Mother nature's wake up call

I have been travelling and on the road lately. I don't keep on top of my email as much as I would like when I am moving around but I do watch the news every day. I was shocked like everyone else at the terrible tragic events that occurred in Japan this past week. It was bad enough that the country got hit by an earthquake and then a tsunami, only to be topped off by the failure of several nuclear power plant facilities.
I have a lot of experience in dealing with the power of water. I was born and raised on the James Bay coast so I have been witness to the spring break up on the Attawapiskat River which has often led to flooding. When water decides to move, it is an extremely powerful force and nothing can stop it.
It is terrible that so many people in Japan have had to deal with such a catastrophic series of events. Mother Nature can seem very harsh at times. I know that we all feel great sorrow for the lives lost in Japan and for so many people dealing with such hard times.
Perhaps the only good thing that can possibly come out of this tragic series of events is a reminder of just how dangerous our reliance on nuclear power is. I am not a scientist but I am smart enough to know that any energy source which produces extremely toxic and dangerous waste that can't be safely stored does not make a lot of sense. It makes me sad that we have people complaining of the development of wind power on the land in Ontario and across Canada. We are finally at the point that some development is taking place in wind and solar power yet we are not willing to embrace these more safe and practical alternatives.
It's not like we are all dumb but it has more to do with the fact that big oil, big coal and big nuke companies are spending a lot of money to convince us to stick with dirty, non-renewable and dangerous energy sources. It is thought that wind and solar power developments can not produce enough efficient and consistent energy to meet our huge demand. That is true for the moment but if we insist on our government and scientists to work at great speed to develop these technologies, I am sure we will be in a position where wind and solar combined with hydro development can meet our needs at some point in the near future. We need the political will and we must focus a huge financial investment on these developments.
A lot of money has been spent by big corporations to diminish the credibility of green power and the critical role of environmentalists in our society. However, from time to time Mother Nature reminds us of who is really in charge. For this reason, we can see clearly that nuclear power development can not be counted on.
My people, the Cree of Northern Ontario and the Inuit of the far north have lived for thousands of years in freezing temperatures and harsh conditions. We used the energy of the sun and we worked with Mother Nature to produce shelters that insulated and protected us from the cold. Up until a hundred years ago, the Cree of the James Bay coast lived in what we call the Askikan, an earth shelter. This was a shelter with a construction similar to a wigwam or teepee. Large diameter poles or logs were arranged in a conical arrangement like a wigwam but instead of using a birch bark or animal hide covering, earth was used. Layers of thick carpet like moss was draped over the logs in the fall and once freeze up started, it created a solid insulating layer that provided protection from the cold. The Inuit solution was the invention of the igloo.
It occurs to me that with all of the incredibly intelligent minds that we have today and the many resources and technological developments we can call up, it should be entirely possible to produce all the energy we need from solar, wind and hydro power development. I am not saying we can do this over night but if we focus our efforts in this direction now, then great things can happen. Let's hope we have learned something from Three Mile Island, Chernobyl and the latest nuclear catastrophe in Japan.www.underthenorthernsky.com