Tag: water-rights

How to have a ‘rational’ debate over nuclear power (via Rational and Green)

On By southwerkIn business ethics2 Comments

There is a lot of debate on the web about nuclear power. This is a different kind of take on the issue. Our author explains how the emotional aspects of the danger of nuclear power has to be taken into consideration. I’m sure there are many who would argue that only the rational arguments should be taken into consideration.

However, the advocates of nuclear power have cast every kind of insult at their opponents ranging from tree hugger to murderer (that’s right, since using coal power can increase death from particulate matter, opposing nuclear power is murder), I think the use of the irrational on that side is already well established.

James Pilant

In any debate over nuclear power, the people calling for a “rational” discussion tend to be proponents of nuclear power. In response, those in the “anti-nuclear” camp will often adopt the “rational” vocabulary of their “pro-nuclear” counterparts, basing their arguments on issues of cost and statistical risk (and perhaps some case studies to prove the viability of renewable sources of energy). And thus, there emerges a tacit consensus between thes … Read More

via Rational and Green

Italians, not government, to decide on nukes and water privatization (via COTO Report)

On By southwerkIn business ethics

The key paragraph is this one. If there is anything that demonstrates the arrogance of the Berlusconi’s government is its intent to ignore a nation wide moratorium on the use of nuclear power. I’m glad to say this is not working out so well for his government which is increasingly the subject of comedy routines as its credibility erodes.

Mr Berlusconi’s government, a powerful advocate of the atomic industry, had planned to embark on a big new building program from 2014 with the aim of producing 25 per cent of the country’s electricity needs with atomic energy by 2030. Italy has had a ban on any industry expansion since 1987, when the electorate, deeply suspicious of nuclear power after Chernobyl, voted for a moratorium. Fearful of a similar backlash in the wake of the Fukushima disaster, Mr Berlusconi has waged an unstinting battle against the plebiscite, even offering a suspension of his nuclear plans in April in an effort to ride out controversy.Please read the whole article.

James Pilant

From bad to worse as grip on nation slips further out of Berlusconi’s hands By Paola Totaro Sydney Morning Herald They say bad things come in threes and for Silvio Berlusconi, Italy’s Prime Minister, the week brought the full quota of political misfortune. On Monday Mr Berlusconi, 74, once seen as untouchable and invincible, witnessed Italy’s regional governments, including his home city of Milan, fall to a phalanx of communist mayors, some of th … Read More

via COTO Report