Fukushima: Monbiot debates with Helen Caldicott on Democracy Now

[Zardoz]

"Prescription for Survival": A Debate on the Future of Nuclear Energy Between Anti-Coal Advocate George Monbiot and Anti-Nuclear Activist Dr. Helen Caldicott.
The crisis in Japan has refueled the rigorous global debate about the viability of nuclear power. Japan remains in a "state of maximum alert" as the experts scramble to contain radiation that is leaking from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station. Nuclear energy remains a controversial topic in climate change discourse, as environmental activists argue how to best reduce the amount of greenhouse gases being emitted into the atmosphere—often the debate pits one non-renewable energy against another as renewable energy technology and research remains underfunded. Democracy Now! hosts a debate today about the future of nuclear energy between British journalist George Zombiot and Dr. Helen Caldicott. Monbiot has written extensively about the environmental and health dangers caused by burning coal for energy, and despite the Fukushima catastrophe, stands behind nuclear power. Caldicott is a world-renowned anti-nuclear advocate who has spent decades warning of the medical hazards posed by nuclear technologies, and while agreeing about the dangers of burning coal, insists the best option is to ban nuclear power. 

George Monbiot, British journalist and author. He is a columnist with the The Guardian (U.K.) and most recently wrote the article "Why Fukushima Made Me Stop Worrying and Love Nuclear Power." 

Helen Caldicott, world-renowned anti-nuclear advocate, author and pediatrician. She has spent decades warning of the medical hazards posed by nuclear technologies. She is the co-founder of Physicians for Social Responsibility.

http://www.democracynow.org/seo/2011/3/30/prescription_for_survival_a_debate_on



--- In Diggers350 at yahoogroups.com, Tony Gosling <tony at ...> wrote:
>
> Nuclear Expert Calls Global Warming Alarmist Monbiot "Criminally 
> Irresponsible" For Downplaying Fukushima
> 
> Dr. Christopher Busby calls Monbiot's claims "total nonsense," 
> challenges British environmentalist to television debate
> http://www.prisonplanet.com/nuclear-expert-calls-global-warming-alarmist-monbiot-criminally-irresponsible-for-downplaying-fukushima.html 
> 
> 
> Paul Joseph Watson - <http://www.prisonplanet.com/../>Prison 
> <http://www.prisonplanet.com/../>Planet.com - Monday, March 28, 2011
> 
> Prominent nuclear and radiation expert Dr. Christopher Busby has 
> slammed British global warming alarmist George Monbiot as being 
> "criminally irresponsible" for writing a series of articles for the 
> Guardian in which Monbiot downplays the threat of radiation from the 
> stricken Fukushima nuclear plant in a bid to shore up his claims 
> about man-made climate change being a far deadlier concern.
> 
> In the wake of Fukushima, we have seen numerous self-proclaimed 
> environmentalists who are normally so quick to raise the alarm about 
> devastation caused by man-made global warming, actually downplaying 
> the environmental concerns attached to the Fukushima crisis, 
> radiation, and nuclear power in general.
> 
> Chief amongst them is prominent British environmentalist George 
> Monbiot, who in an article for the London Guardian last week 
> entitled, 
> <http://www.prisonplanet.com/http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/mar/21/pro-nuclear-japan-fukushima>Why 
> Fukushima made me stop worrying and love nuclear power, wrote that 
> critics of how Fukushima is being handled had, "wildly exaggerated 
> the dangers of radioactive pollution".
> 
> "As a result of the disaster at Fukushima, I am no longer 
> nuclear-neutral. I now support the technology," added Monbiot.
> 
> Monbiot's bizarre nuclear "kool-aid" moment was perhaps written in 
> haste at a time when he believed Japanese claims that the crisis was 
> diminishing. But in the past few days, the situation at Fukushima has 
> worsened considerably. Officials hastily retracted numbers yesterday 
> which suggested that radiation levels in the containment building of 
> reactor number 2 
> <http://www.prisonplanet.com/http://www.infowars.com/fukushima-reactor-2-radiation-10-million-times-above-safe-level/>were 
> an astounding 10 million times above normal. In addition, water 
> purifications plants across Japan 
> <http://www.prisonplanet.com/http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2011/03/81334.html>have 
> been told to stop taking in rainwater as radiation levels in the 
> atmosphere continue to rise.
> 
> Monbiot's rhetoric is a stark reminder that many leading 
> environmentalists don't give a damn about real threats to the 
> environment, preferring instead to spend all their time obsessing 
> about carbon dioxide emissions and thinking up new ways to exploit 
> global warming fearmongering as a means of controlling every aspect 
> of our lives.
> 
> While weaving terrorizing scenarios about man-made climate change 
> making whole areas of the planet uninhabitable, most notably the 
> island of Tuvulu, 
> <http://www.prisonplanet.com/http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/column_more_to_tuvalu_than_the_alarmists_claimed/>which 
> global warming alarmists already claim has been abandoned due to 
> rising sea levels when in fact its population has doubled in the past 
> three decades, alarmists like Monbiot don't seem to be too fussed 
> when real environmental catastrophes like Chernobyl really do make 
> entire regions uninhabitable.
> 
> Indeed, others have gone even further. 
> <http://www.prisonplanet.com/http://www.infowars.com/lets-send-ann-coulter-to-fukushima/>Columnist 
> Ann Coulter appeared on Fox News to ludicrously proclaim that 
> exposure to radiation was "good for you". Given that she's so 
> enamored with the apparent health benefits of radioactive fallout, 
> which 
> <http://www.prisonplanet.com/../harmless-chernobyl-radiation-killed-nearly-one-million-people.html>new 
> studies blame for nearly a million cancer deaths in the 25 years 
> since Chernobyl, we offered to send Coulter on an all-expenses paid 
> holiday to Fukushima. We've not heard back from her.
> 
> 
> 
> Monbiot's father, Raymond Geoffrey Monbiot, was the deputy chairman 
> of the Conservative Party and Chairman of the National Convention. 
> His mother Rosalie, the elder daughter of Roger Gresham Cooke, M.P. 
> is a Conservative councillor who led South Oxford district council 
> for a decade.
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Monbiot#Family>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Monbiot#Family
> 
> Raymond Monbiot was behind rule changes to exclude party members from 
> voting for the leader
> <http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4220346.stm>http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4220346.stm
> 
> +44 (0)7786 952037
> http://www.youtube.com/user/PublicEnquiry/
> http://www.thisweek.org.uk/
> http://www.911forum.org.uk/
> "Capitalism is institutionalised bribery."
> _________________
> www.abolishwar.org.uk
> <http://www.elementary.org.uk>www.elementary.org.uk
> www.public-interest.co.uk
> www.radio4all.net/index.php/series/Bristol+Broadband+Co-operative
> <http://utangente.free.fr/2003/media2003.pdf>http://utangente.free.fr/2003/media2003.pdf 
> 
> "The maintenance of secrets acts like a psychic poison which 
> alienates the possessor from the community" Carl Jung
> <https://217.72.179.7/members/www.bilderberg.org/phpBB2/>https://217.72.179.7/members/www.bilderberg.org/phpBB2/
>