What Lives are Made Of...

After the earthquake and tsunami last March in Japan, people on the West Coast have lived with the horrible possibility that they have been subjected to a very real, yet entirely invisible reminder of Japan’s devastation:  radiation.  Now we can look forward to a tangible record of the disaster as well, as 5 to 20 tons of debris that washed into the Pacific Ocean heads our way.  That’s 5 to 20 tons of things – cars, boats, appliances, boots, washbasins, furniture, buoys, and rooftops – that were once a part of the lives of tens of thousands of people.