Nuclear Power

Nuclear power may not be the newest form of energy to be developed but it is becoming increasingly prevalent in today’s societies. Personally, I do not think it will be the solution to our energy crisis, but it will play a large role in the coming years. I have created a list of pros and cons for nuclear power. The positive aspects of nuclear power are about equal to the number of negative aspects of nuclear power. Nuclear power is not the solution to humanities’ nuclear crisis because it proposes too many devastating risks and it is not a renewable energy source. Since Uranium is not renewable, there is not an unlimited amount of nuclear power available. Nuclear power could be considered a transition source of fuel. The world is going to need to find alternative sources of energy that are renewable and will have almost zero environmental impact. Nuclear power doesn’t fit into this criteria but it will help the world during this time of transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy.


Pros and Cons of Nuclear Power:

Pros:
• The generation of nuclear power emits relatively low amounts of Carbon Dioxide.
• The technology for nuclear power is already available so it does not need to be developed.
• Each power plant can generate a high amount of electricity.
• The amount of pollution that is emitted from nuclear power plants is considerably less than the amount of pollution emitted by plants running on fossil fuels.
• Nuclear power plants need little fuel and Uranium is evenly deposited around the planet.
Cons:
• The waste produced from nuclear power plants is extremely dangerous and has to be carefully looked after for thousands of years.
• The possibility of an accident increases with the increasing number of nuclear power plants. A nuclear accident would be devastating.
• There is the possibility that nuclear power plants and the waste of nuclear power plants would be a target for terrorists.
• The amount of Uranium is limited. It is estimated that there is only enough to supply power plants for the next 30 to 60 years.
• The radiation from nuclear power plants is a threat to the health of many.

Something Unexpected

My Environment and Society class is reading a book called Hot, Flat, and Crowded by Thomas L. Friedman. I found the following information intriguing yet pretty disturbing. One of the interesting things about greenhouse gases that are being emitted into the Earth’s atmosphere is the diversity of sources that they come from. According to Hot, Flat, and Crowded, humans are “throwing up other green house gases, like methane, that are released form rice farming, petroleum drilling, coal mining, animal defecation, solid waste landfill sites, and yes, even from cattle belching.” Also, according to Friedman, a herd of cattle belching can be worse than a high way full of hummers. Yes, this is what I meant by disturbing. I would rather not think about all the millions of cows that are releasing 600 liters of methane a day into the atmosphere. Gas from cattle releases high amounts of methane into the atmosphere. Methane can be quite detrimental to the Earth’s atmosphere because it is able to trap twenty-one times more gas in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide. This just proves that humans have all kinds of impacts on the Earth’s atmosphere since we’re the ones that dramatically increase the production of cattle.

Politics and the Environment

I’ve always wondered why concern for the environment within the U.S. government is usually considered a political issue. In my opinion, it makes more sense for people to be conscious of the Earth regardless of their political beliefs. Yet, this is not the case in the United States. In the 1980s a new philosophy came about that said everything the government does is inefficient. Some people believed that too much government intervention jeopardized the freedom of the American people. The conservatives were especially opposed to what they believed was excess government intervention. The Conservative Movement began which basically fought anything that would help the government’s sphere of influence. Movements concerned with environmental aspects and sustainability usually need the influence of the government to make them successful. This is why often conservatives compared with liberals are not as focused on environmental aspects. I believe we have come to an era when global warming is so evident that everyone should make combating climate change a priority. In Europe, almost all of the political parties have made new environmental ideas and improvements a large part of their political platforms. In the next few years, the United States is going to need to make many environmental advancements and improvements to catch up with Europe.

Green Games at UNC

Here at UNC most of the dorms participate in a competition called the Green Games. The Green Games is a competition in which residents and RA’s of the dorms participate in activities to promote sustainability and environmentally friendly actions. The dorm that organizes the most activities with the most participants wins the Green Games. The winner of the competition is determined by a point system. The prizes that are awarded usually have some connection with sustainability. Last year, Morrison was the dorm that one the entire competition and they receive prizes like low flow water fixtures, LED or motion sensor lights, a ClearStream recycling system, a foosball, ping pong table, an electric bike, a DVD collection of sustainability related movies, and a solar charging station for laptops! The last time I heard my dorm was in second place for this year’s competition. I think it’s neat that the Green Games encourages the entire dorm to participate in environmentally friendly actions and to be conscious of sustainability.

Copenhagen Climate Conference

In three days the largest international political conference will be held in Denmark. About 15,000 participants from 192 countries will take part in the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark on December 7th until the 18th. The main purpose of the conference is to take action on climate change. According to the United Nations, “We cannot continue using fossil fuels the way we do today.” The Copenhagen will hopefully succeed in developing a Copenhagen Protocol to prevent global warming and climate changes. The government of Denmark has decided that the Conference in Copenhagen has decided that the subject of the conference will be on climate change and the conference itself. The planners of the conference have worked hard to make the conference itself environmentally friendly. Participants of the conference have been encouraged to used public transportation. Also, a windmill near the location of the conference is being used to supply electricity for the conference. Personally I believe that the Conference in Copenhagen will be one of the most important international meetings in today’s society. The future state of our planet relies on decisions that will be made in the near future. The Conference in Copenhagen has a chance to make a difference.

My English class has spent a few classes focusing on Environmental issues. I talked previously about the day we discussed ecological literacy. The other day we perused a website called 350.org. The website organized the International Day of Climate Action and much more. On October 24, 2009 people at more than 5200 events in more than 180 countries came together for the most widespread day of environmental action in the world. The number 350 represents the amount in parts per million as the safe upper limit of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The number 350 is also a symbol where the planet needs to head in the future as humans continue to cause global warming. I am obviously biased because I am an environmental major, but I thought this was a very cool website. There are animated movies and many pictures of people gathering to promote the 350 campaign and International Day of Climate Action.

Bio Invasion

For the past few classes we have been learning about the biodiversities of ecosystems. Globalization has been one of the main causes that have led to the bio invasion of species. Professor Gangi described the rule of 10 for bio invasion. The rule of 10 is that for every 100 species, 10 are going to be able to reproduce in a new environment. One of the 10 species will be a nuisance species. Nuisance species usually affect the bio diversity of an ecosystem by bringing disease vectors and over competing with other species for resources. Professor Gangi talked about two particular species that I had no idea even existed. Honestly, I think I would prefer not knowing the existed. They are the snake fish and lamprey. The Lamprey is the first photo and the lamprey is the second photo. Both of these species have serious potential threats to waterways in the United States and other parts of the world. In the past they have been exposed into new environments and negatively affected the lives of other species living in the area. For example, the lamprey was able to get into waterways that weren’t its natural habitats and they can suck the blood of the fish living near it. A snake fish even has the ability to crawl out of bodies of water and move across land to another body of water. Both of these species have been able to make it to new waterways through the globalization of humans and can cause many problems in their new ecosystems.