The “No Nukes” crowd continues to spread their misinformation. On Tuesday, 23 October, Jackson Browne, Bonnie Raitt and Graham Nash traveled to Washington, D.C. to deliver a petition to Congress. Their demand is the removal of language in the 2007 energy bill that would provide funds to back up loan guarantees for energy producing projects that do not emit greenhouse gases.
They have no issue with subsidizing companies like Chevron, BP, Shell, General Electric and Siemens if those companies are building wind turbines and solar collectors that operate at about a 20% capacity factor and produce tiny amounts of power when the weather is right. They have an issue, however, with providing back-up loan guarantees to help the same corporations and others obtain the long term, patient financing required to build baseload nuclear plants that can operate at a capacity factor that can average in excess of 90% for years at a time.
They claim that means of collecting the sun and wind – power sources that people have used since the days of the caveman – is somehow groundbreaking technology. At the same time, they try to paint atomic fission, an energy source that was discovered within the lifetime of many people who are still alive today, as somehow obsolete.
The entertainers have some pretty good video production people at their disposal; however, I have a MacBook Pro with an installed iSight camera, iMovie, and a Sampson C01U microphone. We both have YouTube. A couple of days ago, I shared my rebuttal to the remake of “For What Its Worth” that the artists titled “Stop the Nuclear Bailout”. Several other people have contributed rebuttals as well, including Elizabeth King from the Nuclear Energy Institute.
During the weekend, I noticed that Harvey Wasserman, a man who started his anti-nuclear career as a member of the Clamshell Alliance in 1973, had posted a new video that repeated a number of myths about nuclear power. A well produced, point by point rebuttal to that commentary was already posted, but I still felt the need to add my thoughts to the debate.
I also wanted to keep practicing with my set-up and see if I could improve on the last one. Please forgive the fumble or two in the video; it was getting late and I did not have time for a third “take”. I really need to take the time to add some introductory and concluding frames – something new to learn. That’s one of the things that makes life worth living – learning new things each day. Let me know what you think.
PS: An article on Salon.com titled Nuclear War On YouTube has pointed the world to the battle of the videos – please help spread the world. Use the tools that you have and jump in – this battle for hearts and minds needs to have a different outcome than the one that the Clamshell Alliance and others began more than 30 years ago.
We cannot afford another 30 years of atomic slumber while fossil fuel combustion continues unchecked.
