Japanese take to monitoring radiation themselves

[robdogbucky]

Crowdsourcing Japan's radiation levels

A group of motivated individuals have come together to create a community approach to gathering radiation data in Japan.
D. Parvaz Last Modified: 26 Apr 2011 13:44

"...The disaster in Japan has kicked all sorts of activists into high gear – volunteers helping people clear out their tsunami-battered homes, green energy proponents picketing the offices of Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) and a bunch of DYI-ers who are roaming Japan with hand-made Geiger counters (a hand-held device used to measure radiation), recording radiation levels. You read that last part correctly.

"We were getting frustrated with what was being reported in the media, what was being released by TEPCO, what was being released by the government," said Sean Bonner, co-founder of Safecast.org, which is currently partially self-funded, partially funded via a Kickstarter fundraiser.

"The information was just kind of unreliable, not updated frequently, no way to fact-check it... So, we just started thinking: What happens if we go get numbers ourselves? Like, is that an option?"

Apparently so. Out of thin air, a group of folks based in the US and Japan created a network that distributes Geiger counters to teams of people who record radiation levels in a consistent manner and upload it all to the Safecast site...

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2011/04/201142317359479927.html


I think we are in for the long haul on this one.

[nc4bo]

1. Yes, definitely in for the long haul with this nuke nightmare. When in doubt, do it yourself~

I feel somewhat relieved that there are people who are going to take more proactive measures. Too many foxes in the henhouse with Japanese government and TEPCO. If it's anything like here, the only thing they care about is cost effectiveness, legally covering their asses and reducing the amount of $$ they'll have to payout to those damaged by the nuke plants. Doesn't matter if it's out and out lying or information omission.

Hopefully they'll be able to keep the world informed and not be censored in some way.

Knowledge is power but if radiation contamination is severe enough, not sure what the options will be.

[robdogbucky]

2. Yup, I'm getting kind of fatalistic about it realizing

there is nothing I can do at such a distance, other than heed the advice of folks that know more and aren't working for the industry blatantly. There are many former industry people with integrity and the courage to speak up. I try to be positive and continue to tend my garden, etc.

Yesterday's video by Arne and the comparison of nuclear plant technology as our Maginot Line was really resonant. It is such outdated technology to begin with, we just can't hamper ourselves by staying in the box the industry creates. The economic realities will eventually force this change on the dinosaurs.

Further from the above-excerpted article, it states:

"...Perhaps the Safecast project might sound a little crazy and ill-advised (a ragtag group of techies zigzagging around the area around a nuclear disaster some have compared to Chernobyl). But the outcome is pretty empowering.

Bonner said that one of the members of HackerSpace, a collective involved with Safecast, has family just outside the initial evacuation zone in Fukushima Prefecture.

"They were told that the their area was safe, and so the guys from Tokyo HackerSpace took a Geiger counter and drove up there," said Bonner.

"And they're farmers, organic farmers, and they're in this area that they were told was okay, but the numbers were off the charts – they were high. And then 10 days later, that area was evacuated as well."

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2011/04/201142317359479927.html


This is emblematic of where our technology can help folks organize ad hoc wireless and maintain communication nets to keep everyone informed. This is the same as the impact of social networking in making all the recent protests and anti-government movements in the middle east's dictatorships. We are in the Powershift of the Information Age. Now news and info is more important than guns.

Flash Mobs for change and Flash Mobs on the net for survival. Making their own Geiger Counters.

I am impressed.

[marions ghost]

3. k & r

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