Latest Articles
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Interview with Lawrence Bender
There's an interesting interview with Lawrence Bender, the producer of An Inconvenient Truth, on TruthDig today.
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No nukes is good nukes
Someone -- I think Bart? -- sent me to a paper by David Fleming called "Why nuclear power cannot be a major energy source."
I just got done reading it, and as far as I'm concerned it is devastating to the pro-nuclear argument. Game over.
The paper -- based primarily on the work of Jan Willem Storm van Leeuwen and Philip Smith -- carefully considers how much uranium is left in the ground, the energy balance for the full nuclear lifecycle (including cleaning up waste), the promise of breeder reactors, and just about every other aspect of nuclear power.
The ultimate verdict: If nuclear power maintains its current contribution -- roughly 2.5% of the world's energy -- it can continue for about 75 years, under ideal conditions. If we ramp it up to supply 100% of the world's electricity, it could last about 6 years, under ideal conditions. And there are no ideal conditions.
In other words, nuclear power simply cannot bridge the coming energy gap. More than anything, it serves as a kind of techno-totem, allowing people to cling to the illusion that technology will save us and we won't have to alter our lifestyles.
Anyway, read it. Bookmark it. Link to it. Send it to your friends. The nuclear illusion needs to be put to rest once and for all.
My favorite part of the paper is the helpful summary at the end. Here it is:
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Americans and Climate Change: Setting goals IV
"Americans and Climate Change: Closing the Gap Between Science and Action" (PDF) is a report synthesizing the insights of 110 leading thinkers on how to educate and motivate the American public on the subject of global warming. Background on the report here. I'll be posting a series of excerpts (citations have been removed; see original report). If you'd like to be involved in implementing the report's recommendations, or learn more, visit the Yale Project on Climate Change website.
Today's bit is brief and fun. It's about setting a different kind of target: Targets for changing the attitudes of the public.
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From Inconvenient to Indiana
Don’t hate the narrata, hate the game Much to the surprise of playa hataz, An Inconvenient Truth — starring the allegedly “stiff” Al Gore — is doing gangbuster box office, boasting the industry’s highest per-screen average. This is driving certain parties nuts, leading to incoherent screeds and comparisons of Gore to both Goebbels and Hitler. […]
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Going to Hell in a Sandbasket
North central China being slowly swallowed by desert Two deserts in north central China are rapidly expanding, burying 1,500 square miles of grasslands, lakes, forests, and villages under sand every year. Government-led deforestation and water-engineering projects are largely to blame. A giant reservoir near the town of Minqin diverts all available water resources into an […]
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Biscuits ‘n’ Crazy
Forest Service will auction off Oregon timber burned by Biscuit fire Enviros have lost a four-year legal battle to keep logging out of Oregon’s Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest, burned four years ago by the massive Biscuit fire. A federal appeals court has cleared the U.S. Forest Service to auction off rights today to about 400 […]
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The Evolution Will Be Pint-Sized
Some small animals evolving to adapt to climate change, study finds As we humans cling to the status quo while it floats down the river toward a global-warming waterfall (ahem), smaller animals are getting on with evolving. New research in Science identifies heritable genetic changes in some small wildlife that increase their chances of survival […]
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Could the battle for South Central Farm be coming to a close?
The scene at South Central Farm would look familiar to anyone who’s ever attended a multi-day protest: there’s a makeshift kitchen to feed the masses, a small sound stage, a tent for banner-making. But the kitchen is preparing nopales quesadillas instead of vegan stew, the stage features a Norteño band replete with cowboy hats, and […]
