| Welcome! This week, “sell by” dates, climate victory gardens and a reminder to submit questions for my live chat today at 1 p.m. Eastern. But first, we need to talk about nukes. |
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Nuclear energy is getting a second life. And new reactors may be coming to a neighborhood near you. The first generation of nuclear power plants routinely ran billions of dollars over budget and years beyond schedule. Now, small modular nuclear reactors can (theoretically) be built in a factory at a fraction of the cost, and assembled on-site in record time. None are operating yet. That’s opening more sites. Dow Chemical, for example, is applying to install four such mini-nukes at its manufacturing facility in Seadrift, Tex. Many others are being considered. And even old-school reactors are getting a second wind. This year, Georgia plans to power up two reactors, the first licensed since the Three Mile Island accident in 1979. Many who live in the shadows of a nuclear power plant’s water cooling towers are nervous about the technology, despite evidence showing nuclear is much safer than other forms of energy. |
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The reality is that any country serious about addressing climate change will need to decide if they want new nuclear to be part of their clean energy future. The immediate risks of embracing nuclear power — high costs, radioactive waste and potential accidents — must square off against real threats of not using nuclear power: millions of deaths from fossil fuel air pollution and possibly hampering the fight against global warming. There is no easy answer. Some European countries have already decided. In Germany, decades of grass-roots opposition, amplified by disasters at Chernobyl and Fukushima, fueled mass protests against nuclear power. The country shut down its last nuclear reactors in April. Neighboring France, which generates about 70 percent of its power from nuclear reactors, has doubled down on the energy source. Americans have yet to make their choice. |
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Scientists set a record for filming the deepest fish ever caught on camera: a snailfish (Pseudoliparis belyaevi) swimming at a depth of 5.1 miles (8,336 meters) off the coast of Japan last year. Deep-sea vessel Pressure Drop undertook the two-month expedition to explore trenches around Japan in the northern Pacific Ocean as part of a 10-year study by scientists from the University of Western Australia and Japan to observe the deepest fish populations in the world. Much of Earth, at least the two-thirds covered by water, remains unexplored. |
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University of Western Australia/Caladan Oceanic |
The Biden administration on Wednesday proposed strengthening rules for managing coal ash waste generated by power plants. |
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“Many people used to have strawberry patches and I don’t know anyone now growing them,” says Paul from Iowa in response to my column on which fruits and vegetables are best to plant for the environment. “The ease of just picking them up at the market has taken away the incentive to grow your own.” That may be true. But the popularity of gardening in the United States appears to come and go. During World War II, about two-thirds of the population tended victory gardens to boost the food supply. After the war, the gardener count plunged. The coronavirus pandemic drove explosive interest in gardening, but it waned as the crisis eased, says Alessandro Ossola, an agronomist at the University of California at Davis. Yet millions of new gardeners were minted during that time, most of them millennials The interest in growing our own food — as well as the spread of community-supported agriculture, or CSAs — may mark a turning point in America’s relationship with building out a more resilient, local food supply. Gardening is also its own reward, argues Flora. “Working with soil and gardening can be a very zen activity if you don’t make yield the only goal,” she writes. “The process is as healing as the product.” Readers suggested checking out Seed Savers Exchange and regional seed companies and nurseries. You could buy lettuce or carrot seeds off the rack at a hardware store and take your chances. Or you can buy something from growers in your region who have tested their produce over decades. Heirloom and regional varieties may grow better in your backyard, and the taste is like nothing else. My personal seed favorites on the West Coast are Nichols Garden Nursery in Oregon’s Willamette Valley and Quail Seeds of Northern California. |
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From The Washington Post: Hollywood likes to makes one kind of climate change movie: Disaster flicks. It’s time for a different message, writes Amanda Shendruk. Confused by “sell by,” “use by” and “freeze by” expiration dates? Let us explain what they really mean — and when to ignore them. In Sierra Leone, 99 percent of the population still uses polluting cooking methods. How Wonder Stove is trying to change that. My brief swims in the Potomac a decade ago were always risky. Now, the Potomac Conservancy has given the river a B on its latest report card as levels of sediment and pollution decline. |
From elsewhere: The New York Times shows how entrenched China is in the electric vehicle supply chain, and how it may take the West decades to catch up. Finland, which expects wind to be its largest source of electricity by 2027, saw prices fall 75 percent after flipping on a new nuclear reactor, reports the National. |
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I want to thank you for all the kind words. “Thank you for making this long and ever more urgent issue accessible to people who are overwhelmed, heartbroken and blinded by the enormity of the challenges before us,” one reader wrote. I’m grateful to know I’m helping you answer the hard questions and take meaningful action in your life. I’ll keep trying to do that. And Miska appreciates you too. |
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See you next Tuesday, Michael Coren, Climate Coach |
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