In September of 1979, notable, tree-hugging hippie musicians Jackson Brown, Graham Nash, Bonnie Rait and John Hall organized Musicians United for Safe Energy (MUSE). There were concerts at Madison Square Garden and later a movie. Those tree- hugging hippies realized the indescribable destruction that can happen when the worst possible scenario involving a nuclear reactor occurs.

That worst possible scenario is happening right now in Japan. The extent of the poisoning of planet Earth by the nuclear fallout from the Japanese nuclear power plants has yet to be determined. Make no mistake, as I write this, nuclear fallout is leaving the containment of the nuclear plant and dispersing into the environment. Exactly the scenario that the tree-hugging hippies were fearful of.

If we had not invested in the nuclear industry, and instead invested in safe, peaceful technology that would have benefited humankind, how much better off would the whole human race be? Imagine all the money spent on nuclear bombs, aircraft carriers, submarines, power plants, waste storage facilities, transportation of nuclear material, and the security costs of these things. Now imagine all the good that could have been done with those same dollars.

Nuclear power is not safe. It appears to be safe until something bad happens. Then it is apparent that nuclear power is not safe; it’s freaking dangerous. So there you go, the peace-loving, tree-hugging, earth-muffin hippies told you so, and told you loud and clear in 1979: No nukes.

                                                                               Fred Einspruch

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