Video from our trip to the White House

It took a while to edit down the video from the Solar Bus trip to the White House last October.

On 10/24/09, rallies were held all over the world to call for climate change legislation. Organized by Bill McKibben and 350.org, it has been called “the most widespread day of political action in the planet’s history,” with more than 5200 events in 181 countries. In Washington DC, a rally was held in Malcom X park, followed by a march to the Whitehouse. The Solar Bus was invited to transport a bunch of college students to the rally and to lead the march.

Let’s not kid ourselves: Uranium Mining (Nuclear Energy) Kills People.

With the debate on nuclear energy coming to a peak, we hear much talk about the safety (or lack of safety)of a nuclear power plant, and and how we might deal with nuclear waste, but often neglected in the debate is discussion of uranium mining. That’s because there’s not much to debate about it. It’s nasty. While nuclear advocates will tout its safety and say “not a single person has died from nuclear power,” this is ignoring nuclear energy’s dirty little secret: Uranium mining kills people.

Below is a collection of articles, studies, and links to information that documents the deaths and illnesses directly related to uranium mining. Hopefully people will stop ignoring this important issue and it will become part of the debate.

During the 1950s, many Navajos in the U.S. became uranium miners, as many uranium deposits were discovered on Navajo reservations. A statistically significant subset of these early miners later developed small cell carcinoma after exposure to uranium ore. Radon-222, a natural decay product of uranium, has been shown to be the cancer-causing agent.[51] Some American survivors and their descendants received compensation under the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act in 1990. More….

A French state-owned company mines uranium in northern Niger where mine workers are not informed about health risks, and analysis shows radioactive contamination of air, water and soil. The local organization that represents the mine workers, spoke of “suspicious deaths among the workers, caused by radioactive dust and contaminated groundwater.” More….

Engineers say cleaning up the mill tailings at a single site, the defunct Atlas mill on the banks of the Colorado River just outside of Moab, could cost $300 million… families of those who did not survive the effects of prolonged exposure to radiation are not laughing. The dead and dying include miners and mill workers, innocent children who found mill tailings to be an inviting sand box, mothers who swept and dusted the wind-borne radioactive dust that filtered into their homes. Chip Ward, an environmental activist and author of the book “Canaries on the Rim,” argues the U.S. government officials knowingly and willfully sacrificed rural Utahns’ health and safety in their urgency for nuclear superiority. More….

HEALTH DANGERS OF URANIUM MINING, by The British Columbia Medical Association.
“excess deaths from lung cancer among two groups of European miners had been associated with relatively high concentrations of radon in the mine atmosphere. In that same year … conclusions were drawn that prolonged breathing of air containing a high concentration of radon, may have caused what was estimated at that time to be a 30-fold increase in the incidence of lung cancer” Full Report…

And so we have now discovered yet a third category of documented and scientifically accepted harmful effects of radiation and that is mental retardation in children who were irradiated while still in the womb. . . .

When we extract uranium from the ground, we dig up the rock, we crush it and we leave behind this finely pulverized material — it’s like flour. In Canada we have 200 million tons of this radioactive waste, called uranium tailings. As Marie Curie observed, 85 percent of the radioactivity in the ore remains behind in that crushed rock. How long will it be there? . . . . Well, it turns out that the effective half-life of this radioactivity is 80,000 years. That means in 80,000 years there will be half as much radioactivity in these tailings as there is today.

In addition, as the tailings are sitting there on the surface, they are continually generating radon gas. Radon is about eight times heavier than air, so it stays close to the ground. It’ll travel 1,000 miles in just a few days in a light breeze. And as it drifts along, it deposits on the vegetation below the radon daughters, which are the radioactive byproducts that I told you about, including polonium. So that you actually get radon daughters in animals, fish and plants thousands of miles away from where the uranium mining is done. It’s a mechanism for pumping radioactivity into the environment for millennia to come, and this is one of the hidden dangers.

(from URANIUM: Known Facts and Hidden Dangers; THE WORLD URANIUM HEARING, SALZBURG 1992)

And let’s not forget, that uranium mining often takes place in areas where impoverished people are taken advanatage of, and have no legal recourse to prevent it. Native American land and third-world nations are often targeted for uranium mining because no one with power or money wants it happening in their backyard.

I could go on but I invite those who are not yet convinced, to do their own research. A quick Google search will give you many more articles and links like this. Like many, I was not familiar with this problem until I looked into it myself because the media seems to only discuss nuclear waste and nuclear power plant safety.

But let’s not kid ourselves. It’s not just the safety of of the plant, and it’s not just a matter of finding a good way to store the waste. Nuclear energy, in particular uranium mining, kills people.

Vote on Vermont Yankee as early as next week

Finally, it’s happening.

The Associated Press and Burlington Free Press are reporting that Vermont Senate leaders are now calling for a vote on whether or not Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant should be allowed to operate beyond 2012 when its license expires.

The plant was originally designed to last 40 years, and the license expires at this time. There have been numerous safety problems with the plant, including leakage of radioactive materials, fires, and coolant leaks. Recently an inspection of the plant found over 60 problems, most of which have not been addressed. Additionally, representatives from Entergy, the owners of the plant have been condemned for providing false information to government officials and an investigation is underway.

The Vermont Legislature must approve an extension of the license.

Senate leaders have indicated the vote will take place as early as next week. It is time to make sure your Senators are going to vote to shut down this unsafe nuclear power plant. Click here to send a note to your State Senator.

Vermont utility plans to get 9% of their power from new wind project

From Burlington Free Press

For developer Green Mountain Power, the $150 million wind installation would provide up to 9 percent of its energy supply at a predictable cost. The project also would be a powerful response to legislative pressure for more renewable electricity in utilities’ portfolios.

For the town, one of Vermont’s poorest, the Lowell Mountain project would mean a $400,000 to $535,000 yearly payment from GMP. That’s enough to cover most or all of the town budget and reduce the municipal property tax to near zero.

more at Burlington Free Press…

Beware of “DIY” solar panel scams!

After seeing and researching through a few of these “build your own solar panel” websites, I want to urge extreme caution to anyone considering spending even $1 with these. They are virtually ALL SCAMS.

A few months ago these ads were all over the place, through Google ads and others. I sent several complaints to Google, and I’m sure other people did too. They seem to be waning a bit but they’re still around, and many of the websites that support the scams are sitll up.

I have read all kinds of outrageous claims, like for just a couple hundred dollars you can start running your meter backwards, or get most of your power from solar. This is pure BS! There is no way. Even if you got all the materials to make your solar panels for free, you still need an INVERTER to connect to the power company, which will cost you at least $2000. In order to sell power to the power company, youwill need to use UL listed equipment and your homemade panel will NOT be UL listed. Even if you don’t want to sell power back, you still need an inverter to get AC power and there is no way anyone is going to build their own inverter unless you’re an electrical engineer.

I could go on.

This is clearly a case of “if it’s too good to be true, it probably is.”

You might be able to build your own solar panel as a hobbyist and get some power from it to run a fan, charge a battery, or something like that. But to power your home? No way, it just isn’t going to happen. Anyone claiming you can do something like this for a “few hundred dollars” as some of these ads claim, is blatantly lying. Even if someone handed you free solar panels that were UL listed, that would only be about half of your system and the rest would cost several thousand dollars.

Don’t waste a dime on these scams. Most of them will just send you a book and you’ll find it to be useless. There are even some of these scammers here on this forum posting on threads and sending private messages. Don’t bite.

It is true that you can make your own solar panel, if you buy some surplus cells from a manufacturer and construct a frame around them. And you could charge a battery with them and run some small appliances and learn a lot. However these panels could NOT be connected to the grid as these scams claim.

Feinstein blocks solar projects in desert; RFK Jr. and other environmentalists disagree

AMBOY, Calif. — Senator Dianne Feinstein introduced legislation in Congress on Monday to protect a million acres of the Mojave Desert in California by scuttling some 13 big solar plants and wind farms planned for the region.

Her intervention in the Mojave means it will be more difficult for California utilities to achieve a goal, set by the state, of obtaining a third of their electricity from renewable sources by 2020; projects in the monument area could have supplied a substantial portion of that power.

“This is arguably the best solar land in the world, and Senator Feinstein shouldn’t be allowed to take this land off the table without a proper and scientific environmental review,” said Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the environmentalist and a partner with a venture capital firm that invested in a solar developer called BrightSource Energy. In September, BrightSource canceled a large project in the monument area.

Union officials, power industry executives, regulators and some environmentalists have also expressed concern about the impact of the monument legislation,

More (New York Times)….

Florida Keys Now Shrinking From Sea Level Rise

from NPR (see below for link)

Discussion of climate change — and what to do about it — is gaining urgency. It’s being debated in Congress and is the focus of December’s international summit in Copenhagen.

In South Florida, the issues of global warming and rising seas are more than theoretical. Florida is one of the parts of the country most vulnerable to a rise in sea level, and officials are beginning to plan how they’ll cope with it.

Scientists say the sea level has been rising since the end of the last ice age. The concern now is how fast it’s rising, and whether cities and natural ecosystems can adapt fast enough to avoid being devastated.

“You hear predictions of up to 3 or 4 feet over the next century,” said Chris Bergh, of The Nature Conservancy’s Florida Keys program. “It really makes you nervous for the future of this place.”

With an average elevation of just 3 or 4 feet, there are few places in America where the rising sea level is a bigger threat than in the Keys.

Changes Already Visible

On Big Pine Key, one of the chain’s largest and most environmentally diverse islands, you can already see changes brought on by the accelerating sea level rise.

A spot not far from the island’s coast used to be a pine forest. Now, it’s tidal wetlands — home to a few salt-tolerant plant species and the desiccated remnants of the old forest. Bergh described some of the changes brought on by the rising sea level.

“This stump is a pine tree — was a pine tree,” he said. “Now, it’s an old weathered pine stump. And it’s literally 100 feet or more away from the nearest living live pine. At one time, pines could live out here in what is now a mangrove marsh.”

At risk are more than a few pines. The Keys are home to many plants and animals that are found nowhere else in the world. The Nature Conservancy is working to develop special elevation maps for the Keys and other sensitive areas in Florida that will show which spots are most vulnerable and where action is needed to buy time for endangered ecosystems.

Bergh says it’s hoped that with help, rare plants and animals may be able to migrate to higher ground before they’re wiped out.

More…

Video: Nuclear safety inspector gives chilling testimony about Vermont Yankee

A public forum on the future of Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant, which will complete its designed lifetime in 2012. The owners of the plant are asking to extend the license a full 20 years past its design, and to operate it at 120% its original design capacity during that time.

In this video, nuclear safety inspector Arnie Gunderson discusses the safety issues with the plant. This video is very scary because it is actually possible that in spite of all these saftey issues, the license of Vermont Yankee could be extended another 20 years.

Note, the fidgety guy next to Arnie is a representive from Entergy, the owners of Vermont Yankee.

Video from last event of the year

The Solar Bus was asked to solarize the music stage for a private party in Massachussettes. It was a lot of fun and the band, Don’t Call Me Shirley, was great. Here is some video of the solar powered stage. Thanks to Windstream Power for the bicycle generator and Evergreen Solar for the solar panels that helped make it all possible.

The Solar Bus Headed To Washington DC for Rally

We are just found out that we’re heading to Washington DC for the International Day of Climate Action. On October 24th, there will be rallies all over the world to raise awareness of the ugency of the problem of global warming and climate change. It’s being organized by 350.org, an organization founded by Bill McKibben. If you live in the DC area, go to the rally, and stop by the Solar Bus. Maybe we’ll even have some room for you to ride as we “march” up to the White House. If you can’t make it to DC, consider attending or organizing a rally in your area. For more information on the various rallies over the globe see 350.org. For info on what’s happening on DC click here.