Sustainability - No Nukes is Good Nukes
August 27, 2008
by Robert A. Letcher , 27 August 2008
Utah Phillips died this past May. Fortunately, a lot his insights were written down long before then. I recently recalled one of them in a most unusual setting, which I will describe below, after giving his insight at least the pedigree that it deserves, even if Phillips himself might object to that word appearing in the same sentence as his name. I had heard Charlie King attribute this insight to him more than twenty-five years ago. And, Amy Goodman mentioned it in her memorial commentary: “The long memory is the most radical idea in America.” [For Goodman’s full memorial, see democracynow.org] I recalled it a bit differently, as: a good memory is the best weapon a radical can carry.
I mentioned Phillips’ insight in at a meeting of people who were discussing sustainability after having watched “The Story of Stuff, with Annie Leonard”. After some of the business-types had gone through a few back-and-forths, mentioning recent efforts undertaken by boards they worked with. I think they described some companies moving toward sustainable business practices faster, others moving more slowly, and some hardly moving. Not being very familiar with business-speak, I couldn’t say with confidence, but it seemed that they were empathizing with those boardmembers, agreeing between themselves that those boardmembers faced substantial challenges.
When I got into the discussion, I agreed that the accomplishments they had been discussing were indeed significant. But—and this is where I evoked Utah Phillips’ insight about a good memory—I told them that I had been working in sustainability for 27 years, including managing a recycling program in Michael Moore’s Flint and writing the major portion of the first chapter on recycling ever included in a professional solid waste management handbook (see The Solid Waste Handbook: A Practical Guide , William D. Robinson, editor; McGraw- Hill. Feb 25, 1986)
Then I suggested that they should avoid injuring themselves patting those boardmembers on the back. Why not? Because—lo! those many years ago–I suggested, those same guys—or people they played golf and tennis at “the Club” with were beating on me and people I played “protest” with. People like my friends in the Arbor Alliance, an Ann Arbor group organized against nuclear power—it looka like we’re going to be getting out our old “Turn on the Sun, No Nukes” T-shirts, sorry to have to say.
And I recounted my reply to an economist’s comments in favor of nuclear power as being part of a sustainable future. Here’s what I wrote to the economist:
“RE: my reaction to our dialog about intergenerationa l ethics. I completely agree with your point that it makes sense to do whatever it is that we decide to do with the highest efficiency possible. I was making two different points. First, i’d like to see intergenerational ethics mentioned explicitly, esp because i see it as a big part of the problematique we face. Second–or perhaps a further implication of the first, i think we need now to consider not only technical efficiency but also actual LEVEL or SUBSTANCE of what we are trying to be efficient about. That was why i mentioned the cartoon about “why we are at war” circa 1991–so we can water ski behind big speedboats.
“It seems to me that there can be no “intergenerational ethic” worthy of that term which could validate passing along radioactive waste from a nuke plant to a future generation without some kind of moral accounting of the use to which the energy generated along with the waste was put (including, in the speedboat/skiing case, refining oil to make gas to tow the boat to the water and power it once it’s in the water, synthesize petrochemicals into skiis, etc), irrespective of the efficiency of the nuke itself.
“I agree that more efficient nukes are preferable to less efficient nukes, in many dimension, probably including the ethical dimension. But, I continue to think that the primary ethical question is about the “what for” for building the nuke. The efficiency question is only secondarily ethical (viz it comes subsequent to decisions about whether a nuke as such is ethical.”
A lot to think about, huh! That’s probably why Utah Phillips stressed the importance of a good memory.
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FIRST PUBLISHED
We! Magazine #84, Volume 3, Number 2 Wednesday, 27 August 2008
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