and inviolability. It is a way to death, to anomie and biospherical catastrophe. Already global cancer rates are heaving skywards, while doctors try assiduously to attribute them to lifestyle factors.

Durga the demon Goddess walks through the malls and factories of development. The Prime Minister wants to keep the fetish alive, and divert attention away from the alternatives and conservation. The drug of choice is yellow-caked and cooked.

Radiation measurements outside the Methodist Ladies College anyone?