I am so excited to talk to you today about why nuclear power is great! Of all power sources, why is nuclear so great? It is – quite simply – the quickest, cleanest, and surest route to a carbon-neutral future. And it will yield many dividends beyond carbon-free power, including solving water shortages by refilling … [Read more…]
First of all, thank you to anyone who is willing to engage honestly with the ideas in this blog. I don’t care what background your from, this blog is for you, and I’d love to hear from you. CleanNotGreen is about the balance between human health and the environment, recognizing that human health is intrinsically … [Read more…]
What is the scariest thing about nuclear power? The bomb, right? Ok – but let’s set that aside for the moment and look at it separately later. What is the second scariest thing? I say it’s meltdown. The worst nuclear power accidents in human history, in descending order of severity, are Chernobyl, Fukushima, and Three … [Read more…]
When I first began researching nuclear power, I read a few things that led me to believe that the link between civil nuclear power and nuclear proliferation was a manageable risk. Discounting that risk, I soon became convinced that nuclear power was awesome. I was recovering from the delusion that we could decarbonize the power … [Read more…]
What do you do for a living? Is it concrete work or ditch digging? Are you an extremely high output athlete? If not, and you’re American, odds are you eat more calories than you need. Nutrition is one of the most hotly debated areas of scientific inquiry, yet one of the only areas of consensus … [Read more…]
Hi – welcome to my blog! I’m not going to properly introduce myself because of the political implications of some of what I have to say, and because some of my work history that I will share in other parts of this blog includes sensitive information. I do not intend to share anything that I … [Read more…]
Here’s a question for you: Do you worry about the way human beings are impacting the natural environment? If so, what is it that you think you should be doing in your own life to address that concern? I have spent most of my life worrying about these questions, and I’ve helped the U.S. Environmental … [Read more…]
If you are reading this, the chances are very good that you live in a Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich and Democratic (WEIRD) country. Even if you are not in a WEIRD country, it only takes a brief look at the past to realize that you are probably living in a wonderful world compared to the … [Read more…]
Some of my old friends like to tease me about being “rich” because I decided I was financially independent enough not to need a job after I turned 35. It’s all in good fun, but I’m not rich at all. In fact, many people my age would like to have a much larger net worth … [Read more…]
Don’t buy me a gift. I have very few things, and I like it that way. The things I have were intentionally chosen. Einstein said everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler. Most of my worldly possessions are clothes that can be worn for many different occasions. And there is the … [Read more…]
We often fall into the trap of splitting the world into two groups of people when thinking about a problem. In the case of environmental protection, we’re tempted to think of people as either “pro-industry” or “tree huggers.” The truth is that every person is an environmentalist on some level, but that label means different … [Read more…]
Many environmentalists dream about an energy future that fully relies on solar and wind power, where batteries provide power during periods without sufficient sun or wind. However, battery storage radically increases the cost of providing electricity to end users, and battery manufacturing results in serious environmental impacts that must be considered. The availability of raw … [Read more…]
Here’s a question for you: Do you think nuclear power will improve life on earth, or make it worse? I’m going to attempt to answer that question in this post, but first I’d encourage you to take 60 seconds to think seriously about that question before reading the content below. That will ensure that you … [Read more…]
My wife spent most of her childhood in Germany, and I’ve always enjoyed comparing notes with her on the cultural differences that are apparent between Germans and Americans. Of course, these conversations are chocked full of generalizations that don’t apply to every person or place, but one can draw certain distinct conclusions about the way … [Read more…]
I lived in Washington, D.C. for the first two years after college, and I would often take weekend trips down to North Carolina with my girlfriend and one of my best pals in DC, who was originally from North Carolina. We always joked about Saturday being “Trash Burning Day” down there, because we saw people … [Read more…]