Is our future Nuclear?

Recent, tragic occurrences in Japan have raised yet more concerns over the use of Nuclear power in the long term. The government has been a key driver in the establishment of Nuclear Fuels in the UK funding research and build costs of power stations up and down the country.

However, this is also, potentially, the most environmentally damaging energy source. Whilst it is low carbon and a good chunk of the material can be recycled it can have devastating implications on the global environment when it goes wrong. The mining of Uranium is hardly clean either.

The question has to be, why does the government continue to support and plough capital into Nuclear power but is so reticent to do so with true renewable energy such as tidal, wave, wind and hydro? With our geography and topography these are surely where our future energy opportunities are. When will people sit up and start thinking long term.

I am sure that all those NIMBY's who oppose wind turbines would rather have 20 turbines on the landscape than a new Nuclear Power Station on their doorstep. It seems to be that we have to start making that choice sooner rather than later, however to achieve the scale needed we need national and local government to support with more than just words.

Can we really change?

I was at a climate change meeting yesterday where the challenge was put to the group to shift from a linear to a circular economy.

The challenges were made around market forces driving change and innovation and how cities can develop naturally as ecosystems.

In reality, the will always be a wasteful race. We have always been. Recycling has been around for years but is not in our nature. We are developed beings that will always be wasteful with the resources we have. We will be greedy and take resource from others.

Can we truly change how we behave and live? Do we have the courage to forget about self? Can you change?