| Archive for Downsizer For an ethical approach to consumption |
| Lozzie |
Start the Week - James LovelockI am just now listening to James Lovelock on Radio Four and I thought others might be interested -http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/factual/starttheweek.shtml As the programme hasn't finished yet I do not know if it will be available on "Listen Again" but I will report back later when I have found out. Over thirty years ago, the scientist JAMES LOVELOCK developed the Gaia hypothesis - the idea that the earth has a self-regulating system which keeps the environment fit for life. In his latest book, The Revenge of Gaia, Lovelock says that our abuse of the environment is making that control mechanism work against us and that global warming is past the point of no return. He explains why this is our wake up call and why we should embrace nuclear power. The Revenge of Gaia is published by Allen Lane. |
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| judith |
It will be repeated at 9.30 this evening. | ||
| Lozzie |
Thanks, Judith! It is also on Listen Again now. | ||
| Penny |
I do find it difficult to understand how someone who is so passionate about the environment, can see nuclear energy as the answer. It's still a finite resource. Strange  I must listen to what he says....
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| Penny |
James Lovelock is being interviewed on Radio Five at about 2.30pm | ||
| Blue Peter |
I heard him at 9:30 and I wasn't terribly impressed. He put down the terrorism lady in no uncertain terms, and to show how benign nuclear power is he described walking around one of the UK nuclear sites (Sellafield, I believe) with a Geiger counter. Amazingly, there was no untoward radioactivity.
Did this strike anyone else as stupid? Though there have been leaks from Sellafield, I don't really expect the place to be glowing green. However, I do want someone to come up with a workable strategy for dealing with nuclear waste, by which I mean a strategy which will safely contain it for as long as is necessary and which can be implemented by a people with a lot less energy than we now have. I also want someone to explain how nuclear energy is not just another excuse for not doing what has to be done, which is living in a sustainable manner. I also think that he may have misunderstood the terrorism woman's comments about enough nuclear waste to fill 5 Albert Hall's. I don't suppose that she was just talking about the UK's contribution to nuclear waste, Peter. |
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| mochyn |
Peter: I had the same thoughts about Lovelock. While I subscribe to the original Gaia hypothesis I was left seriously doubting his credibility after that interview. As everyone in nuclear power plants wears a monitor all the time they're in there you'd expect levels to be good. What's the level in the sea offshore though? A little more relevant, I think. He came actross as arrogant, opinionated and unpleasant to me. | ||
| dougal |
Being charitable, I think the guy's concern is for the urgency of the situation - and that he sees nuclear as being a viable answer for immediate implimentation.
From that basis, he's prepared to skew all his thinking. Someone should have asked him if the fences, armed guards and serious containment measures at Sellafield should be scrapped, if its only as dangerous as Cornwall. That was pretty fatuous. When I visited Sellafield, it wasn't a bright and happy place. Walking around it was downright sinister. Very different from a nuclear power station. There was no mention of the lunacy of continuing to bury "low level" waste at Drigg, adjacent to Windscale/Sellafield, in land that will be threatened by sealevel rise. He was way too dismissive of wind. It shouldn't be necessary to distort the rest of the world to fit your view... |
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| Blue Peter |
Yes, I can see that. He was not worried about nuclear quite a while ago (20 - 30 years), arguing that radioactivity is a natural phenomenon, and that the world would survive. I think that he had a Gaia-focus rather than a human-focus. Speaking yesterday, he seemed rather more worried about the fate of British civilization, Peter. |
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| Penny |
Well I've listened to him - and I'd agree with you Dougal, that seems to be where he's coming from, that there isn't another immediate viable solution for the UK. Bit parocial (sp?) , but then I suppose each country will have its own partiular problems.
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| dpack |
anybody remember "edge of darkness "
the nuclear industry is evil . i have done my research . i can argue coherently . i can fight . no. |