Stewart Brand at NEA 2006 By Eric McErlain August 08, 2006 Back in February, I first mentioned that Stewart Brand, founder of the Whole Earth Catalog, would be addressing the 2006 Nuclear Energy Assembly in San Francisco, and now I'm finally able to share the video of his speech with you.Brand was invited to address the assembly based on the article he wrote in 2005 for MIT Technology Review entitled, Environmental Heresies, where he endorsed an expanded use of nuclear energy as a way to provide abundant electric power while curbing greenhouse gas emissions. In this speech, Brand speaks extensively about how the nuclear industry needs to interact with committed environmentalists in order to work with them toward common goals. The whole speech comes in at a little more than 27 minutes, but I can't recommend it strongly enough. Please take some time to watch it today.Technorati tags: Nuclear Energy, Nuclear Power, Environment, Energy, Politics, Technology, Economics, Stewart Brand Share Get link Facebook X Pinterest Email Other Apps Share Get link Facebook X Pinterest Email Other Apps Comments Anonymous said… Greetings,Just a note on Brand's point regarding proliferation:Brand makes his February 2006 pitch in the heat of the forging the India-US nuclear technology deal which intensifies and further destablizes the Pakistan/India nuclear arms race. The Bush Administration in cutting this deal to help his "friends" in the nuclear industry has undermined and destabilized the NPT. Sorry Stewart, but reality once again steps in on your dream where a "preponderance of evidence" shows that the spread of commercial nuclear technology simultaneous provides the building blocks for both the horizontal (number of possessors) and vertical (number of weapons) proliferation of the nuclear arms race. The "finessing" of such a foundational issue, as Brands puts it, and is dishonest and uncuts the credibility of the "Nuclear Brand" of the "Stewart's Environmental Classification System."As my daddy used to say "its like trying to put wings on a frog so he doesn't have to bump his ass."Nuclear weapons and nuclear power are just the different sides to the same coin. I concur the "abrupt climate change" is becoming ever more a concern. That's all the more reason why we dont want to waste more precious time and resource on this already demonstrated failed technology. Anonymous said… What huey...!If you commercialize MOX and HEU for reactor fuel its incentive (or excuse) to put more weapons grade material into the production pipe line for more sophisticated bombs, not less. Simple law of supply and demand. No enforcement to the NPT is a serious erosion and nuclear weapons will proliferate both in number of possessors and number of weapons.Flash points for nuclear war like Kashmir are growing. Providing more nuclear technology pours fuel on the flames on these rivalries bringing the world closer to triggering nuclear war.
Comments
Just a note on Brand's point regarding proliferation:
Brand makes his February 2006 pitch in the heat of the forging the India-US nuclear technology deal which intensifies and further destablizes the Pakistan/India nuclear arms race.
The Bush Administration in cutting this deal to help his "friends" in the nuclear industry has undermined and destabilized the NPT.
Sorry Stewart, but reality once again steps in on your dream where a "preponderance of evidence" shows that the spread of commercial nuclear technology simultaneous provides the building blocks for both the horizontal (number of possessors) and vertical (number of weapons) proliferation of the nuclear arms race.
The "finessing" of such a foundational issue, as Brands puts it, and is dishonest and uncuts the credibility of the "Nuclear Brand" of the "Stewart's Environmental Classification System."
As my daddy used to say "its like trying to put wings on a frog so he doesn't have to bump his ass."
Nuclear weapons and nuclear power are just the different sides to the same coin.
I concur the "abrupt climate change" is becoming ever more a concern. That's all the more reason why we dont want to waste more precious time and resource on this already demonstrated failed technology.
If you commercialize MOX and HEU for reactor fuel its incentive (or excuse) to put more weapons grade material into the production pipe line for more sophisticated bombs, not less. Simple law of supply and demand.
No enforcement to the NPT is a serious erosion and nuclear weapons will proliferate both in number of possessors and number of weapons.
Flash points for nuclear war like Kashmir are growing. Providing more nuclear technology pours fuel on the flames on these rivalries bringing the world closer to triggering nuclear war.