No, I am not a member of the anti-nuclear cult. Once upon a time... I was.
And sometimes I eat GMO foods.
I made certain my children were vaccinated too. The autistic spectrum crap I carry in my own genes predates vaccines.
I am, however, some kind of Luddite. I boycott most everything. There's a dirty $800 mid 'eighties car parked in my driveway but I don't drive much. I fill the gas tank a couple times a year, whether it needs it or not. My own garden is mostly organic. Except I do put Frontline Plus on the dogs. Yep, I am an affluent person who lives with dogs. The animal shelter was going to kill these dogs because there are always too many dogs. My wife has a soft spot in her heart for difficult dogs. Our home is sanctuary for difficult people and dogs.
Whenever there are too many people stewing in a toxic fog of ignorance, these people often start killing one another; by famine, war... that sort of thing. My own city has a problem with gangs. Young people need a place of belonging. If gentle society doesn't provide, less gentle society will.
I have to eat, I have to wear clothing. I think automobiles and guns and airlines were created by the devil.
Our modern oil-and-gas powered economy blows chunks, even when supplemented by a greenwash of solar and wind. I can see one of the world's great gas power plant complexes from my house. Solar and wind power won't make it go away. I suspect it will grow even larger as electric cars and desalinization plants increase in popularity.
The German power model is complete bullshit. Their high energy industrial economy is powered entirely by cheap, dirty coal, while smaller ratepayers subsidize the solar-and-wind greenwash. An Amory Lovins fucking paradise, right? (I remember Lovins, he was always looking for fresh new interns, interns not yet spoiled having done the math by themselves. Rather like Solar City salesmen looking for new customers. I was spoiled goods, did the math, burned through several thesis advisers, brighter stars than Lovins...)
The British powers-that-be are seeking a similar dirty system, one that substitutes fracked gas for dirty coal. Pro-nuclear forces face an uphill battle there. France has looked with greater honestly at the problem. So now has Sweden.
I don't really care one way or another. Fossil fueled climate change and increasing human populations are turning our entire world civilization into a horrible farce, an environment in which all sorts of fundamentalist anti-intellectual cults can flourish.
If I was Emperor of the Earth I'd ban fossil fuels, make sure everyone was fed, sheltered, literate, numerate, and a skilled advocate of birth control and appropriate medical care.
In such a society nuclear power might be the only option for those seeking a high energy industrial society. 24/7 power is essential for things like aluminum, copper, steel, and semi-conductor production. The furnaces semi-conductors are grown in are extremely intolerant of power fluctuations.
I'm not enthusiastic about high energy industrial economic systems. If I'm denied playing with my computers I can watch birds. Or ants. I don't care if I have a car, I don't care if I can get airline tickets, I live in a place where I don't have to heat or cool my house. Food at the farmer's markets is cheap.
One of my own knacks is computers, but I'm a terrible computer consumer because I haven't bought a new mainstream computer since Montgomery Wards was closing and I picked up a shop-worn 386 for almost nothing. (I'm not sure the $35 Raspberry Pi counts, I've used it more as an art supply, like a tube of paint...) My desktop and my laptop are both diversions from the electronic waste stream.
Please tell me why I should care about nuclear power when so many things are worse?
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