Chevy Suburbans + big oil + evil conservatives = melting polar ice caps, Hurricane Katrina, and 20-foot sea level rises.
This is global warming according to Al Gore.
The more moderate/realistic version of it goes more like this: Carbon
dioxide emissions create a layer in the atmosphere that traps heat from the sun. Thus, the temperature on Earth rises.
The Al Gore solution to global warming is building wind farms, buying a
Toyota Prius and calculating your "carbon footprint."
My solution is simple: Nuclear power.
Unfortunately, those who are the most concerned with global warming are
those who are most strongly opposed to nuclear power.
So, let's clear up some concerns about nuclear power stations.
The first and main concern is the safety of nuclear stations, both from
internal accidents and terrorist attacks. Nothing is perfect, but nuclear power
stations have a clean record, minus two blemishes.
The incident at Three Mile Island, a near meltdown, didn't release any
harmful material into the atmosphere. That's because the reactors' protective
walls worked as designed. The other incident, Chernobyl, was much more serious.
The reactor was too large, did not have the proper safety equipment, and was
under-staffed (those who were there were not properly trained).
What would have happened if the Sept. 11 terrorists had targeted a nuclear
power station rather than the Twin Towers?
Probably not much. Go to YouTube and type in "nuclear power station wall
test" to watch an F-4 Phantom rammed into the same kind of wall that protects
nuclear reactors. There's a lot more left of the wall than there is of the
plane. Should this not be enough, a steel cage-like structure surrounding the
reactor (about 300 yards away) would easily shred any missile before it could do
any damage to the reactor building.
The other main concern is radioactive waste, which many consider
unmanageable.
What would you consider more unmanageable: Particulate matter coming out of
a coal-fired power plant, or solid nuclear waste? Nuclear waste can be vitrified
into glass, which makes it much more storeable. Or it can be reprocessed and
used again.
Coal-fired generating stations account for 38 percent of U.S carbon
emissions which contribute to global warming, acid deposition and general air
pollution. How much sulfur dioxide and carbon dioxide is produced from nuclear
power stations? None.
The U.S. Navy has used nuclear power for aircraft carriers and submarines
without incident for 40 years.
France has the cleanest air of any industrialized nation and the cheapest
electricity in Europe. Eighty percent of their power is generated by nuclear
stations. Maybe there's a lesson to be learned there.
*blank stare*
You've left me speechless.
Good job!
Just goes to show you that the "power and money" behind the liberal side of the global warming/conservation movement is more interested in "power and money" than solutions and clean air. Read Michael Crichton's book State of Fear.
Bravo Mr. Shiffer,
It is encouraging to this ‘old guy’ that such clear thinking can come from our future leaders. I hope that our society as a whole has the guts to follow through on the kind of thinking you espouse. We cannot go on as we have in the past but we certainly don’t want to toe the liberal party line either. Environmentalism shouldn’t be liberal or conservative. We just need to figure out how to make our world better and sustainable.
Keep thinking and keep writing!
Hmmmm...could have sworn there used to be another comment here that was against nuclear power. Guess only those comments that agree with the author are acceptable.
Uh, no, Kathy, why would we delete comments? If they are innapropriate, yes. You must have been thinking of another comment.
I did NOT delete that.
Nope...there was a comment by someone named anonymous who talked about TMI. Now, it's gone.
No response? So, Dylan, are you saying that you never saw that comment? As it stands now, you're saying I made that up, that a comment was deleted.
Lily, did you do any research to see if a comment was missing or just assume that I was wrong? You're asking me why you'd delete comments - it's been done in the past, hasn't it?
You guys need to not be sensitive and defensive and you need to check the facts. There's a comment missing and unless it just showed up on my computer and no one else's, somebody got rid of it.
Yeah....there IS definately a comment missing!
Thank you, Seth.
Yeah, I know the comment was there. And I know that it isn't there anymore. I'm just saying that I didn't delete it. Geeze.