The Japanese government has detected 44 confirmed and suspected cases of thyroid cancer among 217,000 youngsters.
MATSUMOTO, Japan—A generation ago, Dr. Akira Sugenoya
performed lifesaving cancer surgery on more than 100 children after the
1986 Chernobyl catastrophe. Today, as mayor of a central Japanese city,
he‘s trying to avoid a repeat of his own history.
Beginning in April, parents living in the shadow of the Fukushima
nuclear disaster will be able to send their children about 200 miles
away to his city, Matsumoto, to go to school.
The city will pay $140,000 (14 million yen) a year for a six-bedroom
house and caretakers; parents won‘t pay tuition but will cover expenses
such as utilities and meals.
“If my fears turn out to be unfounded, nothing would be better
news,” Sugenoya said. “But if they become reality, then there is little
time before it‘s too late.”
Sugenoya has been critical of the government‘s response to the three
meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, which exploded after
the March 2011 tsunami and is still releasing radiation into the air and
sea. Decommissioning will take decades, and experts disagree over how
much the disaster will affect the health of area residents.
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Thyroid Cancer
The single sickness confirmed by
the International Atomic Energy Agency to have been caused by low-dose
radiation from Chernobyl is thyroid cancer, which if properly treated
with surgery is rarely fatal. Sugenoya, a thyroid specialist,
volunteered to work in Belarus, close to the Ukraine power plant, in
1991 after hearing about thousands of cases of thyroid cancer there.
Produced
by actor/comedian/jackass Gary Lee Mahmoud of Panhandler Party
Productions, LLC. Special thanks to co-producer, editor, Padcaster
inventor, and all around great guy Josh Apter at the Manhattan Edit
Workshop.
Also thank you to Alex Grybauskas, Dennis Mitchell, and
Alan Eisenberg at Refinery NYC. Thank you to Aida Artieda for her
organizational skills and Alan Kudan for some amazing audio capture.
Great
performances by: Jane Aquilina, Rob King, Jen Kwok, Nick Cobb, Andrew
Ginsburg, Sean Allison, and Aguileo Ramos, Rigoberto Ramos, and Leopoldo
Juarez of Mariachi Aguila y Plata!
And thank you to Josh Hyman,
Elyse Brandau, Justin Hoch, Jessica Solce, Lauren Potter, Dan Jamieson,
Dan Katz, Rishi Gandhi, and Jaime Ordonez for some great iPhone
camerawork.
Panhandler Party creator (and actor) Gary Lee Mahmoud
may be contacted at garyleenyc@aol.com.
Peak Moment 210: "Sharing really is going to save the world!" declares Janelle Orsi, author of The Sharing Solution, noting that it's fun, doesn't require special skills -- and we can start now. She and Jennifer Kassan co-founded the Sustainable Economies Law Center to help people formalize collaborative structures like producer cooperatives, cohousing developments and tool lending libraries. They're working to reduce the hurdles to investing in locally-owned and locally-controlled enterprises. No wonder law students are excited to intern with them! [theSELC.org and sharingsolution.com]
(Note:CBC does not endorse and is not responsible for the content of external links.)
Alberta's first cohousing community is preparing to celebrate its 10th anniversary this weekend.
Prairie
Sky Cohousing Cooperative — home to more than 40 people — sits on a
large lot in Winston Heights where a single family home once stood.
A spontaneous gathering of Prairie Sky cohousing residents. (Prairie Sky website)
There are now 18 units spread among three buildings that are fully equipped townhouses or apartments.
Residents
also share common spaces, including a 3,200-square-foot common house
with a kitchen, dining room and lounge where community members gather
for shared meals, recreation and other events.
Number
Zero facade in Turin, Italy. The doors opened on the March 4, 2013,
after over five years of work. (Matteo Nobili / cohousingnumerozero.org)
With the Italian real estate market in free fall,
increasing numbers of people are tumbling through the gaps. Too rich to
claim social housing and too poor to afford a traditional house, some
are turning to a new approach—cohousing.
“The concept of cohousing originated in northern Europe in the ’60s,”
says Nadia Simionato, spokeswoman for the Italian network Cohousing.it
“Then it spread to other countries and reached Italy in 2006.”
The basic idea is to combine in a condominium the autonomy of a
private house with the benefits that come from sharing space and
resources such as a garden, gymnasium, laundry, gardens, and children’s
day care. The whole project is collectively designed and chosen by those
who will live in those spaces.
“There’s a ‘gray zone’ of the Italian population who cannot afford a
traditional house but that is too rich to access the rankings for the
social housing,” says Simionato. “Through the cohousing we think we can
solve this critical point.”
But Simionato complains the state is behind the times. “Public
administration seems to struggle to understand that cohousing is a
successful model. Worldwide there are over a thousand examples of
cohousing, from a few family members to dozens. In Italy we have
developed three projects, already in place, and we are working with two
others, connecting prospective buyers and designers.”
New cohousing project1:51
