First the seriously sobering news...
I've heard people saying in the last week or so... Nuclear energy is profoundly more dangerous than Coal... I for one would like to see the newer, safer, cleaner options being put into place ASAP! Its hard to see why this shift continues to stall... given the signs long before 2011 this was imperative.
The danger and suffering we are seeing at this very time in Japan highlights every warning we've ever heard about the grave consequences of accidents in the Nuclear industry. Who among us would wish to work in a nuclear facility or live near one... or find ourselves in some way dealing with fall out - whether its contaminated food, water or ?
I posted an article below quickly yesterday but came back to add a little more when a blogger ...thank you MP... responded in a way that highlighted crucial context was missing in this post. Without commenters where would be be!
I found this stark graph below at grist.org which is known for its solid reportage on all environment related issues from politics to energy, business to food and more. Its part of the Guardian Environment Network and I was very glad to be referred to it by blogger Sharmon when seeking info on a misleading story re food legislation 2 months ago for the homage blog.
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Here's an article from Germany at Grist:
- DAS IST GUT
Germany continues breaking clean energy records 6
POSTED 24 MAR 2011 6:58 PM BY PAUL GIPE
Wind turbines, hydroelectric plants, solar cells, and biogas digesters now provide nearly 17 percent of Germany's electricity.READ MORE
Here's the worrying graph I posted yesterday:
Relative to watts produced, coal kills 4,000 times more people than nuclear power.
Our pervasive sense that nuclear is more dangerous, when the opposite is so clearly true, comes at least in part from a cognitive bias called the "availability heuristic" -- memorable events that are easier to think of, like nuclear disasters, tend to seem more common.
Counterweight your availability heuristic by reading up on Alexis Madrigal's list of 25 energy-related disasters from the last year. Most are coal mine accidents and refinery explosions, and the vast majority of the deaths should be filed in that big box on the right.
Text and Image from Grist.
Read more:
"The triumph of coal marketing," SethGodin.com
"25 Other Energy Disasters from the Last Year," The Atlantic
Our pervasive sense that nuclear is more dangerous, when the opposite is so clearly true, comes at least in part from a cognitive bias called the "availability heuristic" -- memorable events that are easier to think of, like nuclear disasters, tend to seem more common.
Counterweight your availability heuristic by reading up on Alexis Madrigal's list of 25 energy-related disasters from the last year. Most are coal mine accidents and refinery explosions, and the vast majority of the deaths should be filed in that big box on the right.
Text and Image from Grist.
Read more:
"The triumph of coal marketing," SethGodin.com
"25 Other Energy Disasters from the Last Year," The Atlantic
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| Image found via Mary Zeran tumblr archive here. |
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| curious image from simplypi archives here. A repurposed building? Simplypi first posted the image of the studio above! |
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| Taryn McMahon: Their Wondrous Transformation and Peculiar Nourishment |
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| from Mary's studio |
11 comments:
Oh my goodness Sophie! I am absolutely blushing! Thank you ! Thank you!
It is so true. There is great art happening all over this planet. We just have to look for it. And....couldn't you just die for that studio?
I wish you could be here for my show. Those of you who are in the area? Welcome!
Its a pleasure to share your links and info Mary. Who knows if anyone will chance a visit to this post from over near you ... and can pop in to see your work. You never know... in the past 2 weeks I've met 2 people at different times who've lived in your state... so anything is possible!
Really loved that studio... I hope you didnt mind me posting that tough news first... you were/are very much the uplifiting story!
Loved those series that were at the Inalux blog!
well...its late...I'll look forward to hearing more on your show.... do wish it was a simple click of the fingers and i could be there! Enjoy the weekend!
S x
That staircase to pool is so "Minority Report"!
Following you through EBT - also a fan of Mary Zeran : )
Love your blog Sisterbatik...
very into textiles from around the globe!
Think I missed 'Minority Report' ...a dvd to look out for!
Mary's wonderful ... glad to hear from another fan!
S
much congratulations to mary - love to see her paintings lined up together like that and as for dream studios - how come so many of them in the world, but not at MY HOUSE?!
about the nuclear vs. coal. i just can't agree sophie. i don't feel at all "entitled" to electricity and fuel. yes LET's be a little realistic about what the earth can accommodate. both hubby and i come from families of coal miners. arguably they took those jobs knowing what they were getting into, and so accepted the risks by choice. and they all lived to good old ages - some into their 90's. people who may be impacted by nuclear fallout have not necessarily made an active choice to accept it into their lives. i for one was not aware as an american that the U.S. gets 20% of our energy from nuclear and that we have more nuclear energy plants than any other nation! noone asked me!
the fact that this technology requires so much fresh not salted, water to ensure it's longterm safety - accumulations of spent fuel rods, anyone? - up to a thousand years, when our globe is anticipating water shortages and water wars is just not realistic.
nuclear is so last century! we need to prove how smart and creative we are and invest in the next technology. meanwhile, we all need to cut back! it's a trade off that's worth making!
you know me - i have to say what i think! xoxo!
Thank god you did comment Mlle Paradis... it was looking pretty quiet on that part of the post.
Personally I'm with you on the absolute necessity of the next waves of energy technology. I scooped this info off Twitter yesterday where there's been a lot of discussion re decisions, post Japan, being made to halt the expansion of the nuclear power industry, in parts of Europe particularly... and then more info on the plans to go ahead in Indonesia and elsewhere.
After the recent appalling Japanese scenario sites I've watched for a while suddenly got very excited about the fact that people and Govts would finally see the need to pursue new technology... sites like Grist which published this info above on thursday are always talking up solar and wind and other options... This boost in discussion re clean energy was the one upside of a deeply tragic situation.
I posted it possibly for the same reason Grist posted this... not to argue for nuclear energy.... but to argue that we see the whole picture and then proceed to do something much smarter about it. The point being perhaps to say... if you dont like what you are seeing here with Nuclear... please dont assume the costs from coal and oil are less!
Problem of posting this one-off piece from Grist is that if one does not follow their site and know they are a leading advocacy group for eco-sustainability, plus quite broad and thorough in their journalism, then one wont see the point of this info in the light of that.
I apologise for not taking the time to add that into the post. My attempt to bring something more to the discussion fell way short by not providing that context. I thought it was less confusing than it clearly was.
I live somewhere where coal is not too widely discussed outside of fringe networks - some I'm connected to... and where there is such nebulous territory between people saying they want clean energy and how the votes play out.
I caught an on-line discussion prompted by an article about an eco-housing scheme in Melbourne yesterday ... I was shocked by the vitriol people had for the "greenie commos" who would set up this kind of living arrangement. The mere mention of meetings and methods the set up would adopt to conduct business brought the kind of anger that might have been put in the direction of a Stalin or Hitler. In fact people were suggesting it would run along the lines of a concentration camp. I might not want to live in a place that required endless rules and agreements myself but even very pleasant apartments can have their body corporate issues.
There's so much emotion at play as we work through what is important, necessary, critical or not and how to shift things.
People responding to that Melbourne article saw car-sharing as the ultimate inoffensive commie idea!
My thoughts dwell largely on how do we get to discuss change with less emotion.
Thanks very much for weighing in MP - if people dont talk then we dont find out thing like the US is 20% nuclear...I found it interestinh to read that frnace has the highest level of neculer power in Europe.
The last few weeks has really exacerbated the importance of dialogue on energy... Ill add some much needed context to the post.
S xox
Oh dear ... my spelling is atrocious in the latter part of the comment above MP! Excuse me ... France I meant to say.. and offensive not inoffensive re the car-sharing!
Glad you enjoyed reading about Mary's work!
S x
thx sophie for the clarification! it can all be confusing. i think even one of the original american environmentalists has advocated nuclear (long before these events in japan). yes france is a huge nuclear user, they have storage facilities miles underground where they do anticipate continuing storing disused fuel rods in giant pools for milennia. a v. good documentary has been made about this. in the u.s. the nuclear industry has systematically and successfully discouraged regulation and oversite for years now. so faults and neglect that are being reported at fukushima are probably part of the reality at our u.s. plants.
we should all only be feeling more dread and revulsion about this situation.
that considered, i'm all for doing what germany's doing, remarkable considering what a robust coal industry it has had previously i.e. it proves opposition can be overcome with sustained will and initiative. they are being eminently practical, ingenious and far-sighted.
whoever masters clean energy will own the future, if we survive the folly of our existing technologies. the problem with fukushima, as with san onofre in Ca. and the one near NYC city is that the "norm" for sealing off these reactors ala Chernobyl, is encasing them in masonry and we all know in California that masonry is NOT robust or flexible in an earthquake event.
all for me now.
Thanks for a brilliant response Mlle Paradis.
Clarification is entirely essential... constantly finding that at the homage blog... context, context, context! Think harder, check more carefully, read, edit ... dialogue, feedback is the ultimate check though!
Dread is a key word here... each time I cast my eyes on news from Fukishima and see it grow worse!
Appreciate your info on the US situation and the French scenario. Bravo to Germany... and well said MP. Just listening to news on car radio and it was discussing Germany at this very moment pushing to tighten the direction of their energy future - a particular election is apparently being fought over this topic.
Earth Hour last night .... things could really change if we just get the critical mass behind it... just think ... we could be pottering around our homes and gardens and studios etc relaxed in the knowledge we have created safe energy for the future... we could do that.. but I do think "we" have to drive that desire!
Huge thanks for your engagement on this!
Sophie
ps San Onofre Nuclear Power Plant/Masonry seal/California fault line/earthquakes ....hearing you loud and clear.
Hi Sophie! I'm definitely not a big fan of nuclear power, but that graph speaks loud and clear. Unfortunately, though, that "availability heuristic" blinds people to the real problems that don't create big news stories, but that just quietly go on day after day. I live in Kentucky, where people have fought "King Coal" for decades. In Kentucky and other Appalachian states, coal mining is devastating lives, as well as mountaintops. In Appalachia, over 500 mountains have been flattened; homes are flooded, water poisoned, streams destroyed, species of plants and animals made extinct.
What we really need to do is to find safe renewable energy sources, like solar, wind, water,and geothermal. Anyway, thanks for bringing this to everyone's attention; I hope I didn't offend aanyone with my rant.
If you'd like to read more, here are some links:
http://www.mountainjusticesummer.org/facts/steps.php
http://www.grist.org/article/reece/
http://www.kftc.org/our-work/canary-project/campaigns/mtr/MTR-generalinfo
Thank you so much for writing this Sharmon.
I understand exactly what you are saying. Neither you nor I are arguing for Nuclear power .... but discussing the destructiveness of coal is crucial ... this graph is trying to wake us up to that... and I think does that. Your info is critical and makes me wonder why we think nothing of losing 500 mountains and that entire intact environment, the ecosystems and the total impact of that for water, soil and flora and fauna.... let alone humans.
You do not offend in raising this. I think we feel more powerless about coal somehow. Nuclear has not been used for centuries and people protests have been significant around the world ....there is less a sense of people simply giving over to that option (despite the fact it has gone ahead in many places...) and somehow it feels as if we have more moral high ground with nuclear.
The coal story is kind of submerged. Culturally embedded in our psyches... many of us have had families or lived in places where its been part of the fabric! We are dreadfully dependant on it even as we know its not good! Reminds me of how we were about cigarettes. Same kind of passivity and acceptance.
Same kind of slow deaths.
I lived in a region from 2000-2008 that was largely coal history. Under the rafters above the ceiling in my little cottage I reckon there was a LOT of coal dust. I could smell the trains taking coal to port. Sometimes I found that unbearably strong and unpleasant. The city and area had been stigmatised by perceptions of "who'd want to live there?" over decades. Its was a region of stunning coastlines - geographically beautiful... there was much to be said of the area.
The impact of the coal industry was easily sensed on the population - the health impact historically very high. A sense of oppression that was palpable that made me wonder incessantly. As much as pay and conditions had improved outstandingly (by the time I was living there) for coal miners... there was a feeling of gloom that didnt shift with the increased fortunes.
Statistics, atmosphere, general well-being of the population... there are many ways that you can read the impact. If people never spend time up close and personal with these communities they will never see that face of coal!
The nuclear imagery is powerfully vivid in our imaginations. Coal seems to mean nothing... conjur up nothing...except perhaps a silence for most!
Huge thanks for linking us to some gritty facts and places to read more Sharmon!
Sophie
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