By PROJECT SAVE THE WORLD
Bikini Atoll was the site of U.S. nuclear tests in the 1940s and 1950s. Thomas Goreau’s grandfather was the photographer in charge of documenting the events – {before” and “after.”
Imagine a paradise lost—lush islands ringed by vibrant coral reefs, teeming with life. Now imagine that paradise reduced to a radioactive wasteland, a testing ground for weapons of unimaginable destruction. Welcome to Bikini Atoll, a place scarred by nuclear explosions and the devastating legacy of exploitation. This story is told by Thomas Goreau, a passionate discussant of the atoll’s tragic past and uncertain future.
Goreau’s family history is relevant to the tale, for his grandfather, Fritz Goro, had been a famous pioneering photographer who developed methods of making visible things that people could never have seen otherwise, including scientific research evidence. He was the official photographer for the Manhattan project and the Bikini tests and worked closely with Oppenheimer. For example, as soon as the sand was cool enough after the first bomb test at Alamagordo, Oppenheimer, General Leslie Groves, and Goro walked together through ground zero, where sand had been melted into glass.
Thomas Goreau now possesses the archive of his grandfather’s photos and plans to produce a book displaying many of them. He also disclosed that his father had been exposed to radiation while working in the area and had died of it at age 45. Now Thomas Goreau continues the work of his father and grandfather by serving as president of the Global Coral Reef Alliance. He had just returned from an expedition to the Maldive Islands, where the coral reefs are dying of heat.
“Bikini” – a Name That Shocks
You probably think of “Bikini” as the name of a revealing swimsuit. But before it became fashion shorthand, Bikini Atoll was the site of U.S. nuclear tests in the 1940s and 1950s. The name capitalizes on the shock and awe associated with nuclear explosions.
Bikini Atoll, part of the Marshall Islands in the Pacific, became a target for nuclear tests because of its remoteness. But “remote” didn’t mean uninhabited. The islanders had lived there for 3,600 years, a community deeply connected to their land and sea. That didn’t matter to the U.S. military. They showed up unannounced in 1946 and told the residents they had to leave immediately. The islanders were promised they could return, but that promise was a lie.
A Forced Exodus and Broken Promises
The people of Bikini were displaced, their idyllic home turned into a radioactive laboratory. They were sent to barren islands with no lagoons for fishing, no fresh water, and limited food. Goreau describes how many starved to death or suffered malnutrition. When U.S. planes finally noticed their plight, supplies were air-dropped—bags of white rice and processed foods that wreaked havoc on the islanders’ health.
The U.S. government spun this as a temporary relocation, but the truth was far darker. Bikini Atoll became the site of 23 nuclear tests, including the infamous “Castle Bravo” detonation in 1954, which was 1,000 times more powerful than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima. The fallout from Bravo irradiated not just the test site but also nearby islands and American personnel stationed there.
Spencer mentioned a documentary about the Marshall Islands, Nuclear Savage, which reveals that the U.S. knowingly subjected the Marshallese people to radioactive fallout, treating them as human guinea pigs. The filmmaker showed documents proving that experiments initially intended for mice were instead conducted on people.
The Fallout: Cancer, Jellyfish Babies, and a Poisoned Paradise
The human toll of these experiments is staggering. Goreau describes “jellyfish babies” – infants born with no bones, translucent and doomed to die. Cancer rates skyrocketed among the Marshallese, and entire generations have been scarred by the legacy of radiation.
And what of the atoll itself? Goreau’s grandfather documented the natural beauty of Bikini before the tests. Coral reefs thrived, their vibrant ecosystems supporting a delicate balance of life. But all of that was obliterated. The first thing the military did was dynamite the coral, clearing the lagoon for their warships. Later, the bombs themselves—one underwater, one in the air—turned the coral to rubble. Today, even the attempts to “clean up” Bikini are a testament to failure. The military bulldozed radioactive waste into craters and covered them with a concrete dome – the Runit sarcophagus – that is now cracking and leaking due to rising seas.
A Global Responsibility: Climate Change and Nuclear Legacy
Goreau’s work as head of the Global Coral Reef Alliance ties Bikini’s story to a broader crisis: climate change. Rising seas threaten not just Bikini but all low-lying atolls in the Pacific. Coral bleaching events, driven by warming oceans, have decimated reefs that once provided natural protection against storms. Goreau warns that we are nearing the point of no return, where even drastic action may not be enough to save what’s left.
This dual legacy of nuclear testing and climate change underscores a painful irony. The same militaristic and extractive systems that devastated Bikini Atoll are also driving global warming. Goreau and Spencer lament the continued prioritization of military spending over environmental and humanitarian needs. The resources that could be used to combat climate change are instead funneled into weapons programs, perpetuating cycles of violence and destruction.
The Resilience and Tragedy of the Marshallese People
Despite everything, the Marshallese people endure. But their resilience is not without cost. Goreau describes how they’ve been relegated to islands with no freshwater, forced to rely on food shipments that often fail to arrive. The Marshallese diaspora has spread across the Pacific, with many seeking better opportunities abroad. But for those who remain, life is precarious. Rising seas now inundate their homes, and the specter of radiation lingers.
Spencer and Goreau discuss how the Marshallese have been rendered invisible by the very forces that displaced them. Their plight is rarely covered in the media, and their voices are often excluded from international climate and nuclear policy discussions. The Marshallese are not just victims; they are a warning. What happened to them could happen to all of us if we fail to reckon with the twin threats of nuclear war and climate collapse.
Can the World Be Saved?
As the conversation winds down, Spencer challenges Goreau to solve the world’s problems in two minutes. His response is sobering. He argues that we need to not only stop burning fossil fuels but also actively remove carbon from the atmosphere. Even that might not be enough; we may need to reflect sunlight back into space to cool the planet. Yet these measures are controversial and fraught with their own risks.
Goreau’s ultimate point is that we cannot rely on technological fixes alone. The root causes of our crises are systemic: militarism, greed, and a disregard for life. There are still steps we can take—and must take—to mitigate the damage and build a more just and sustainable world.
22 January 2025
source: projectsavetheworld.substack.com