Google Earth is a pretty cool program. This Christmas week I decided to spend a little time with it and cruise around Nevada (of all places). The Chamber of Commerce slogan of "what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas" can only be described as wishful thinking. Cruising in low Earth orbit with Google I noticed something amiss north of Las Vegas - The Nevada Test Site. Of the 1032 above and below ground atomic testing the US has done, 900 of them have been here. A quick search of "atomic test site" loaded up a ton of information as to what I was actually looking at. This link (http://bravolima.netfirms.com/nevada.jpg) is a capture of what can only be described as ground zero for the US nuclear arsenal test site. Literally hundreds and hundreds of varying sized depressions resulting from underground nuclear tests. The area is so huge it encompases thousands of square miles. Testing was done on warhead sizes from .05 to 1000 kilotons or more including, absurdly, nuclear artillery. The Hiroshima bomb was about 12 kilotons. Before I came across this shot I had no idea that we were testing so extensively. Like most Americans, my idea of the nuclear scientist was a bespectacled smart guy/gal with an accent working in isolation on theoretical engineering models and computer simulations. What was I thinking. There is now an area of Nevada approximately the size of Connecticut that will be uninhabitable to humans - forever. It is sickening. The Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty was signed by President Clinton in 1996 but was never ratified. Maybe it's time to do so. Why does the word - stewardship - come immediately to mind?