Nuclear Energy: Is it Worth the Risks to the Environment?

The on-going nuclear crisis at Fukashima nuclear plant in Japan has raised concerns about nuclear energy, yet again. Humans have a consumption problem and have become a parasitic species. We are greedy to the point of risking the death of countless people, and even more injuries, just for cheap power, so that we can continue our life of unchecked desire. And, yet, we take a risk with nuclear energy on something we still don't fully understand or know how to contain upon meltdown because we don't want to have to live a life with less luxury and greed. Well, I don't like saying this, but this is what happens when we gamble with Mother Nature.

The time is now to commit, as a world, to putting the nuclear genie, back into the bottle, as much as possible. We owe it not just to our children, and their children, but the billions of innocent sentient beings, who are living within their means, in balance and harmony with nature's limits and abilities. We must learn the lessons of interdependence, because if we human's mess up and ruin Earth, making it uninhabitable, then we have the karmic weight of the death of all those beings to bear into the next life. I know that I don't want that on my conscience, so let's work together to make this world a little safer and peaceful.

And, yet, if we totally ban nuclear energy then we're even more reliant upon dirty coal and oil. It's a difficult spot to be in as a modern civilization. One alternative that some say is the best alternative is thorium energy. Here is the cheat sheet on Thorium, which is a radioactive element but much safer, less radioactive and cleaner than the old nuclear sources, Uranium and Plutonium:

After it has been used as fuel for power plants, the element leaves behind minuscule amounts of waste. And that waste needs to be stored for only a few hundred years, not a few hundred thousand like other nuclear byproducts. Because it’s so plentiful in nature, it’s virtually inexhaustible. It’s also one of only a few substances that acts as a thermal breeder, in theory creating enough new fuel as it breaks down to sustain a high-temperature chain reaction indefinitely. And it would be virtually impossible for the byproducts of a thorium reactor to be used by terrorists or anyone else to make nuclear weapons. Named for the Norse god of thunder, thorium is a lustrous silvery-white metal. It’s only slightly radioactive; you could carry a lump of it in your pocket without harm.

~The Green Man has Spoken~