HBO features not only nuclear-themed historical dramas, but also documentaries, such as "Atomic Homefront" about radioactive waste crises in St. Louis, MO, and "Indian Point: Imaging the Unimaginable," about reactor security risks very near New York City.
As reported by Naomi Klein at The Intercept.
Klein provides compelling comparisons and contrasts between the New Deal of Fraklin Delano Roosevelt, and the Green New Deal of Democrats U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of NY, and U.S. Senator Ed Markey of MA:
It’s also a reminder that the New Deal was a process as much as a project, one that was constantly changing and expanding in response to social pressure from both the right and the left. For example, a program like the Civilian Conservation Corps started with 200,000 workers, but when it proved popular eventually expanded to 2 million. That’s why the fact that there are weaknesses in Ocasio-Cortez and Markey’s resolution — and there are a few — is far less compelling than the fact that it gets so much exactly right. There is plenty of time to improve and correct a Green New Deal once it starts rolling out (it needs to be more explicit about keeping carbon in the ground, for instance, and about nuclear and coal never being “clean”). But we have only one chance to get this thing charged up and moving forward.
And Klein is clear that nuclear power is a false solution to the climate crisis:
The Green New Deal will need to be subject to constant vigilance and pressure from experts who understand exactly what it will take to lower our emissions as rapidly as science demands, and from social movements that have decades of experience bearing the brunt of false climate solutions, whether nuclear power, the chimera of carbon capture and storage, or carbon offsets. (emphases added)
Alfred C. Meyer of Physicians for Social Responsibility [and his 15-year old, 7-pound Maltese atomic watchdog, Clara] and Kevin Kamps, Radioactive Waste Specialist of Beyond Nuclear, talk with host Margaret Harrington about the need to abolish nuclear weapons. The experts discuss the hazards of nuclear power identifying it as counterproductive to eliminate climate change issues. They also give insight into the compounding problem of radioactive nuclear waste.
Watch the 45 minute 38 second televised interview, here. CHANNEL 17/ TOWN MEETING TV is in Burlington, Vermont. Its "Nuclear Free Future" show is hosted by Margaret Harrington.
GOD’S RIVER is a short documentary film created by Mark Isaac and Gabriela Bulisova as part of their work in Ukraine supported by a Fulbright grant. Energy producers and environmentalists agree that climate change has significantly reduced the flow of the Southern Bug River, the longest river entirely within Ukraine. But the two camps differ dramatically on how to respond. The state-operated nuclear conglomerate, EnergoAtom, proposes to raise water levels behind Alexandrivsky Dam, flooding a portion of Buszky Gard National Park. But a unique coalition of veterans, academics, environmentalists and Ukrainian nationalists opposes the plan because it will threaten endangered plants and animals, submerge archaeological digs, and destroy Gardove Island, a place that is sacred to Cossack heritage. While some urge compromise, others claim concessions could permanently kill the river. Returning soldiers from the Donbas region forthrightly embrace the struggle as an extension of the war effort. If the Ukrainian Parliament approves the plan, they have pledged — along with their allies — to occupy Gardove Island, where a Cossack church once stood, and protect it “by all means necessary, including radical ones.” God's River from Gabriela Bulisova is viewable on Vimeo.
When Beyond Nuclear submitted comments on EPA's proposed transparency rule (the agency's bid to make regulations of pollutants less protective) we were told the EPA’s attack on science-based protections wouldn't include radiation. Now EPA has appointed Brant Ulsh, a member of a group promoting hormesis (the misguided idea that a little radiation is good for you), as panel chairman of its radiation advisory committee.
February 13, 2019