The Nuclear Debate

Climate Change Has Forced Us To Consider What Was Unimaginable, But Is Nuclear Power the Savior Some Think It Can Be?

Hank Kalet Jul 19 ∙ Preview

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My sketch of the Three Mile Island complex, based on a photo at Wikipedia taken before the TMI was decommissioned..
Las Vegas is in the midst of a record-setting heat wave. Phoenix, too, and much of the Northern Hemisphere. In New Jersey, we have suffered through a humid summer, interrupted by torrential rains that have done nothing to cool things.

It is hot and there appears little relieve in sight.

“Less than two weeks after the Earth recorded what scientists said were likely its hottest days in modern history," The New York Times reported, “punishing heat waves are gripping much of the Northern Hemisphere.”

The record-breaking temperatures are being driven by emissions of heat-trapping gases, mainly caused by the burning of fossil fuels, and by the return of El Niño, a cyclical weather pattern.

Average temperatures world wide are up “about 2 degrees Fahrenheit since the 19th century,” the Times said, and

will continue to grow hotter until humans essentially stop burning oil, gas and coal, scientists say. The warmer temperatures contribute to extreme-weather events and help make periods of extreme heat more frequent, longer and more intense.

We are in the midst of a climate catastrophe that demands action — a severe reduction in emissions and a change both in the way we use energy and in how we generate it. Conservatives in the Trump mold may not agree, but these are the facts. There is a scientific consensus that this warming is real and that it is doing tremendous damage.

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