The founder of Greenpeace, Patrick Moore , has an article in the Washington Post this week championing nuclear power. I know this sounds really weird. But it sounds less weird if we consider that the coal industry is flattening the mountains of Appalachia, killing workers in mines and emitting 67% of America's carbon dioxide.

 

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If we're worried about global warming (and here at EcoGeek, we are) then we need viable alternatives. The only real alternative we have right now is nuclear. EcoGeek, as of yet, doesn't have a clear position beyond “More Research is Necessary,” but Moore's opinions have swayed us somewhat.

He mentions the commonly listed claims against nuclear power and rebuts each in turn. He does not mention uranium mining as a disadvantage of nuclear power, though I consider it to be possibly the second most environmentally hazardous part of the whole process. But it's hard to imagine uranium mining doing more damage than mountain-top-removal coal mining.

Weakening his argument, though, is that Moore is co-chairing the Clean and Safe Energy Coalition with Christine Todd Whitman , Bush's head of the EPA. Environmentalists hate Christine Todd Whitman, mostly because she censored government documents concerning the threat of global warming. This coalition (paid for by the nuclear power industry) is either an amazing and inspiring alliance of people who love the earth and people who have the technology to save it, or it may be an underhanded and evil ploy.

But, for now, we're listening. Nuclear power is a few steps away from being the dream of an EcoGeek. And, really, it's hard to imagine anything could be more destructive than coal.

 Read Moore's whole article here

In re-reading a story about a man who planted a small forest inside a colleague's keyboard, I found a link to a Mobuzz TV segment (pretty great) which references the keyboard jungle. A little past half way, Karina of Mobuzz gives the nod to all us green geeks and ponders thusly: “I guess we'll have to call you “Geens” huh...cause if we do it the other way around, it'd be “Greeks...” and that's already taken.”

Great point Karina, but I think I'll stick with EcoGeek.