A very rambly show. I start off by apologizing for not attending the “big climate rally” on Friday the 24th, which is in principle an ideal venue to speak out with hope and positivity, and and remind people that we do have solutions to our problems ― but a pro–nuclear activist was assaulted at the march in Berlin.
Then I try (with a little help from Chauncey Starr, one–time Director–General of the International Atomic Energy Agency) to dig into the mindset of the “Negawatts not Megawatts” people, who say we just need to cut back energy use. This leads me to comparing energy and electricity consumption figures for various countries, and thence to the fascinating inversion by which manufactured goods are now being sold by poorer countries to wealthier ones, and to tie that to changing patterns of energy consumption. At this point I can hardly allow the enormous human and environmental cost of coal mining in China to pass without a mention. Maybe I’ll be more coherent next week!
Supplementary Material