How Plants Reclaimed Chernobyl's Poisoned Land

[hunter]

--snip--

Crucially, the burden brought by radiation at Chernobyl is less severe than the benefits reaped from humans leaving the area. Now essentially one of Europe’s largest nature preserves, the ecosystem around the wrecked power plant supports more life than before, even if each individual cycle of that life lasts a little less.

In a way, the Chernobyl disaster reveals the true extent of our environmental impact on the planet. Harmful as it was, the nuclear accident was far less destructive to the local ecosystem than we were. In driving ourselves away from the area, we have created space for nature to return.

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http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20190701-why-plants-survived-chernobyls-deadly-radiation

This is a sobering reminder that ordinary humans are worse for the natural environment than fallout from an extreme nuclear accident.

It's one reason I'm not an anti-nuclear activist. I think it's far more important to promote birth control and lifestyles having a very small environmental footprint.

As a somewhat affluent U.S. American at times, I haven't been especially successful at the small environmental footprint. My wife and I make the usual nods to protecting the environment, we've got LED lighting and Energy Star appliances, we are organic gardeners, I'm mostly vegetarian, my wife is entirely vegetarian, we don't drive much... but that's not going to "save the world."