Environment, Society and Sustainability
Bikini Atoll is found in the Marshall Islands and is part of the Ralik chain. Nevertheless, this paper discusses a brief description of the environment, society, and sustainability of Bikini Atoll and the United States. The geography of Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands contains 23 Islands. The islands have sand and are composed of low coral limestone. The average altitude is 7 feet only above the low tide level. The lagoon area is 594.1 km2, and the primary islanders are northeast of Bikini Island and are 237 ha and 4.0 km long. The islanders performed the cultivation of native foods such as banana, coconut, limes, and papaya.
Due to atomic bomb testing performed in the area, it affected the animal life in the atoll. The species which existed in the area included land species such as hermit crabs, small lizards, and coconut crabs. The United States used explosives to let vessels with a draft to move into the lagoon and make the atomic bomb testing, by gusting up hefty coral heads in the lagoon. Blast debris partly replenished the bottom of the lagoon by carving large holes. The explosions dispersed massive amounts of mud which was pounded and exposed transversely around the surrounding islands and wide expanses of the lagoon.
In 2008, 65% of the biodiversity of the atoll had recovered from the radioactive contamination but still, 28 species of coral appear extinct. The island’s climate is humid and hot. Bikini Atoll’s temperature with its water is 28 °C all around the year (Bordner et al., 2020). Moreover, the islands border the pacific cyclone belt, and the trade winds produce higher wave action and commence from January to May, while the wet season in the area starts from May and ends in December, while.
On the social sustainability, after the United States requested the inhabitants to relocate, 167 residents who lived in Atoll moved to Kili Island. The residents returned to atoll in 1970 after they were reassured of safety before they were evacuated because of the discovery of a cesium body burden that proved the island to be unsafe (Lieber, 2019). After moving to Kili, the Bikini residents suffered from the insufficient food supply. Kili is an island exposed to 20ft waves that made putting canoes and fishing difficult because the island lacks a lagoon. The United States through a donation of the ship between Jaluit Atoll and Kill for transporting copra, but the ship unfortunately wrecked in heavy surf while delivering fruit and copra. Due to this the social residents sustained on imported canned goods and rice and used their supplemental income to purchase the food.
In conclusion, Bikini Atoll is an Island, situated in the Marshall Islands. The island was affected by the atomic bomb testing by the United States. The bomb affected various activities in the region, including animal lives. Because of all these influences, the residents had to rely on buying food such as imported rice to sustain themselves.
References
Bordner, A. S., Ferguson, C. E., & Ortolano, L. (2020). Colonial dynamics limit climate adaptation in Oceania: Perspectives from the Marshall Islands. Global Environmental Change, 61, 102054.
Lieber, M. D. (Ed.). (2019). Exiles and migrants in Oceania. University of Hawaii Press.