Saturday 30 July 2022

"Green Dreams, Inflationary Realities"

That’s our house above, newly sheathed in Rooftop Solar PV. And we have compost bins for out kitchen scraps, and we recycle our paper, glass, metals and plastics, so that’s our green credentials right there. 

Still, it seemed weird and kind of mad to us, we well-credentialed green folks for countries like Japan and Germany to close down perfectly well-operating nuclear power stations. Given the zero death toll of Fukushima -- an ancient generator designed with pencils and slide-rules -- what could make sense? And for California -- highest electricity prices in the US by far -- to close down its nuclear stations as well.

And for Joe Biden to stop drilling and transporting oil, only to have to go cap in hand to Saudi Arabia and Venezuela for oil. How on earth could that make any sense, environmentally even, let alone financially and having to deal with horrid regimes? Nothing towards reducing carbon emissions, only hassle and inflation at home, for no net carbon-reduction effect. Again, how can that make any sense?

In the Comments there’s much criticism of the articlGreen Dreams, Inflationary Realities from QuilletteIncluding from people who laud the “off the grid” folks. I follow a number of those folks on YouTube; I like and admire them a lot. But to think that that life style can solve our eco problems is fantasy. Not to mention that even the most fastidious of them is never really fully “off grid”. 

I enjoyed the article. If you don’t agree with it, perhaps you’ll find some solace in the comments.