What can we actually do about global warming
Apart from bitching about it...
We can nuke it.
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MovieChat Forums > General Discussion > What can we actually do about global war...
Ask Greta Thunberg, I reckon she'll change her twitter first🙄
shareexpand nuclear power. use it to replace coal as much as possible.
renewables ought to be part of the picture as well, but all i've read suggests that they shouldn't and likely can't be our only means of phasing out coal.
You want Chernobyl? Because that's how you get Chernobyl.
shareof course i don't want chernobyl.
but nuclear power is by far the safest and most reliable source of power we have. there is a great deal of fear of nuclear energy, but it is almost entirely unjustified.
even the biggest disaster in chernobyl doesn't compare to the death count with coal.
you would have to have a dozen accidents as bad as chernobyl (impossible) each year to match the approximately 800,000 people who die every year from coal mining & pollution related deaths, assuming the most pessimistic projections of death counts from that accident.
and that's just coal.
there have been nuclear power plants in operation for over 60 years. the number of deaths & illnesses associated with them is vanishingly small. it has the best safety record of any power source, & the fear of the possibility of a bad accident far outstrips the reality.
& of course, this doesn't get into the improvements in design, the efficiency & safety of newer reactors.
this is a very useful article that i think does a very good job of laying out the realities vs perception of risk in nuclear & all main sources of power.
https://ourworldindata.org/what-is-the-safest-form-of-energy
and this isn't an outlying argument. every major study on the safety of nuclear supports this argument.
https://climate.nasa.gov/news/903/coal-and-gas-are-far-more-harmful-than-nuclear-power/
we found that despite the three major nuclear accidents the world has experienced, nuclear power prevented an average of over 1.8 million net deaths worldwide between 1971-2009 (see Fig. 1). This amounts to at least hundreds and more likely thousands of times more deaths than it caused. An average of 76,000 deaths per year were avoided annually between 2000-2009 (see Fig. 2), with a range of 19,000-300,000 per year.
it is no exaggeration to say that there are millions of people alive today who wouldn't be if we didn't have nuclear energy, and if we expand nuclear and phase out coal, millions more lives will be saved.
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The question I have always wondered about nuclear power is what happens say if a region is swept with catastrophe. By that I mean events like flood, plague or war that could potentially leave such installations unmanned. Can these things shut down safely on their own? Are they EMP proof?
shareit's been a while since i read up on that - i know the types of reactors in use have safeguards built in that deal with emergency scenarios. i have to duck out for a few hours, but when i get back i'll try to dig up some articles. i believe joshua goldstein addressed this in a book i have kicking around here called 'a bright future.' when i get back i'll try to dig it out and answer your question.
sharei forgot that i lent my book to someone at work, so i can't dig into it for a reference.
if you don't mind a longer read, you'll find a lot of very good information in this article.
https://www.world-nuclear.org/information-library/safety-and-security/safety-of-plants/safety-of-nuclear-power-reactors.aspx
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Well, for one thing it doesn’t exist. Weather is cyclical. In the ‘70’s it was “OMG! We’re heading into another ice age!” I firmly believe in the following statement due to me being from Florida. I have seen and felt the change since Disney has caused Florida to become a parking lot.
“The replacing of grassy surfaces with asphalt and concrete, the "Urban Heat Island Effect" are likely creating more harmful pollution.”
This is the reason Houston flooded 2 years ago. Urban sprawl.
”During the early 1970s, our planet was in the midst of a colder and drier weather cycle that led to concerns of another "Little Ice Age."
“Diminishing solar activity may bring new Ice Age by 2030”
https://astronomynow.com/2015/07/17/diminishing-solar-activity-may-bring-new-ice-age-by-2030/
I read about UHI and I don't think it can directly cause floods,
shareIt doesn’t cause floods, storms and hurricanes do, but it’s a main holding factor. The water can not drain when the area is covered with concrete and black top. The news reported the main reason Houston flooded was due to UHI. As I wrote prior Florida has changed significantly since UHI...heat wise and less rain. Construction has ruined the state!
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