Nuclear Power, Folks

I've been meaning to post this for months but I keep forgetting to. It's a series of blog posts by an environmentalist who is not exactly supporting nuclear power, but has changed his position from knee-jerk anti, to cautious acceptance. Even in the face of the Fukushima nuclear disaster following the Japanese tsunami, George Monbiot pits nuclear against one of the only realistic alternatives, coal; and finds coal to be quite a bit crappier:

Coal, the most carbon-dense of fossil fuels, is the primary driver of human-caused climate change. If its combustion is not curtailed, it could kill millions of times more people than nuclear power plants have done so far. Yes, I really do mean millions. The Chernobyl meltdown was hideous and traumatic. The official death toll so far appears to be 43 – 28 workers in the initial few months then a further 15 civilians by 2005. Totally unacceptable, of course; but a tiny fraction of the deaths for which climate change is likely to be responsible, through its damage to the food supply, its contribution to the spread of infectious diseases and its degradation of the quality of life for many of the world's poorest people.

Monbiot still feels that low-carbon, alternative solutions would be superior to both coal and nuclear, but the question is, how much time do we have to develop these solutions? According to Fugu's dad (a geologist of some prominence), not much time at all.

Nuclear Power scares a lot of people, but you have to wonder: If the Earth can throw an 8.9 earthquake and a tsunami at an aging nuclear power plant, and this is all that happens; then maybe our stupid fears are little misplaced, especially given the dangers of extracting and using fossil fuels.

Here's the post.

Earth Day, baby.

Argument #31 with "going green" is that one of the best ways to make an impact is to write to your congressman, call up a senator, etc. The problem is that there's a much higher potential of sounding like a complete jackass if you don't know what you're talking about when trying to change legislation than compared to just buying a CFL or two, so people don't do it (not to mentioned being labeled as an activist. Fucking hippies.). For example, here's how my phone call went:

Man on phone: Hello? This is the President.

Fugu: Hi! I'm calling on be-

Man on phone: FUCK YOU, FUCKING HIPPIE! I'd rather dry hump a rhino than give to your organization!

Since today is Earth Day, the first thing I did when I got up this morning is run to the Internet to see what Google did to their logo. It's green! Unfortunately, the only listed Hawaii event at the ED website (not the erectile dysfunction site, that's different) is to clean up the Ala Wai. There was also that Kokua Festival, but considering the smell as we drove by the second night it may have had more to do with 420 for some of the participants than Earth Day.

What are you going to do today for Earth Day? Me, I'm going start off the day by murdering the rooster that woke me up before 6am this morning. Then I'm going use it for a bacon-wrapped coq au vin in a brandy reduction sauce. Apparently the Internet says a pinot noir is a good pairing for coq au vin, but that's fucking retarded so I'll use a boxed white instead. I may also make some cranberry-chocolate tarts for desert. Happy Earth Day!

EARTH HOUR! COME ON YOU TREE HUGGING HIPPIES!

I didn't post this earlier, not because I'm lazy, but because you probably already know about Earth Hour and are turning off your lights, teevees, computers, video cameras, robots, etc in two hours, right? For an hour? Right.  Actually, it's because I'm lazy. But I hope you're doing it anyway. Why? BECAUSE WE LIVE ON A FRIGGIN ISLAND 99% DEPENDENT ON OIL FOR FOOD AND ELECTRICITY, THAT'S WHY. 

Update: Well Hawaii sucks. I suck. I didn't get to turn off our lights for a full hour but I blame Vman for a surprise visit with his new girlfriend. The skyline sure didn't look any darker from here, but my parents said that Hawaii Kai looked just a little bit dimmer.

Here's some good pics! Note how much clearer the skyline is. Lots of great shots here as well.