Nuclear Power advocated

The Herald has a profile of former British Labour MEP Terry Wynn who is an advocate of nuclear power. An otherwise good profile is somewhat spoiled by the use of the pejorative term zealot to describe him. Use of language like this does have influence. Just as some think tanks always get labelled right-wing by the media, but I’ve never heard them label one as left-wing.

Anyway Wynn points out that nuclear power is one of the best ways to combat global warming, as unlike coal, oil or gas it produce no carbon emissions. He is not alone in this view. Other environmentalists who agree are Greenpeace founder Patrick Moore and British atmospheric scientist James Lovelock, father of the Gaia theory.

NZ is a country where nuclear power is less suitable than most, because of our small population, and earthquake propensity. So this is not a debate about what NZ should do, but is a global challenge to the Green movement about their views on nuclear power. Remember 5,000 or so people die in coal mines every year.