Friday, October 17, 2008

BETWEEN A ROCK AND A HARD PLACE

It seemed a good idea. Cars powered by electricity. I kept on wishing the idea was pushed more. No dangerous emissions spewing in the air. Less oil needed. Hopefully less disastrous oil spills. Saving lake, river, and sea creatures. Altogether better for the environment.
That's what I thought. Until I saw a commercial pointing out how much more electricity we will need when our transportation is powered by electricity. How we're definitely going to need more and bigger nuclear plants providing clean power, and how the government is proud to work on the extension of the nuclear power plants, to provide us with clean, safe electricity. Sounds like a golden promise. Until you do a double take, “nuclear power?” Clean? Safe? What about Chernoble, and other accidents? What about all the nuclear wastes being buried in secret far off places, like the Arctic? What about all that cancer causing stuff escaping into the air we breath. Settling on the food we eat. What about it?

Wild Thing

3 comments:

M@ said...

Two things on this:

1. If all cars were coverted to electrical, using Ontario's current mix of power, our air pollution would drop by 75%. (There was a study done on this a few years ago.)

2. Nuclear power, while it has its dangers, has killed far fewer people in the last sixty years. Coal-fired power plants have killed thousands through asthma, emphysema, and various cancers. a ten-year McMaster University proved conclusively that air pollution increases asthma rates in the population. (I have asthma so it's a subject of interest to me.)

I'm not saying that nuclear power or electric cars are the only way to do things (reducing consumption should be our number one goal as a society). But they're an important part of the picture while we wean ourselves off our cheap, dirty fossil-based energy sources.

Jus' sayin'.

Anonymous said...

So nuclear power then is the better of the two evils. Sad but true. Lowering consumption steers in the right direction. In an over populated world, that's a thin hope to hang on to. "You have to lie in the bed you made for yourself" was one of my mom's expressions. Unless of course, you grab a blanket and a pillow and sleep on the floor.Meaning that there ought to be room for another choice. Maybe less convenient, but doable. But hey, try to convince all consumers in the world about that. Before the lesson sinks in, the world may go poof, or we the way of the dinasours. Oh well!

The sun is shining brilliantly, today. Autumn is colourfully dressed, seducing all our senses. One can enjoy that to the full without perfect solutions.

Maybe we would be bored stiff if we had the guarantee that all is well with the world. Although an artist friend of mine from way back would argue that if all was perfect, boredom wouldn't fit into the picture, being an inperfection.

M@ said...

The sun is shining brilliantly, today. Autumn is colourfully dressed, seducing all our senses. One can enjoy that to the full without perfect solutions.

Absolutely.