We have reached a time in our history where there is now little doubt that we are having a damaging effect on our environment. The most pressing of our problems being climate change.

Every day we release millions and millions of tonnes of carbon into our atmosphere, the main culprits of course are fossil fuels. Our addiction to oil and coal are largely the reason for our rocket like progress in the last 100 plus years, cheap energy consumed in ever increasing servings by each of us has given us better lifestyles like that of royalty in preceding centuries.

Our success as a species I believe will be measured by how much coal and oil we can leave in the ground.

The time has come to move ahead again, not in a quantum leap, just baby steps are all we need. Technology is the double edged sword that we will either use to help fix the problem, or just continue to add to our swelling appetite for energy.

As much as I would like to see wind and tidal power, geo thermal energy, solar collection and bio fuels relieve our dependence on oil and coal, these technologies are still in their infancy and cannot compete with fossil fuels in the real world (well not yet!).

With India and China now wanting a slice of the pie you and I have enjoyed all our lives, coal burning power plants mushroom at the speed of one every 7-10 days. These facilities have an expected life of 40-50 years.

So what is the answer, the N word. Nuclear. The technology is mature, the impact on our environment compared with fossil fuel is negligible, and it is the only form of energy production that can compete with Coal & Oil.

Sure we know of the dangers but aren’t we in trouble now? We are the drowning man and Nuclear energy (in the short term) is the only hand we have reaching out to us.

Look on Nuclear energy as a stepping stone, not a stumbling block. Let’s be realistic and make the hard decisions while we still have time to do so.

TheTeam@Our-Environment.Org