permaculture

[Chris Lumpkin <clumpkin@gmail.com>]

Thorium is far from a panacea, unproven and plenty of safety issues. It is
also, at the end of the day, just another technology based on extraction.
Dr. Tom Murphy has a great breakdown of nuclear options from a
sustainability perspective here:
http://physics.ucsd.edu/do-the-math/2012/01/nuclear-options/

and a great discussion of "The Energy Trap", which prevents us from
investing in tomorrow's solutions when today's energy is scarce:
http://physics.ucsd.edu/do-the-math/2011/10/the-energy-trap/

-Chris



On Mon, Jan 28, 2013 at 11:25 PM, Glenn Gall <glenngall@gmail.com> wrote:

> "Makes one wonder why everyone on earth is worrying about global
> warming, and thinking we're running out of energy, when we have a
> technology requiring relatively common fuels (enough so that we can say
> there's an infinite supply for the next few centuries), ….”
>
> Thorium won't stop global warming  Or flooding, drought, extinction,
> desertification, deforestation, hunger, acidified oceans etc., for that
> matter.   The globe is already warm, and will warm another degree F, no
> matter the energy source, unless there is a lot more life in the biosphere
> and soil, and in a hurry.  The other effects are already present, and will
> also worsen without more life to stabilize our earth.
>
> Thorium may or may not satisfy many of our energy needs, but it won't bring
> a planet back to life. I'm willing to discuss the possibility of thorium
> energy, but but as an energy fix.  Don't hype it as an earth-system fix.
>
> More life, a massive amount, is critical, no matter all the other good and
> necessary things we do.  How much more is anybody's guess.  And how we do
> it ...?   It will need to be much more than reducing our carbon footprints,
> much more than personal responsibility.
>
> And much more than thorium.
>
> Glenn
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