LINDA PENTZ GUNTER – The NRC has at times performed poorly as a diligent safety regulator, routinely serving more as lapdog than watchdog and putting industry profit motives ahead of public protection. But even a weak regulator is better than none at all. Nuclear power is simply too inherently dangerous a technology to operate outside the law. Ignoring those dangers will put millions of Americans at risk of another catastrophic nuclear accident.
Tag: renewable energy
Climate Change and the Decline of the American Empire
COVERING CLIMATE NOW – “One of the cornerstones of geostrategic thinking since the start of the Industrial Revolution, 250 years ago, is that the country that controls energy supply controls the world,” Jonathan Watts points out. “For most of the past century, that has centered on oil.” But the era of oil is ending, Watts contends, as the global economy “shifts from molecules to electrons” — or from burning oil, gas, and coal to generating solar, wind, and other forms of renewable energy. The implications are profound, not least for the chances of limiting global temperature rise to a survivable level.
Essay about nuclear energy versus renewables omits crucial fundamentals
AMORY B. LOVINS – In her March 13 Bulletin article (“The war on Iran will speed the transition away from fossil fuels and toward nuclear energy, creating strategic challenges for the United States”), the distinguished Rachel Bronson’s equivocal but emphatic ode to nuclear power disappoints by omitting fundamentals.
Maine Farm Girl & Kansas Grain Farmer Talk Climate on The Train
RIVERA SUN – If a conservative Kansas grain farmer and a potato-picking farm girl from Maine can see eye-to-eye on the climate crisis, maybe there’s hope for the rest of the country. The future of humanity depends on it.
The Purposely Confusing World of Energy Politics
RICHARD HEINBERG – Life often presents us with paradoxes, but seldom so blatant or consequential as the following. Read this sentence slowly: Today it is especially difficult for most people to understand our perilous global energy situation, precisely because it has never been more important to do so. Got that? No? Okay, let me explain. I must begin by briefly retracing developments in a seemingly unrelated field—climate science.
How Germany Is Getting to 100 Percent Renewable Energy
THOMAS HEDGES – There is no debate on climate change in Germany. The temperature for the past 10 months has been three degrees above average and we’re again on course for the warmest year on record. There’s no dispute among Germans as to whether this change is man-made, or that we contribute to it and need to stop accelerating the process.
Charlottesville, Va., City Council Passes Resolution Opposing War on Iran
DAVID SWANSON – The City Council of Charlottesville, Virginia, home of Thomas Jefferson, James Monroe, and the University of Virginia, passed on Tuesday evening, January 17, 2012, a resolution believed to be a first in the country, opposing the launching of a war on Iran, as well as calling for an end to current ground and drone wars engaged in by the United States and urging Congress and the President of the United States to significantly reduce military spending.
At Last! Good News About Nukes
MICHAEL MARIOTTE – Even while the tragedy of the Fukushima disaster continues and our thoughts and prayers remain with the people of Japan, there has been a spate of good news on this side of the Pacific.
Paying Extra for Green Power and Getting Ads Instead
KATE GALBRAITH: The solicitations have been flooding people’s mailboxes lately: pay a bit more on your electricity bill for 100 percent clean wind power. Or, the fliers say, buy “green power certificates†to offset your global warming emissions.