As short days and cold, rainy weather descends on Seattle, I have found myself daydreaming a lot recently about finding a tropical beach and relaxing in the sunshine. In some ways, Bikini Atoll is the exact type of place where I would want to be. Unfortunately, this tropical paradise was subject to years of American nuclear testing with substantial impacts on the local environment. More problematic than the environmental problems, though, is how the people native to Bikini Atoll were treated during this period. In some ways reminiscent of the transgressions made in the name of "Manifest Destiny" in the colonization of the American west, native Bikinians were relocated on multiple occasions, permanently altering the social and cultural fabric of the Bikinian people. This longread examines how the U.S. quest for nuclear weapon supremacy turned Bikini Atoll into a paradise with an asterisk.
"Paradise With An Asterisk" by S.C. Gwynne
Published in Outside Magazine, October 17, 2012
http://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/nature/Paradise-With-An-Asterisk.html?page=all
Eric
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