On World Oceans Day, I reminisced about my love for the ocean which led me to write a poem. I pictured all of the times I walked along Majuro’s beautiful shores or sailed across the lagoon. I envisioned collecting seashells along the shore when I was a little girl, eating my favorite meal of raw fish with Jimma and diving to magnificent coral reefs with my siblings and cousins. Each of these memories made me feel so peaceful and grateful for the ocean. There is no doubt in my heart that a young girl living on Bikini atoll in the 1940s would have felt that same peace and gratitude for her beloved lagoon. The atoll of Bikini is no longer inhabitable today due to contamination from the US nuclear testing program. Because of that, I know that this little girl from Bikini must have known what it feels like to mourn for her ocean habitat and to wait and wish for justice the same way I do. I also pictured the ocean as a living being who suffered alongside her. The little girl and her lagoon endured the devastating impacts of nuclear weapons together including illness, cancer, infertility, loss of loved ones and the loss of connection between people and environment. As the young girl is now approaching the sunset of her life, I know she longs to feel the peace of being reconciled with her lagoon again.

Even 76 years after the first nuclear bomb was detonated in the Marshall Islands, our ocean and people continue to be threatened by the negative impacts of the nuclear weapons. Nuclear waste stored in the Runit Dome by the US is leaking into the ocean and threatens to worsen as climate change causes rising sea levels. Meanwhile, Japan has announced plans to dump nuclear waste into the ocean from the Fukushima power plant (some people might argue that nuclear power is a separate issue, but it isn’t for us). I have also learned that a nuclear war will exacerbate the climate crisis and cause a global famine making the ongoing impacts of nuclear testing in the Marshall Islands even worse. The way that this nuclear legacy unravels, tests my faith… but I will never lose faith in our ultimate provider, the ocean – it embodies the true meaning of sustainability: take care of the ocean and the abundant ocean with its renewable resources, will take care of us. This love and passion for the ocean is what connects us – past, present and future. My poem, entitled “See you soon lagoon,” combines that love for the ocean with our nuclear legacy in a call to act for justice and peace.