60 Minutes Australia's in-depth look at the Fukushima aftermath

"It was a sort of dread, empty feeling in my gut that there was absolutely nothing anyone could do about this and it would go on forever. And as a physician and a pediatrician I was absolutely horrified," said Dr. Helen Caldicott in the 60 Minutes feature, talking about her first reaction when she heard about the then unfolding Fukushima nuclear disaster in March 2011. Why dread? "Because I knew what sorts of diseases it would produce."

In this feature from April 2018, but still very much relevant today, we see how local people's lives have dramatically changed, the endless vigilance and testing for radiological contamination, and the tragedy of permanent displacement. And it exposes the government message that "everying is fine" and the fallacy of decontamination. "How do you clean up the cleanup?" asks the presenter.

11,000+ scientists have signed onto a bold new statement on the climate emergency

A new statement from five scientists -- World Scientists' Warning of a Climate Emergency -- has been co-signed by more than 11,000 scientists around the world. Departing from the traditional notes of caution and uncertainty sounded in the IPCC reports and elsewhere, the group states in no uncertain terms that the time for action is rapidly slipping away.

"Scientists have a moral obligation to clearly warn humanity of any catastrophic threat and to 'tell it like it is,'" the statement begins. "On the basis of this obligation and the graphical indicators presented below, we declare, with more than 11,000 scientist signatories from around the world, clearly and unequivocally that planet Earth is facing a climate emergency."

The statement goes on to list key areas of necessary change beyond energy policy but also including population growth, food management and economic issues. The statement itself makes no mention of nuclear power although it recommends replacing fossil fuels "with low-carbon renewables and other cleaner sources of energy if safe for people and the environment," an interesting qualifier that should obviously rule out dangerous nuclear power. In a supplement, nuclear is referenced only in a graph showing nuclear energy consumption in global decline. (Photo:Sam Saunders, Wikimedia Commons).