Opinion
The rain in Spain is not mainly on the plain
I’m writing this on Nov. 1, four days before what will easily be the most consequential election in my lifetime. Many people have gauged this to be a referendum on democracy: Will we continue to have one or not?
I add to this that it will be a referendum on whether we will continue to have a livable planet or not. This may sound hyperbolic. I judge it to just be a straightforward extrapolation of facts. The data is everywhere, and much too much to put into a 900-word column. Every day there is news from somewhere to support my contention. I’m going to use two columns in the Friday edition of the New York Times as examples.
America can and should lead a nuclear energy future
- - Tuesday, April 18, 2023
For good reason, we often hear of the need to “unleash American energy” and “return to energy independence.”
To accomplish this, we should be enacting policies that actually make it easier to produce and export energy of all kinds here in the United States. That means sources that continue to provide baseload power generation like coal, oil, and natural gas, and also renewables like wind and solar.
That must also include the need to strengthen and advance nuclear energy, and take full advantage of its potential in a clean, reliable energy future.
Why I Changed My Mind
Ron Gester, retired geologist & physician August 2021
In the 1970s, I marched in opposition to nuclear power plants. In 2008, I began to realize that I knew a lot about nuclear energy ... that just wasn’t true. When I discovered how wrong I had been, I became obsessed with the quality of my information. I wanted to promote options for fighting climate change and global poverty that were supported by rigorous science and math. David MacKay’s book,
Sustainable Energy – Without the Hot Air, showed how. [1] After much effort, I concluded that nuclear energy was one of those options – perhaps the most important one – since clean energy is essential for fighting both climate change and global poverty. I realized that while other forms of clean energy were important, they would not be sufficient. What follows is a summary of why I changed my mind.