Books for Climate, Books for your Nuclear Family

Shopping and Climate Conferences

Now that Thanksgiving is in the rear view window, it is time to go shopping.  Meanwhile, the long-awaited Climate Conference (COP21) begins tomorrow in Paris.  Therefore, I will take the opportunity to encourage my readers to read two excellent books about nuclear power and climate change.  And to give the books as gifts, too!

These books address two fundamental questions of our time:

• How can we stop climate change?
• Why is the so-called "environmental" movement so anti-nuclear?

Climate Gamble

Climate Gamble: Is Anti-Nuclear Activism Endangering Our Future?
Raul Partanen and Janne M. Korhanan

I first heard of this book by two young Finnish authors when they were running an Indiegogo campaign. They were raising money to give away free copies of their pro-nuclear book at the COP21 Climate conference in Paris. As you can see by this press release, they raised enough money to distribute 5000 copies of this book in Paris.  A pre-run of the French edition will be available for COP21.

Read this book to learn exactly why the climate needs nuclear energy and exactly how the nuclear opponents tell straight-up falsehoods to claim that nuclear plants create as much carbon-dioxide as gas-fired plants.  Learn when the anti-nuclear groups started saying this about nuclear power plants, and who said it first.

 Buy the book. Prepare to be shocked.

Greenjacked

Greenjacked! The derailing of environmental action on climate change
Geoff Russell

Geoff Russell is an environmental activist and an animal activist in Australia.  In this book, Russell compares the carcinogenic properties of radiation with those of obesity, red meat, and alcohol--all are far more potent cancer-causing agents than radiation is.  (Note, on the cover, the woman with a sign saying "But what about the waist!"  That is indeed the question.)

This brilliantly written book illustrates DNA repair mechanisms, compares radiation and smoke, describes the death of Shoreham and the rise of oil-fired electricity, and catalogs the "deadly failure of governance" at the Fukushima evacuation. As Russell describes the current situation: a rich "fabric of mythology" tightly binds nuclear weapons and nuclear energy.

The Greenjacking of the environmental movement is having severe effects on our health, and the health of our planet.

Buy the book. And read the excellent article and comments about Greenjacked in Brave New Climate.

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Note:  I am painfully aware of many excellent pro-nuclear books that I have not mentioned here. I reviewed these two books in particular because they will help people learn about climate-and-nuclear in time for the newspaper articles about COP21.

 Buy both books, read both books, and give them as gifts, too!

MICHAEL Angwin wins a Nuclear Debate

The Debate

Rod Adams posted yesterday about a debate in Australia: Winning a debate in Sydney--We have seen the future and it's nuclear

It's an excellent debate, and here's a direct link to the debate, on ABC TV in Australia. It's part of a Big Ideas series of debates.  Below is a wonderful ten minute video clip of Ben Heard's introductory remarks on the debate, explaining why he changed from being opposed to nuclear energy to being very much in favor of it.




However, what really caught my attention on this debate was the name of one of the debaters.  Here's a quote from Rod's post:

"The (debate) host declared that Ben Heard, Michael Angwin, and Professor Daniela Stehlik had won a resounding victory on the question of the night and that the audience now agreed that the future of energy is nuclear."

Anybody notice the part of the sentence that caught my eye? (Emphasis added by blogger, to give you a clue...)

Michael Angwin

Angwin is not a common name, and I was amazed to see an Angwin as a pro-nuclear debater in Australia. I immediately contacted Barry Brook, who holds a Chair in Climate Change at the University of Adelaide and blogs at Brave New Climate.  Since both Brook and Angwin are in Australia, and I know Brook, I hoped for an email introduction to Michael. I received one.  (Thank you, Barry!) Michael Angwin and I have now introduced ourselves to each other.

Michael Angwin is Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Uranium Association.  Australia mines and exports uranium, but only burns coal domestically. Various groups are trying to move Australia away from coal-burning.  One such organization is  Decarbonize South Australia   Here's a four-minute clip of an interview with Michael Angwin, in which he speaks of the need to listen and reassure people, as well as share the facts.  I agree.

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The Angwins

Every Angwin I have ever met can trace his or her roots back to the mining area of St. Just, Cornwall.  Michael Angwin and my husband George Angwin can certainly trace their roots to that area.  In George's case, his "roots in Cornwall" were his grandparents who emigrated to the United States.  Michael's ancestors left Cornwall about fifty years earlier than George's grandparents did.

As I have mentioned on occasion, George's father started his working life as a miner.  He was a coal miner near Scranton, PA. (He was holding other jobs by the time George was born.)  I am a coal miner's daughter-in-law,though  that phrase doesn't have the same ring to it as some other phrases.

It's unusual for me to encounter another Angwin, and completely astounding to encounter another Angwin who is an active pro-nuclear debater!

Conspiracy theories?

I wonder when our local nuclear opponents will claim there is an international conspiracy of Angwins to promote nuclear energy?  That this conspiracy started in Cornwall and now covers the world?  Well, they probably won't say this.  It would be funny if they did, though.

Post Script: A note about Ben Heard's video clip

In the video clip at the beginning of this post, Ben Heard describes how he moved from being anti-nuclear  to being pro-nuclear.  He calls his earlier attitude a"phobia."

In my opinion, it is younger people, such as Heard, who are more likely to make this transition. Younger people "get" climate change and fossil pollution, while older people have often moved from "ban the bomb" to "shut down the plants" and they aren't moving any further.

This is just my opinion, you understand.  However, I have noticed that Facebook tells me the ages of the followers of the Save Vermont Yankee Facebook Page, and the biggest age group of followers is 25 to 34.  Contrast this with the older women who constantly get arrested at Vermont Yankee.  Okay, this is limited evidence, for sure.  But I'm a blogger. I can occasionally share an overgeneralized opinion, or why have a blog?