Blogs

=Why Are We Afraid of Nuclear Power?= http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/ropeik1/English

The article discussed recent controversy in Germany regarding nuclear power, and how our feelings affect our judgment and perception of facts. As an example, the article discussed ionizing radiation, and why, despite its being a weak carcinogen, it is perceived with such fear. Such reasons include the fact that it is man made and that it is undetectable to our senses. The idea that our emotions and fears control the way we think and judge facts is hardly limited to this issue, and can in fact be seen in nearly any serious or complicated issue. Sometimes our life experiences and emotions give us a perspective we would otherwise not have, but the are also capable of distorting the truth to match what we hope or what we fear.

=The End of Automotive Mobility?= http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/bladd1/English

This article, written by the author of Autophobia: Love and Hate in the Automotive Age, discussed America's dependence on the automobile for mobility, and the emerging costs of this dependence, such as growing traffic without infrastructure to support it, high fuel usage, and other such issues. The article also discussed the growth of mass transit, walking/bicycling, and buying smaller cars as solutions that people have adopted during the recession.

=The Wild West of Electronic Waste= http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/ogunseitan1/English

This Article discussed issues surrounding the extraction of precious metals from e-waste, specifically the dangers involved in such extraction. E-waste can contain potent toxic chemicals such as lead, mercury, cadmium, and brominated flame retardants. However, extracting precious metals from e-waste lessens the burden on mining for such metals, which has its own environmental and human costs. According to the article, "Approximately 37% of the world’s supply of tantalum comes from Central Africa, where mining it has been linked to devastating wars and environmental pollution." When faced with the effects of mining for these materials, extracting them seems a viable option, despite its dangers.

=Alternatives to Alternative Energy= http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/goranson11/English

This article, written by H.T. Goranson, the Lead Scientist at Sirius-Beta Corp, former Senior Scientist with the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, and author of The Agile Virtual Enterprise, discusses energy generation and usage. Goranson reiterates the harm done by fossil fuels, and points to the disaster in Japan as an example of the dangers of Nuclear Energy. He then goes on to claim that current alternatives to the said methods are flawed, and explores a few examples of why. All of these examples are for the most part valid. In light of the above arguments, all of which have generally been rather common in discussion of energy, Goranson makes a rather uncommon suggestion. Instead of limiting ourselves to almost ready forms of alternative energy, we should also be exploring more radical and less developed ideas, perhaps in a scale of research on par with the Manhattan project or Apollo program.