Uranium Three Ways: Yellowcake, Radon Gas Testing, and the Healing Tree for the World (Part 3)
by Nancy Tam

In this final article of a three-part serial, the “orange glowing rock” buried deep in the earth, is being intensively mined again as part of a nearly billion dollar industry. According to World Nuclear Association data, as of 2022, Saskatchewan is now the world’s second-largest producer of uranium. Our provincial government has reported that in 2023, it is expected that our uranium industry, primarily located in northern Saskatchewan, will produce nearly 15 million kilograms of yellowcake uranium, which almost doubles what was produced in the previous year. While this may appear to be an economic boon, it is important to carefully consider the potential adverse effects of uranium mining and processing on our human-health and possible radioactive contamination of the environment. For more information about the serious risks linked to the nuclear industry and its legacy for future generations, go to: www.nuclear-risks.org

Why should we be concerned about uranium? Uranium in our soil and rock will decay into radium, which in turn, naturally decays into radon, a radioactive gas that you can’t see, smell or taste. When radon mixes with outside air, it’s less of an issue because it’s more diluted. However, if radon gas seeps through cracks and holes into enclosed spaces like your basement or cellar, you could inhale these radioactive particles without knowing it. Radon gas exposure is the second leading cause of lung cancers in Canada and every November, there’s a public campaign, Radon Action Month, to raise national awareness about the health risks of radon gas. According to the Saskatchewan Research Council (SRC), our province has some of the highest levels of radon gas in homes and buildings in Canada due to the high concentration of uranium in our underlying soil and rock. There are many radon test devices available on the market and the SRC strongly recommends that every home be tested. Go to: https://takeactiononradon.ca  or https://c-nrpp.ca

Adding to our health concerns about uranium mining and potential radioactive contamination of our water supplies, soil, air and wildlife, are ongoing international efforts to ban nuclear weapons. In 2017, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) and was jointly accepted by Beatrice Fihn and Setsuko Thurlow, a Japanese-Canadian and hibakusha (survivor of the atomic bombings). Setsuko was a 13-year-old girl attending school, when the A-bombing killed her family and classmates. In August 2020, Setsuko called upon the Canadian government to acknowledge its role in creating the atomic bombs and to express its regret for its involvement. At this time, the writer is not aware of the federal government making a formal apology to the Japanese people nor to the Dene people for the devastating effects of their nuclear policy decisions on these two nations. According to ICAN, Canada has also not signed the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.

History attributes the ending of World War II to the dropping of the plutonium bomb on August 9th, 1945, on Nagasaki, three days after dropping the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima. Both cities and their civilian populations, endured catastrophic losses of life and unimaginable suffering, and it was thought that nothing would ever grow again for many years. The hikabusha have described their survival of this apocalyptic horror as “living through hell on earth.” Near the epicenter of the blast that rocked Nagasaki, a single tree survived the inferno of destruction. It is the Kaki tree, or the Japanese Persimmon tree, called Diospyros kaki.

Dr. Marijke Creveld, a Dutch homeopath, has a deep affinity for trees and our planet and the complex challenges faced by humanity in the 21st century. She began to search for a tree that had medicinal and healing properties that could address the modern problems in this era. Upon discovering the Nagasaki Kaki tree, and its power for surviving the plutonium radioactive blast, she embarked on making a homeopathic remedy from this hibaku tree’s roots, bark, and fruit which she named: Diospyros kaki Creveld. This survivor Kaki tree remedy has been available since 2000 in Europe.

Dr. Creveld has written extensively about her clinical case studies for the Kaki tree remedy as it relates to trauma and suffering from wars involving radiation, toxic chemical exposures, fires, and burns. For more details, please see her two online articles about her Kaki tree proving and her clinical experiences: www.homeoint.org and https://qjure.com. Dr. Creveld has also written a book about this remedy: Surviving with Help of Diospyros kaki Creveld: The Tree for the World.

As I come to the close of writing this set of articles, I am hearing a gentle voice speaking to me in Dene, as I sit with my images of the orange glowing rock and the orange Japanese persimmon. I’m in a quiet space, filled with this brilliant deep orange colour, seeing the homeopathic “Law of Similars” present itself simply and profoundly; how the uranium and the Kaki tree are deeply interconnected, and while, there may be destruction, disease, and suffering on one hand, the promise of the gifts of healing trauma, peace, and reconciliation, are also there as well. What is toxic and can make us sick, can be transformed into a gentle homeopathy remedy, and help to make us well.

The sacred wisdom of the Dene people resonates like a river of truth running through my being.
It is one sentence that rings deep and true, like a definitive calligraphy stroke, or a haiku poem…
“We shouldn’t let our land be used in a way that harms others.” 

It touches into the heart of our shared humanity and our connection to all of Nature. It underscores my deep longing to create sustainable peace, from my heart within and rooted into the sacredness of this land, we call our home on Planet Earth. 

Nancy Tam is a registered social worker specializing in holistic wellness from a Taoist totality perspective. Her therapeutic approach is rooted in the Dreambody channel of process-oriented psychology (POP) and working with your active imagination, dreams (waking and night), mirroring, deep democracy, and personal life myths to cultivate inner and outer peace. She enjoys facilitating workshops about Dreambody POP, Non-Violent Communication and Constellations Homeopathy. For more info about Nancy’s peace activism work via the Positive Peace Umbrella Project, her Kimono Wings Work-in-Progress, in remembrance and mourning of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and upcoming workshops, please email: positivepeaceup@gmail.com.