Yahya Rashidzada's List: Nature vs. Society

• The nuclear chain begins with uranium mining, a polluting activity that devastates large areas. Uranium ore can contain as little as 500 grams recoverable uranium per million grams of earth. Enormous amounts of rock have to be dug up, crushed and chemically processed to extract the uranium.

  • The process of creating nuclear energy begins with locating and mining Uranium. However, this activity often pollutes and destroys the land in which it is found in. Huge amounts of earth are "dug up, crushed and chemically processed" to obtain only about 500 grams of this needed substance. Thus, the sustained development of society can only hurt nature.
• Many steps are required to make uranium suitable for use in nuclear reactors. From mining to milling to conversion to enrichment to fuel fabrication, each step involves separate facilities throughout the U.S., poisoning communities with radioactive and chemical pollution

  • Nuclear fuel processes cause communities to become poisoned with radioactivity and chemical pollution. A balance between nature and society cannot exist because the energy needed for society to survive cannot be created without the destruction of animal, plant, and general life in the environment. Vice versa, natural resources cannot remain unharmed without affecting societal progress
• In 2001, 93% of the nation's reported emissions of CFC-114, a potent greenhouse gas, were released from the United States Enrichment Corporation, where uranium is enriched to make nuclear reactor fuel.

  • The process of enriching Uranium releases harmful greenhouse gasses that contribute to global warming. This exemplifies the conflict that must exist between nature and society.
• The initial devastation of marine life and ecosystems stems from the powerful intake of water into the nuclear reactor. Marine life, ranging from endangered sea turtles and manatees down to delicate fish larvae and microscopic planktonic organisms vital to the ocean ecosystem, is sucked irresistibly into the reactor cooling system. Some of these animals are killed when trapped against filters, grates, and other structures, or, in the case of air-breathing animals like turtles, seals, and manatees, they drown or suffocate.

  • Water devastation: the water intake of nuclear plants often kills many marine animals causing an imbalance in their ecosystem
• High-level nuclear waste (also called irradiated or "spent" fuel) is literally about 1 million times more radioactive than when the fuel rods were loaded into the reactor. This waste is so lethal that standing near it without shielding would kill you within minutes. This waste will be hazardous for millions of years. No technology exists to keep it isolated

  • The products created from Nuclear Energy create high level waste that will remain radioactive for millions of years, killing everything within it's proximity.

  • Source: "Nuclear Energy Is Not Green Energy." Nuclear Energy. Ed. Debra A. Miller. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2010. Current Controversies. Gale Opposing Viewpoints In Context. Web. 15 Mar. 2011.

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• China has invested in a wide range of clean-energy technologies, pumping unprecedented amounts of money into renewable energy and in 2009 leading the world in financing wind technology. Several of its companies are making big investments in electric vehicles. Three Chinese power plants currently under construction will aim to demonstrate carbon capture and sequestration on a commercial scale. China can also build highly efficient conventional coal plants at costs far lower than in the West.

  • Citation: Levi, Michael. "Globalizing the Energy Revolution." Foreign Affairs. Nov/Dec 2010: 111. SIRS Researcher. Web. 21 Mar 2011.
    
    Although somewhat expensive, many clean and renewable energy resources are being used by China. For example: wind technology, electric vehicles, and carbon capturing power plants. I believe that these methods can be used by many other countries such as the United States, etc. to create the balance between Nature and Society.
    
    How it can be used: use in supporting argument. Both nature and society can be unharmed/uninhibited by each other's progress.
• Brazil has narrowly tailored its cleanenergy innovation to biofuels. Commercial investment in innovation has, predictably, flowed mainly into improvements of existing technology, which in Brazil means first-generation sugar-cane ethanol for cars. Yet on the most important international frontier for biofuels-so-called secondgeneration cellulosic ethanol, which uses waste or crops grown on land that cannot be used to produce food-Brazil is relatively quiet. Its Center for Sugarcane Technology, a cooperative consisting of many of the country's sugar-cane producers, has built a small pilot facility; Embrapa, the government organization that supports agricultural research, is scheduled to complete a similar center this year; and the newly founded Brazilian Bioethanol Science and Technology Laboratory is planning a third for next year. The United States, in contrast, is home to more than three dozen commercial or pilot cellulosic ethanol plants.

  • Citation: Levi, Michael. "Globalizing the Energy Revolution." Foreign Affairs. Nov/Dec 2010: 111. SIRS Researcher. Web. 21 Mar 2011
    
    Brazil has also committed research for the advancement of biofuels. They have created sugar-cane ethanol for cars and are developing cellulosic ethanol, which uses waste or unusable crops for energy. Brazil also plans to build many sugar-cane production facilities as well as another facility for the Brazilian Bioethanol Science and Technology Laboratory.
    
    How it can be used: use in supporting argument. more methods for using renewable resources
• India is even further behind. It has not, to date, made major investments in clean-energy innovation. Its science and technology spending in general has also lagged. New Delhi is, however, trying to turn a corner. Its National Solar Mission, announced in 2009, aims to deploy 20 gigawatts of solar energy by 2022 and to back that up with government support for everything from basic innovation to large-scale deployment. Earlier this year, the Indian government upped the ante by proposing a fee on sales of coal-fired power; the proceeds would be channeled into funding for clean-energy R 8c D.

  • Citation: Levi, Michael. "Globalizing the Energy Revolution." Foreign Affairs. Nov/Dec 2010: 111. SIRS Researcher. Web. 21 Mar 2011
    
    India, although far behind, is attempting to distribute 20 gigawatts of solar energy with its National Solar Mission in the year 2022. In the future, it hopes to supply energy from "basic innovation" to "Large-scale deployment". In order to enforce this though, it plans to add a fee on the sale of coal-fired power.
    
    How it can be used: in supportive argument, stating that society and nature can exist together as long as renewable energies and new technologies such as solar power are used. 
• Even with extremely ambitious programs, no one country will produce the majority of the clean-energy innovation that the world needs. Different countries' efforts need to be tightly connected so that they can build on one another.

  • Citation: Levi, Michael. "Globalizing the Energy Revolution." Foreign Affairs. Nov/Dec 2010: 111. SIRS Researcher. Web. 21 Mar 2011
    
    Many countries, though making advancements in clean energy, need to work together in order to perform the most efficiently. This will allow sustained use of technology to maintain a balance between Society and Nature. 
    
    How it will be used: use in supporting argument. Stating not only what can be done to create peaceful energy, but also how to maximize efficiency and continue environmental balance.
• Yet many governments may instinctively move in the opposite direction, particularly if they worry that they are engaged in a clean-energy race with other nations. Aggressive government support for innovation is typically sold as support for domestic workers and companies. That can quickly lead to "green protectionism," with politicians coming under pressure to wall off domestic markets or to discriminate against foreign firms.

  • Citation: Levi, Michael. "Globalizing the Energy Revolution." Foreign Affairs. Nov/Dec 2010: 111. SIRS Researcher. Web. 21 Mar 2011
    
    Many problems can arise in the creation of new technologies for safe, non-damaging energy use. For example, countries may try to engage in an energy-race that will protect their own local companies' exports. Eventually, this will lead the governments of certain countries to create a wall to foreign firms that will ultimately decrease production and learning.
    
    How it can be used: possibly in the counter-argument. it can be said that it is too difficult to create sustainable energy from renewable sources, and that a balance between Nature and Society cannot be kept.

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• restoration ecology, refers to the science and social practice of re-creating ecosystems that have been damaged or destroyed by human activity or natural events. Ecological restorationists have attempted to recreate a wide variety of ecosystems, including tall-grass prairies, oak savannas, wetlands, forests, streams, rivers, and coral reefs

  • my viewpoint: what we can do in order to live among nature while continuing to grow.