Free To Think

There has been a lot of debate about Australia changing to nuclear power in the media lately. The main reason to change to nuclear energy is to fight Global Warming. Well this statement may be true, but I know that many people are still against nuclear power, including me. Why? Because nuclear power is dirty and has its own dangers and risks.

So if nuclear power is so dangerous, why does our current federal government want to use it? Our government sees it as a way of reducing carbon emissions, therefore helping to stop global warming. The current energy source that we’re mainly using (oil and coal) is the major reason for Global Warming because they release carbon dioxide into the air. This is why nuclear power is being considered- because unlike oil and coal, it does not create carbon dioxide…

Or does it???

Lets look further into this area. The question is, “Does nuclear power emit carbon dioxide?” It is claimed that nuclear power does not emit any carbon dioxide at all into the air. However, this is only partly true. Yes, the nuclear reaction itself does not release any carbon dioxide into the air, but the process of converting uranium ore into nuclear fuel (eg. mining, refining and concentrating) is a highly polluting process. A huge amount of energy is also needed for the construction of a nuclear power station. And we go straight back to what we’re using now (coal and oil) for this energy. Therefore, if the making of nuclear power and its requirements are taken into account, nuclear power is in fact responsible for a large amount of carbon dioxide emissions.

Nuclear power really doesn’t have many more advantages other than its reaction doesn’t emit carbon dioxide. Actually, many of its other factors are quite worrying. There’s the threat of terrorism/making of nuclear weapons, the fact that the waste is dangerous and must be handled very carefully and I’m not even going to mention the overwhelming cost of it all.

My main worry for changing to nuclear power is how dangerous it is. The disposal of nuclear waste is a dangerous process, and the waste will last for thousands of years. Because the waste will be radioactive, it will need to be handled very carefully. Have you ever tried burying a plastic bag to see what will happen to it? As you may already know, plastic bags can take up to 1000 years to decompose, so most likely that plastic bag will remain in the ground much longer than you will remain on earth. It’s like this with nuclear power. The waste that is created from nuclear power will not simply “disappear” or “decompose”, but it will remain there for thousands or years. And on top of that, it is also very dangerous, so we will have to dump this dangerous waste somewhere where it cannot escape. And we all know how much power we use right now in Australia (I’m sure we’re all guilty of spending many hours a day watching TV or using the computer for MSN etc.). So therefore, Australia is going to have a lot of nuclear waste to deal with if our government decides to switch our main energy source to nuclear.

So because the waste is such an issue, the question is, what will we do with it? Well there have been some bizarre ideas on how to get rid of this waste such as burying it under the ocean floor and shooting it into space. The most likely one, however, is burying the waste under the ground. However, another issue arises from this as to where underground should the waste be buried. If we, Australia, were to go nuclear, we must be careful not to store the waste in an area where there is ground water flowing through. Ground water could erode the containment sealers and carry the waste into the environment if it flows through a waste storage area. Another factor to be careful of when choosing a containment area is to pick an area well away from a fault line/an area where geological activity occurs. We don’t want an earthquake to occur 1000 years into the future, because this will release the reactive nuclear waste into the environment as well.

When I was researching this nuclear topic, I came across a sentence that really shocked me. Quote: “Low level waste can be buried near the surface of the earth. It will have lost most of its radioactivity in a couple hundred years.” A couple of hundred years?! I thought. This was the lowest level of waste, and even this level will take hundreds of years to loose its radioactivity. And even when it finally loses its radioactivity, it doesn’t mean it’s completely gone. It will still remain there for most likely another couple of hundred of years, or maybe even more. But what scared me was that if this is how long it takes ‘low level nuclear waste’ to stop being radioactive, how long will it take ‘high level nuclear waste’ to stop being radioactive?! The site said that high-level waste is harder to get rid of and takes thousands of years to become stable. This waste must be contained for a very long time. If it is not contained, it could come in contact with human population centers and wildlife, putting their health at great risk. Therefore, the waste must be sealed up tightly.

I am worried about the risk of a nuclear disaster happening in Australia that could affect our health. One of the most well known nuclear disasters happened in 1979 at Three Mile Island in the USA. The disaster was caused by a meltdown. Luckily, no one was killed, but apparently the disaster affected the drinking water, which may have impacted on people’s health. The cleanup process was also very slow and costly.

Below is a picture of the Three Mile Island nuclear power station which I believe is still running today. Have a look at the colour of the water around it.

In the past, there have also been fatal nuclear disasters. This includes the Chernobyl nuclear disaster which was considered the worst nuclear power disaster in history.

Besides all the dangers, nuclear power shouldn’t even be considered now, simply because it cannot reduce carbon dioxide emissions quickly enough to prevent dangerous climate change. Nuclear power is not the answer.

Many environmentalists have spoken out against nuclear power.

“Nuclear power is too expensive and too dangerous. Wasting billions on more nuclear reactors would distract from the real task of developing renewables and reducing energy demand. Nuclear power is the ultimate unsustainable form of energy – for a little energy now, we would be condemning 10,000 generations to deal with the radioactive waste we would produce.” Andrew Lee, Director of Campaigns for WWF

“Nuclear power is a dangerous distraction from the real solutions to tackling climate change and it rightly deserves to be so unpopular,” commented Robin Oakley from Greenpeace. “It’s a hideously expensive and ridiculously antiquated way to generate electricity.”

I’m sure our prime minister wouldn’t like a nuclear reactor in his own backyard (just in case something was to happen!), but by changing to nuclear power, he’s putting nuclear reactors in his own country’s backyard!

My advice would be to leave the uranium right where it is in the ground. Clearly it was never meant to be touched by humans. Considering how costly nuclear power is, the money should be put towards renewable energy sources instead.

Hello everyone!

Lately I have been keeping the time spent on my computer to a minimum, so I haven’t posted anything for months. However, today I thought that I should log on to give readers a quick update about the environment.

Google. When I say this, what comes to your mind? I’m sure you all imagine this search engine- the image of its bright, colourful heading on a clean, white page. Google is probably the most famous search engine I know, and it was the first search engine I ever used. Well did you know that Google has been re-created so that there is a search engine? You’re probably wondering what the point is in doing this. Like I mean, one search engine’s enough. All search engines do the same thing- type in what you’re looking for and click search. About a week ago I was informed this new search engine, and gee was I impressed! Why? Because this one was especially made to save energy and help the environment!

The name’s Blackle. Unlike ‘Google’, it’s heading is dark, and instead of having a bright white background, the background of Blackle is black, of course! All right, even I admit that I preferred the nice, colourful theme of Google. However, Blackle serves a much more important purpose than looks. As I’m sure many of you know, the environment is in a lot of strife, so we should all try and do a bit to help. Blackle is the perfect way to do this when we have to look something up on the internet. As Heap Media (the creator of Blackle) explains, taking small steps in our everyday lives to save energy is important. You may think that this isn’t going to make much of a difference, but if everyone took these small steps, there would definitely be a huge difference! Blackle is an example of taking small steps. It’s as easy to use as Google and has the same results. The only thing that I have noticed that it’s missing is the image search option. Sometimes I use this option, so whenever I need to use it I go onto the normal Google website, but for the rest of the time, I do all my searches on Blackle.

So what is the concept of having a black screen? How does it help the environment? Apparently, black screens don’t use as much power as white screens. I’m guessing that this is because they are much darker. So therefore, every time someone uses Blackle instead of Google, they are saving energy. As I write this, it says that 136,525.445 Watt hours have been saved. Of course, this number will continue to go up. This just proves that by simply changing your search engine to Blackle, you, among with everyone else that has been using Blackle, are making a real difference.

I’d also like to add to this post a bit of info about the origin of this fantastic idea. The idea of having a black screen to save energy was actually discovered by a man called Mark. He posted his discovery on his blog in January 2007, which attracted quite a bit of interest. If you’re interested, you can check out the very blog post that started this by clicking here.

Heap Media created Blackle because believe that there is great value in the concept. They say that even if the energy savings are small, they all add up.

As I end my blog post, I encourage you to visit Blackle (www.blackle.com) to see this site for yourself. I also encourage you to use Blackle as your search engine from now on because it’s not a hard way to help contribute towards helping the environment. If you were a frequent user of Google, it may take some time to get used to typing in “Blackle” instead of “Google” (trust me, I know from experience), but eventually you will get into a habit of automatically using Blackle instead. You may even like to set it as your home page as well.

Thankyou to everyone who takes the time to read my blog. I hope I have taught you a fact or two by writing this post. Have a great day!

I can remember the other day when I was out shopping with my younger brother. He’d spotted a small toy that he wanted to buy, so he picked it up, and brought it over to counter. As I stood with him, I watched as he paid for the item. He was then asked whether he wanted a plastic bag for it. I know that this is a typical question that is asked at the shops, which I’m sure you’re all very familiar with as well. Anyway, my brother nodded his head, and I watched the shop assistant pull out a plastic bag to put this small, packaged toy in. At this point, I couldn’t help but interrupt. I told my brother that he didn’t need a plastic bag, and if he didn’t want to carry the toy, then I would carry it for him in my handbag. That was just one bag that I may have saved from damaging the environment.

Before you ask, “How can one plastic bag be so harmful,” I would like to list all the effects plastic bags have on the environment. I remember my brother asking me this very question after we stepped out of the shop, and I know that many others are still unaware of the impacts these bags have on the environment. I can remember when I was younger, I would always say “yes” to plastic bags when offered them at shops. Although these bags may seem like innocent things to carry shopping in, I have now learnt that they really are quite a harmful thing to the environment that people should be more aware of. My aim for today is to teach people who don’t know the harms of plastic bags what they’re really capable of, and I hope to alter people’s answer to the question “Would you like a plastic bag” to “No thanks”.

Earlier today I started researching why plastic bags are so bad for the environment. Before this, I knew that it was better to “Say ‘no’ to plastic bags”, but like many people, I didn’t know why they were this bad. After searching for answers, I came across many websites that discussed the alternatives to plastic bags, listed some astonishing facts about these bags, and described the damaging effects these bags have on the environment. After reading all this, I would like to pass on what I’ve learnt to others. I will begin this by listing these dangers to the environment and some amazing facts, which should answer the question, “What is so bad about plastic bags?”:

1. Once let loose into the environment, plastic bags are categorised as rubbish. We all know that rubbish makes our environment look untidy, and by littering plastic bags, they’re just another piece of rubbish which helps make the environment look dirty and unwelcoming. Next time you’re outside, have a look around you, and you’ll be amazed by the number of plastic bags littering our streets and waterways. These bags can also get blown away to trees and other areas full of nature, which leads me on to point two. 

2. Plastic bags are killers, and claim the lives of many animals each year. These bags end up in water, which can be mistaken for jellyfish by wildlife. This is the reason why plastic bag pollution is particularly dangerous in marine environments, because animals such as birds, turtles, whales and seals swallow the bags and then die from intestinal blockages. It is claimed that plastic bags are the most common man-made item seen by sailors at sea, which isn’t nice to hear. Below is a picture of an operation to remove plastic from inside a green turtle:

 

Next is a picture showing the contents of the turtle’s stomach. This includes a blue plastic bag and a red balloon. 

The turtle was then released back into the ocean. How long will it survive? 

3. One of the biggest problems with plastic bags is that they don’t easily break down in the environment. It is estimated that the decomposing time ranges from 20 years (at least) to 1000 years! This means that a plastic bag that was let loose in the environment before I was born (about 14 years ago) is still trying to decompose in the environment today, and it will be a long time to come before it’s done so. This is just one plastic bag, and each time you put a plastic bag into the bin, it will take somewhere between 20 years to 1000 years to break down. And during this time, the bag separates into smaller and smaller toxic particals that contaminates the soil and the water surrounding it.

4. Plastic bags can basically be described as “serial killers”, because believe it or not, just one plastic bag can claim more than one animal’s life. Once an animal that has swallowed a plastic bag dies, it decays at a much faster rate than the plastic bag (which, like I said above, takes somewhere between 20-1000 years to decompose). You can probably already tell what’s going to happen next. Once the animal has decomposed, once again, the bag is released back into the environment, ready to be eaten by another misguided creature.

5. Plastic bags can also cause the clogging of drains, threatening not only natural environments, but urban ones as well. Here’s an astonishing fact; Plastic bags in drains was said to be a major contribute to the severe flooding in Bangladesh in 1988 and 1998! This resulted in a ban on plastic bags being used there in 2002.

6. Besides the harsh environmental costs, general use of plastic bags is quite costly in terms of money. There is the cost of bags themselves, which is four to six cents each, and the production of them, but apart from this, there is a lot of money that goes into collecting and cleaning up the bags once they have been discarded.

7. Plastic bags are made from a gas called ethylene, which is produced as a by-product of oil, gas and coal. The production of plastic bags consume millions of gallons of oil that could be used for fuel, heating or some other energy.

Other facts:

* Plastic bags are one of the most commonly used application of plastics technology. Australians use around 6 billion plastic bags per year, and 3.3 billion of those are supermarket plastic bags. According to Clean Up Australia, if tied together, these bags would form a chain that is long enough to circle the world 37 times!

* On Clean Up Australia Day in 2002, nearly half a million plastic bags were collected.

I would like to give credit to http://www.abc.net.au/science/features/bags/default.htm. This site was where I learnt all this information from, and where I found the pictures.

Plastic bags. Every minute, people are being given plastic bags to hold their shopping in. How many of these are polluting out environment? Well, there were nearly half a million plastic bags collected from the environment by on Clean Up Australia Day, 2002. Who knows how many more were still out there, and are out there right now. Just a few days ago I took a moment to observe the surroundings while on the way to a friend’s house, and I was shocked by how many plastic bags there were. Wrapped around trees, blown to the side of fences… my list could go on and on. And many of these plastic bags could have been saved from ending up in the environment as well. So many plastic bags are given to people without any need as well. I have read many texts that support this point, and have been in many situations (like when shopping with my younger brother) where there was no need for a plastic bag, but the server would have given us one if I hadn’t said no.

Now, I would like to suggest some of the alternatives to plastic bags. I know that some retailers offer paper bags instead of plastic bags, but just today I read that paper bags carry their own set of environmental problems. The text that I read said that according to the American Forest and Paper Association, in 1999, the U.S alone used 10 billion paper grocery bags, which consumed 14 million trees!

I know that sometimes, you actually do need to receive a plastic bag though. When this happens to me, I don’t throw the plastic bag out afterwards. Instead, my family has a place in our house where we put the plastic bags we get, so we can use them again for other things such as storing other items in the house in. I have also read that some plastic bags can be recycled by taking them to central recycling collection points, such as supermarkets. As long as the bags do not contain any ink marks, food, or supermarket dockets, the bag should be recycled. I have never actually experienced these recycling collection points before, but I have read about them on the abc link which is further above. Other than that, if you don’t need a plastic bag, say “no”, unless you are going to reuse or recycle it. This is where a saying that I like comes in:

Recycle, Reuse, Reduce

So if both plastic bags and paper bags aren’t the best option for the environment, what is? Well, I have come to the conclusion that the best alternative is reusable cloth bags. These bags are not only stronger, but they are reducing the amount of plastic bags being released into the environment. They can be kept in the car and used again and again, instead of receiving more and more plastic or paper bags. It may take a bit of time to get used to remembering to bring your own bag to the supermarket, but it is quite an easy habit to get into and it’s definitely a relief not to have to pack the groceries away, and then find room to pack the plastic bags as well! These reusable cloth bags can be found at some major supermarket chains such as Coles (the Go Green bags) for a very small price (which is definitely worth it if you’re serious replacing those plastic bags with environmentally friendly bags!) I have copied a paragraph from the Coles website below, which explains a bit about these Go-Green bags:

Go-Green Bags are available at all Coles Supermarkets for only $1.79 each. The very popular non-woven polypropylene Go-Green Bag has a sturdy base and can hold more than a standard plastic bag. The bags are easy to clean and can be recycled through the checkout bag recycling bins. The Go-Green Bags have been designed to operate with standard packaging frames. These bags are available to purchase in all Coles Supermarkets.

I have also noticed a popular teenage clothing shop called “Supre” has started giving out these reusable cloth bags, but with a different design on them. I think this is a good idea, and hopefully it will encourage more teenage girls to start reducing plastic bags. Besides stores, I have seen many other reusable bags from other organisations such as Red Cross.

To finish up with, I believe that children (like my brother) need to be aware of the reasons for refusing a plastic bag. This is one of the reasons I decided to post this issue on my blog, and I hope that I have convinced others that for a small price, it is worth buying re-usable cloth bags. Not only are these bags stronger, but they are helping the environment by reducing the amount of plastic bags being released into it. I hope I have taught everyone reading this about the reasons for refusing a plastic bag, and ways to help reduce the amount of bags contaminating our environment. I’m sure that next time I go shopping, I will refuse plastic bags when I can (or reuse them), and either put the items I buy in my handbag, or carry groceries in environmentally friendly cloth bags.