dagblog - Comments for "Rooting for radiation; Praying for poison"

I wouldn't pretend that conservation can save us from the impending catastrophe. It would, however, without impinging impermissably upon the study time of the priveleged college attending class, get us 5-10% of the way there.

I'm a big fan of

Donal — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 15:52:03 +0000

In reply to safe and clean What is really

I'm a big fan of conservation, but Astyk notes that it is antithetical to middle class desires:.

On Baby Harp Seals, Coal Plants and Nuclear Power

Several years ago I was invited to protest a coal plant with a group of environmental activists. Speaking as someone who believes in civil action even when it is largely pointless, I agreed - it had been a depressingly long time since I'd been arrested for anything, and the occasional civil disobedience arrest is good for the soul, and coal is bad for it. Most of my fellow activists were students, and they invited me first to address the student group. I asked them how much electricity they use. They spoke proudly of their local diets, bikes and cloth bags. I observed that none of those things has much to do with electricity - on the other hand, electric devices, refrigeration and using a dryer have a lot to do with it. I invited them to measure their electric usage, and to ask themselves what they will give up to use 1/2, 1/3, 1/4. Since nearly 3/4 of this particular area's electric usage comes from coal, that was what was required - that they drop their usage by 3/4. That everyone else do so - that the library that was open all night for their study convenience be closed at night, so to reduce energy usage. That they use their computers dramatically less, in order to reduce both their personal use, but also the huge servers that create most of the internet's impact. Reduced use of refrigeration - how will they eat with a fridge the size of a dorm fridge - holding all their food, not just the private stash in their dorm, but their share of what exists in the communal cafeteria, and at home.

I asked them how many of them were prepared to give these things up in order to end coal usage, to use that much less energy. About half of them raised their hands, divided between hesitant and enthusiastic - these were smart, educated and committed young people, and that's a hard road to travel. Then we talked about how. I asked how could this be made easier - how could infrastructure changes make it more possible. They were full of ideas. I asked how many of them would have done so after 9/11, if they were asked to do so rather than go to war in the Middle East - they all raised their hands. I asked how many of them would be prepared to do this if everyone else were doing it. All the hands rose. I asked how many of them would be willing to do it if they understood it as a way of saving future generations, their own future children and grandchildren. Most of them did. What if they were told they were heroic, that their acts were ones of courage and heroism, rather than just being weird things done in the dark by themselves.

Two words: Price-Anderson

jollyroger — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 07:49:52 +0000

In reply to You know Jolly, I was just

Two words: Price-Anderson

You know Jolly, I was just

Richard Day — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 06:33:16 +0000

In reply to Rooting for radiation; Praying for poison

You know Jolly, I was just thinkin about the insurance industry.

When you are a PI attorney, that is your enemy but this industry was the net for corporations (charters) to investigate the seas; to find markets all around the world five hundred years ago.

The British Empire was based upon these insurers.

The deck is stacked before you ever get to court of course, but enough mavericks wreak havoc so that the repubs attack the victims every fucking time!

It may be, I mean it just may be, that the demise of these enclosed atom explosions will lose their allure due to capitalist considerations.

Who knows? ha

safe and clean What is really

jollyroger — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 02:06:54 +0000

In reply to In an effort to rehabilitate

safe and clean

What is really safe and clean is turning off the lights when you leave the room...or, more globally, the low hanging fruit is conservation.

Of course, in a political system that permits the preservation of the incandescent light bulb to become a cause, one does despair.

In an effort to rehabilitate

Donal — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 01:27:28 +0000

In reply to Rooting for radiation; Praying for poison

In an effort to rehabilitate Nuclear, this chart from Reason's The Truth About Nuclear Power, is making the rounds:

... and it's true - nuclear power is relatively safe and clean - until it isn't. But when it isn't it gets way out of control much faster than fossil fuels. Some other blogs have cherry-picked this one chart, and a more graphic version, to make the argument that a planet with nukes instead of coal, climate change and air pollution would be a fair trade, but they aren't reading the entire article:

Myth 1: Nuclear power is a cheap alternative to fossil fuels.

Fact 1: It isn’t.

Myth 2: Risk is the main problem with nuclear power.

Fact 2: Cost is the main problem, not risk.

Myth 3: The spread of nuclear power has stalled in the U.S. due to a hostile regulatory environment.

Fact 3: Nuclear power has stalled because it is simply not profitable.

Myth 4: Nuclear power is the key to energy independence.

Fact 4: More nuclear doesn’t mean less oil.

Yeah, that's what a more

jollyroger — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 23:09:01 +0000

In reply to You mean radioactive like

Yeah, that's what a more energetic poster would have linked to in the OP.

I figure that the water will seep into the ground, spread, and then....