Student Question
What convinces the villagers to allow waste dumping in the hole in "He-y, Come on Ou-t"?
Quick answer:
The people of the village agree to let other people dump waste in the hole because there will be no above-ground contamination, and they will share in the profits of nuclear waste disposal.
Initially, the people of the village want to build a new shrine on top of the hole that's opened up in their midst. The hole opened up in the wake of a massive typhoon that caused the old shrine to be swept away in a landslide. Understandably, the villagers would like to build a new shrine, and they figure that it would be best to build it on top of the large hole.
However, the government has other ideas. It wants to use the hole for the disposal of nuclear waste. As the hole is adjudged to be five thousand meters deep, it's thought to be ideal for this purpose. The villagers are initially more than a little uneasy about this, but they eventually come around to the idea when they're told that there will be no above-ground contamination for five thousand years and that they will share in the profits of nuclear waste disposal.
In allowing the hole to be used in this way, the villagers are putting money ahead of the environment. They seem not to realize or care that they've lumbered future generations with a potential environmental catastrophe. Instead, all they see is the chance to make money and get rid of all their unwanted junk along with the nuclear waste that's going down to the hole. Such a short-sighted, selfish attitude will have serious consequences later on.
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