Insure the volume? 177
frameworks to address the leaky materialities of the CEZ. Reflecting on
Zee’s (2017) study of dust storms travelling from China to South Korea,
Billé (2017) suggests, ‘[d]ust blurs the line between earth and liquid as it is
driven downwind. As a fugitive substance, it is a voluminous entity that surrounds, embraces, confuses, and potentially kills.’ In the case of the CEZ,
dust particles are one of the main parameters that underpins the 25-year
multinational effort that went into funding and constructing the gigantic
shelter that now covers the leaking and crumbling original sarcophagus
over Reactor No. 4. This effort is already (possibly inadvertently) thinking
with volume as they grapple with the consequences of a potential rerelease
of radioactive materials. These voluminous, leaky materialities are an issue
of international concern, particularly for more affluent European countries
downwind of Chornobyl who have the means to mitigate the threat. Yet, it
is also the crux of the uncertainty embodied by firefighters in the CEZ; an
issue, as argued in the previous section, laden with affective atmospheres as
well as leaky materialities.
Thinking with volume, in conversation with human geography
approaches to affective atmospheres, complicates ideas of territory, sovereignty, and property, making it difficult to insure against certain events,
such as radioactive air pollution resulting from the rerelease of nuclear fallout (see also Goldstein (2020) on the Southeast Asian haze crisis). If lightning or spontaneous combustion had lit the wildfires in the CEZ (i.e. natural
causes), they could be deemed an ‘Act of God.’ Yet does this actually apply
in the techno-natural ecosystem of the CEZ? The wildfires exacerbate an
existing socio-technical disaster, rereleasing radioisotopes that pollute the
surrounding air. Accountability for the radioactive air pollution is complicated further, as the wildfires were a result of negligent farming practices
or deliberate arson. While there may be an individual (or group of individuals) at fault for igniting a fire that got out of control, they are not to
blame for the long-term consequences of the irresponsible actions of the
Soviet authorities 36 years ago. Holding someone accountable (even if only
by issuing a fine), or labelling a wildfire as a purely natural event, enables
‘those in power’ to cover up, or even justify, decisions and actions that have
‘proved both environmentally unsound, and socially, if not morally, bankrupt’ (Steinberg 2006, p. xiv). As with many other events particular to the
Anthropocene, wildfires in the CEZ fundamentally challenge what counts
as an ‘Act of God.’
Conclusion
Air currents, like water currents, are carriers of change. Yet, ownership and responsibility are opaque when it comes to what these currents
carry and the consequences of the change they deliver. Once radioisotopes
are rereleased by wildfire, moving downwards into the soil and upwards
into the atmosphere, the dimensionality implied by ‘volume’ and the
frameworks to address the leaky materialities of the CEZ. Reflecting on
Zee’s (2017) study of dust storms travelling from China to South Korea,
Billé (2017) suggests, ‘[d]ust blurs the line between earth and liquid as it is
driven downwind. As a fugitive substance, it is a voluminous entity that surrounds, embraces, confuses, and potentially kills.’ In the case of the CEZ,
dust particles are one of the main parameters that underpins the 25-year
multinational effort that went into funding and constructing the gigantic
shelter that now covers the leaking and crumbling original sarcophagus
over Reactor No. 4. This effort is already (possibly inadvertently) thinking
with volume as they grapple with the consequences of a potential rerelease
of radioactive materials. These voluminous, leaky materialities are an issue
of international concern, particularly for more affluent European countries
downwind of Chornobyl who have the means to mitigate the threat. Yet, it
is also the crux of the uncertainty embodied by firefighters in the CEZ; an
issue, as argued in the previous section, laden with affective atmospheres as
well as leaky materialities.
Thinking with volume, in conversation with human geography
approaches to affective atmospheres, complicates ideas of territory, sovereignty, and property, making it difficult to insure against certain events,
such as radioactive air pollution resulting from the rerelease of nuclear fallout (see also Goldstein (2020) on the Southeast Asian haze crisis). If lightning or spontaneous combustion had lit the wildfires in the CEZ (i.e. natural
causes), they could be deemed an ‘Act of God.’ Yet does this actually apply
in the techno-natural ecosystem of the CEZ? The wildfires exacerbate an
existing socio-technical disaster, rereleasing radioisotopes that pollute the
surrounding air. Accountability for the radioactive air pollution is complicated further, as the wildfires were a result of negligent farming practices
or deliberate arson. While there may be an individual (or group of individuals) at fault for igniting a fire that got out of control, they are not to
blame for the long-term consequences of the irresponsible actions of the
Soviet authorities 36 years ago. Holding someone accountable (even if only
by issuing a fine), or labelling a wildfire as a purely natural event, enables
‘those in power’ to cover up, or even justify, decisions and actions that have
‘proved both environmentally unsound, and socially, if not morally, bankrupt’ (Steinberg 2006, p. xiv). As with many other events particular to the
Anthropocene, wildfires in the CEZ fundamentally challenge what counts
as an ‘Act of God.’
Conclusion
Air currents, like water currents, are carriers of change. Yet, ownership and responsibility are opaque when it comes to what these currents
carry and the consequences of the change they deliver. Once radioisotopes
are rereleased by wildfire, moving downwards into the soil and upwards
into the atmosphere, the dimensionality implied by ‘volume’ and the