Chernobyl: Is “nature” really natural?

Chernobyl: Is “nature” really natural?

A disastrous accident at the largest nuclear power plant in the world at that time in Chernobyl took place more than 30 years ago, and that was when the humanity witnessed for the first time that nuclear power could cause a disaster even when we use it in a peaceful way. One of the many important things that the accident taught us is the fact that humans cannot control anything perfectly even when we think we are doing a perfect job. Another sad and disastrous nuclear accident in Fukushima proved this point again in 2011. This accident in Japan, a country with worldly famous advanced technologies and meticulous planning, proved again that nature can easily go beyond our preparation and imagination. The accident in Chernobyl was really the starting point of questioning humans’ ability to plan and implement environmentally harmless projects.

            Now, over 30 years after the accident, Chernobyl has completely changed. Without a permit, people cannot enter the exclusion area, which is an area of 30km radius around the Chernobyl power plant (CHERNOBYLwel.come. n.d). 116,000 people who used to live there are gone, and what used to be towns has become empty ghost towns (GreenFacts. n.d.). Although people might think Chernobyl is just an incident in the past, it is still posing important questions about the relationship between humans and nature.

            Researchers have observed a quite interesting situation in the exclusion area. They found that all kinds of animals, such as moose, deer, beaver, and owls to more exotic species like brown bear, lynx, and wolves, have come back to the area, and now the exclusion area is a paradise for these animals (Wendle 2016). A study revealed that, surprisingly, the number of large mammals in the exclusion area has increased since the accident, meaning that the effect of radiation has not stopped animals from thriving in the area abandoned by humans (Wendle 2016). Researchers have not completed research as to why these animals have not been as affected by radiation as people expected they would. This situation raises questions and debate among people on how bad the contamination in the area is and whether it has caused populations to decline. This debate got more heated and political after the incident in Fukushima. This situation has really made people think about what nature really is. The nature that is thriving in the exclusion area is not really nature because this whole situation was created because of humans; however, it is also true that animals, which are usually considered natural, came back to the area after the incident probably because people left.

            Another interesting aspect of the current situation of Chernobyl is tourism and film making. Tourism has become one of the largest sources of income for people around the area. People cannot earn more than a single tour in a month if they work for a different job because of political instability in the country. Many documentary makers also come to Chernobyl to make movies. This type of business is called “dark tourism” or “disaster porn,” where people visit places that have sad histories. Hiroshima, Gettysburg, Pompeii, and other famous places of horror, sadness, and pain, often have this kind of industry. People come there, go to a museum, and take pictures and videos of dusty abandoned buildings. In 2015, the number of tourists who came to Chernobyl reached more than 15,000 (Schmundt 2016). There are mainly two reasons why tourism is popular in Chernobyl. One reason is the fact that there are many people who want to see and record what happened there. Some people even make money by recording and making films because there are many people who want to see Chernobyl but cannot afford to actually go there. Other people sometimes go there just to have fun in a historic site (Schmundt 2016). These things could be extremely disrespectful to those who used to live there and had to leave there. However, Chernobyl is not the only place that has tourists who come there for these reasons. Many other historic places, especially places for dark tourism, often have the same issue. The other reason why tourism is popular is because people who live around there cannot find other better jobs due to the economic and political situation. Although people living there have to do tourism business to make a living, humans utilizing even what they destroyed represent how they exploit anything available to them. If we take this example and apply it to the relationship between humans and nature, this human nature explains why humans treated nature in an exploitative way.

            The story does not end here. Ukraine’s minister of environment and natural resources is planning on building $1.2 million solar farm over 1,000 square miles of radioactive land in Ukraine (Cuthbertson 2017). This plan could potentially damage the current habitats for animals in the area, causing a classic debate between green energy supporters and conservationists just like the debate over building solar farms in deserts (Mooney 2016).

            Chernobyl, a place where nature and humans have created complicated relations in the limited area, has made humans think about relations between us and nature, and it seems that it will keep posing the question “what is nature?” Answers to this question might vary, depending on the perspective that we take, and again this situation where the definition of nature changes among people makes humans realize that nature is just a concept that humans created and that there is nothing purely natural about it.

References  

CHERNOBYLwel.come. n.d. “Chernobyl Disaster.” Accessed February 16, 2018. https://www.chernobylwel.com/EN/3/chernobyl/

Cuthbertson, Anthony. November 28, 2017. “Chernobyl Disaster Exclusion Zone Transforming from Nuclear Radiation Wasteland to Green Energy Hotbed.” Newsweek. Accessed February 18, 2018. http://www.newsweek.com/chernobyl-disaster-exclusion-zone-green-energy-724201

GreenFacts. n.d. “Chernobyl Nuclear Accident.” GreenFacts. Accessed February 16, 2018. https://www.greenfacts.org/en/chernobyl/index.htm

Mooney, Chris. April 16, 2016. “In harsh California desert, solar-power plants and fragile wildlife compete.” The Mercury News. Accessed August 16, 2016. https://www.mercurynews.com/2016/08/16/in-harsh-california-desert-solar-power-plants-and-fragile-wildlife-compete/

Schmundt, Hilmar. April 25, 2016. “A Day of Disaster Porn in Chernobyl.” Spiegel Online. Accessed February 18, 2018. http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/tourism-is-booming-in-the-chernobyl-exclusion-zone-a-1089210.html

Wendle, John. April 16, 2016. “Animals Rule Chernobyl Three Decades After Nuclear Disaster.” National Geographic. Accessed February 18, 2018. https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/04/060418-chernobyl-wildlife-thirty-year-anniversary-science/