Spring 1986- Powering On
As Ingvar Carlsson becomes Sweden's new prime minister, the world got a reminder of the troubles that remained to be dealt with and governments over the world sending their condolences and encourgament to continue to deal with these problems. As further pressure now mounted on South Africa to end apartheid and Congress was preparing a bill as a response to interactions with South Africa regarding apartheid, more surprises would be coming. One major was the about an atricle published by The New York Times. Said article charges that Kurt Waldheim, former United Nations Secretary-General and candidate for president of Austria, may have been involved in Nazi war crimes during World War II, prompting an investigation on the serious accusation. Beyond that, other incidentes occur, such as some bomb plots and other attacks across the world for various reasons. Despite this though, the world stood strong and still moved forward and other times, disasters were averted. [1]
One such close call was over in the Chernobyl Power Plant near the city of Pripyat in the north of the Ukrainian SSR in the Soviet Union. After the announcement of the design and construction of new nuclear power plants within the United States, the USSR had decided to do similar, looking over and thoroughly examining their present plants along with sites for new ones. This would lead to the discovery of critical flaws and operation neglect within the plant and they had to go through an extensive and careful process of shutting down the plant, especially upon realizing there was a chance for one of the reactors, likely Number 4, to have exploded. While the situation was kept under wraps, it would further force the Soviet Union into greater openness and collaboration with the United States and other nuclear powers on developing and refining nuclear power plants and safety features for the third generation of nuclear reactors. [2]
On more positive news, the Second Civil Rights Act would be passed through Congress. The Democrats’ supermajority along with Vice President Askew’s efforts to bring the votes, the work of the activists and their supporters putting pressure on the other Congressfolk and even the growing liberal Republicans led by House Minority Leader John B Anderson and Senator Charles Mathias led the support for it. The act served to protect people from discrimination regardless of their sexual orientation and related aspects, such as in employment, politics and so on. Surprisingly, one of the lesser discussed topics was on the idea of samgen marriage though it was rumored that they hoped that the act would be used to justify that samgen marriage to be legalized. However, with the cooperation of many different people, the act would be passed to the jubilation of many people. The act was received for the most part, with people passively warming up to it though there was a growing minority of individuals not too happy, especially with the rammifications of the act. Additionally, the support by the liberal Republicans also revealed further cracks within what was the traditional Republican voting base and showing the fluctuating state of American political conservatism at the time
Lastly was another World's Fair, this time held over in Vancouver. It gathered more interest than one would expect, primarily for its themes on Transporation and Communication. It reflected the growing technology regard computers involved in mass communication and the hopes for further connection across the world. Moreso, it reflected the growing trend in Transporation, namely in public transporation. Reporters noted this to be a result of the Exxon case exposing the widespread danger of fossil fuels and the need to switch to more efficient means of transporation. Unsurprisingly, public transportation would regain ground in this front, being able to get more people around with less fuel compared to everyone using cars. This along with the Americans' quasi-nationalization of their major rails and subsequent electrification project has renewed interest in this and further matters. In fact, at the fair, the United States showcased some of said plans with it along with the hopes of more refined nuclear power, a theme shared with the USSR's pavilion,. especially with the close call with their reactor and the need for greater collaboration in developing safer and more effective nuclear power. While initial plans were for a monorail, it expanded more for the introduction of modernized trams to be used which would expand in usage in Vancouver. Additionally, one fascinating sight would be buses running on biogas, that being gases collected on the breakdown of biological material and sometimes known as renewable natural gas, especially when the biogas has been purified and treated to be biomethane. However, this also did come with some controversey, mainly in more than a thousand low-income residents of Vancouver's Downtown Eastside were evicted from their long-term homes in single room occupancy (SRO) hotels, sometimes with as little as a single day's notice. [3]
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[1]- Information from here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1986
[2]- Information and phrasing from here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chernobyl_disaster
[3]- Information and phrasing from here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expo_86
