pandora's promise presentation
TRANSCRIPT
“The question is often asked,
can you be an environmentalist
and be pro-nuclear?
In light of climate change, can
you be an environmentalist and
NOT be pro-nuclear?”
Stewart Brand
WHY WAS PANDORA
EFFECTIVE? • Values Alignment - nuclear as a tool to achieve a shared objective
• Power of Story - the conversion narrative
• Not “You’re wrong” but “We’ve been misled”
• Independence - no industry financing the film
• Street cred - my history and the history of the film’s protagonists
The most important
environmental
documentary since
“An Inconvenient Truth”
Chicago Tribune
“An Elaborate Hoax.
Everything about it
is a lie.”
Bobby Kennedy Jr.
“A cosmic
douche vortex.”
GRIST Magazine
“Provocative and
important. Pandora’s
Promise is essential
viewing”
New York Times
Worlds leading climate & energy scientists plead with
environmental leaders to support advanced nuclear energy
Ken Caldera James Hansen Kerry Emanuel Tom Wigley
Anderson Cooper hosts post-broadcast debate on CNN
Anderson Cooper, Robert Stone, Dale Bryk (NRDC), Dr. James Hansen
Carol Browner: Clinton’s EPA
Chief and Obama’s climate advisor
“I used to be anti-nuclear,
but several years ago I had
to reevaluate my thinking,
because if you agree with
the world’s leading climate
scientists that global
warming is real and must
be addressed immediately,
then you cannot simply
oppose clean, low-carbon
energy sources.”
Ellen Claussen: head of
Center for Climate and Energy
“
“Losing more of our existing
nuclear fleet will make it that
much tougher to meet our
carbon reduction goals. We
need to keep ramping up
renewables but they can’t
meet our need for reliable
power 24/7. Nuclear is a
base load source that’s
carbon free, two things we
need.”
Armond Cohen: head of the
Clean Air Task Force
“I can tell you it wasn’t easy
for me - who as a lawyer
back in the ’80’s started my
career fighting nuclear power
- to come around to the view
that it actually may be one of
the things in our portfolio that
may be necessary to save
us. But this is where the
facts lead you.”
• Dalai Lama
• Sir Richard Branson
• Bill Gates
• Paul Allen
• Hendrik Hertzburg
• John Holdren
• Steven Chu
• George Monbiot
• Hugh Montefiore
• Stephen Tindale
• James Lovelock
• Jeffery Sachs
• Senator Al Franken
• Ansel Adams
Noted liberals who favor nuclear
power
Editorial Board
“…The watch word here, and in the world at large, should be
prudence. Prudence in the design, maintenance, and operation of
all nuclear facilities. Prudence also in the sense that policy makers
not be spooked into shutting down a vital source of clean energy in a
warming world. The great shield over Chernobyl should also
entomb unfounded fears of using nuclear power in the future.”
LESSONS
• Facts alone are not persuasive.
• Facts can actually backfire.
• “Confirmation bias” & “Motivated reasoning”
• Source of information more important than the information itself.
• Social Media - we get our information from friends sharing with
friends.
• Values alignment - can’t be manufactured, must be genuine.
• Important to understand and empathize with your opponents POV
ENVIRONMENTAL
ASSUMPTIONS • We’re running out of fossil fuels.
• Energy efficiency will reduce overall energy
demand.
• Wind and solar energy will gradually replace
the use of fossil fuels.
• The world will agree to limit carbon
emissions.
• More energy = more environmental
destruction. Less energy = less
environmental destruction.
CLIMATE TREATY?
• Kyoto 1999 (failure)
• Oslo 2001 (failure)
• Rio 2004 (failure)
• Copenhagen 2011 (failure)
• Durban 2012 (failure)
• Warsaw 2013 (failure)
• Paris 2015 (?)
FRANCE
• Cleanest air in the industrialized world.
• Lowest electric rates in Europe.
• Half the per-capita CO2 emissions of Germany.
• Huge export industry of nuclear technology and electricity.
• No negative health effects.
COST?
New modular reactors can be
built the way Boeing builds
jetliners?
• Cheaper
• Safer
• More Reliable
• Highly Scalable
President Obama
2010 State of the Union
“…we need more production, more
efficiency, more incentives. And that
means building a new generation of
safe, clean nuclear power plants in this
country.”
BOTH Democrats and Republicans
gave him a standing ovation!
Energy for Humanity www.energyforhumanity.org