Posted on 22-3-2002

Nuclear Winter Won't Cool Hot Planet
by Joan Russow (from posting on www.pl.net message board)

At one session, entitled "nuclear renaissance" at Globe 2002, nuclear
energy was described as "emulating nature"--uranium taken from the soil,
and nuclear waste returning to the soil [in this case it was the Canadian
Shield]. In your article, Klaus Toepfer refers to environmentally friendly
energy such as solar, wind, and wave; however when he spoke in the plenary
session at Globe 2002, he did not unfortunately address the fact that
nuclear energy is being proposed as the panacea to address the issue of
climate change. I pointed out at the session on nuclear that the proposed
solution for climate change must never be worse than the problem that it is
intended to solve, that the IUCN had called for the phasing out of nuclear
energy, that there is a definite link between civil nuclear energy and the
development of nuclear weapons, and that there is a folly in euphemizing
and promoting the nuclear industry as an emulation of nature.
In addition in an interview that I did with Klaus Toepfler, I asked him
(i)if at the WSSD the impact of military activity on the environment would
be discussed; it was included in the GA resolution, 1982 World Charter of
Nature[adopted by all but the US], avoided in 1992 [at the request of the
US], and
(ii) if there would be a call for the implementation of a long standing
obligation and commitment to reduce the global military budget and transfer
it into global social justice. When I subsequently, proceeded to point out
that currently the global military budget was at over 850 billion[and I was
going to point out that if reduced in half billions of dollars could be put
into address the issues of poverty, and environmental degradation] he
rudely pushed my camera away and said if that is all you are going to ask,
our interview is over. He did mention that there was a peace dividend in
the UNCED DOCUMENTS; he must have been referring to the commitment to put a
percentage of the GDP into development; there was, however, no linking of
military expenses and and the ensuing peace dividend in the UNCED documents.

I hope that the issue of nuclear as the solution to climate change will be
strongly opposed, and that the issue of the inclusion of the human and
environmental devastation of military activities along with the substantial
reduction of the military budget and transfer of the peace dividend for
global social justice will be at the forefront of discussions in South
Africa at the WSSD in August 2002.