Elena Filatova Reminds Us of Chernobyl in Her New Book: Ghost Town

We wanted to write about Elena Filatova, an explorer at heart and creator of a 10-year online journal documenting her explorations by Motorcycle in the dead zone of (and beyond) Chernobyl. We highly recommend her website consisting of 10 years of intimate photojournalism into the behind the scenes story of what has really happened since the nuclear reaction at Chernobyl in 1986.

Her journals and photos are poignant while weaving political history, scientific antidotes, her personal impressions and true life stories of the abandoned people and animals, not only within the dead zone but in hundreds of ghost towns 40 to 80 kms away from the Chernobyl nuclear disaster site.

Elena Filatova has made exploring these areas and ghost towns a life long hobby and this year at the 10th anniversary of her website published Chernobyl Photobook ' Ghost Town.' The proceeds go toward the author buying food supplies and essentials for all those still remaining in the irradiated and abandoned ghost towns and villages to this day.

We are also fond of the authors journal 'Land of the Wolves.' And recently, her concerns are for the recent nuclear disaster at the Fukushima nuclear plants in Japan:

"Nowadays, we are moving from catastrophe to catastrophe so fast that no one has time to learn from what is happening, thus we are doomed to repeat it all again and again. Each time history repeats itself the price goes up. 

My aim is to take hold of important events I have witnessed and rescue from oblivion deeds that have been forgotten or chosen to have been forgotten. With time, cities perish and the memory of things is lost, so the sole purpose of my work is to preserve memories on the internet forever.

Since the Ghost Town site first went on the Internet in 2003, tens of millions visitors have viewed the Chernobyl information which it provides. This site is maintained by me, the author, and is completely free of all popup ads and spyware. There are no copyright issues. 

Work on this site is my hobby, which I pursue in my free time.""

We can't say enough good things about the authors courageous explorations into contaminated areas, her insights and obvious passion for her cause. In our mind's, Elena Filatova is the epitomy of what it means to be an explorer who explores the abandoned. 

The Ultimate Abandonment of Civilization is Extinction

We are sorry. We were posting about the environmental tragedy of the Fukushima nuclear reactors in Japan for some time, and then things came up, and we thought Japan was onto things quicker in regards to cleanup as they suggested (We recollect the cold shut down was to commence no later than 2012). We and Tepco were wrong.

We are back. Never in our lives did we think we would ever be posting on our blog about abandoned places, people and ultimately about our potentially abandoned earth in the future.

But as explorers of the abandoned, we explore everything, sometimes by leaving only foot prints behind, and sometimes in our arm chairs looking onto events we cannot control, about complete abandoned civilizations as per 'Ecocide'.

At the root of all abandoned phenomenon, as we have believed right from the start, is the abandonment of our civilization, history and common sense. We have abandoned ourselves and one another, as depicted in the history of all abandoned places and people on this planet, including the ultimate extinction of so many great civilizations before ours, all overcome by various outcomes of ecocide. 

Helping Displaced People of Japan

Since Japan's earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011, nonprofit and individual heros have come to the rescue pooling common resources, skills and talents in a time where Japan's resources are temporarily disabled. In times of disaster, the international community reminds me what is heroic about the human spirit.

Over a month later, there is still much that needs to be done. There have been hundreds of thousands of displaced people without homes, water or considerable comfort. Many of the people who lived close to ground zero the the Fukushima plants will not be able to return to their homes for many long months, years or decades. Displaced family pets have been left abandoned and the longer it takes to pool resources the less likely we can help.

Let's help. The Internet community is a viral community with the potential for crowd pooling of our resources. The Internet can help us reach out and make a difference. Families can make YouTube videos offering their homes to help displaced families in Japan to have a roof over their head. Others can ask for donations from Internet communities, like A Place to Call Home. You can add the widgets to websites, blogs or social media sites like Facebook. There are a lot of creative things we all do through Internet connections and it adds up when we all chip in!