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Diablo Canyon Power Plant Decommissioning Report Released

Buccio provides a thorough analysis of how shutting down Diablo Canyon may affect the environment. In addition to the difficult subject of site rehabilitation and decommissioning, it covers the effects on regional ecosystems. The essay emphasizes strongly the environmental problems and difficulties associated with shutting down a nuclear reactor. Additionally, it clarifies any potential long-term effects on adjacent species.

Regarding Environmental Science & Personal Reaction: Given the complexity of the task, decommissioning nuclear sites calls for a solid grasp of environmental science. The elaborate planning and protracted work necessary to return such areas to a secure state fascinated me. I find it fascinating how dealing with the consequences of nuclear power involves the confluence of technology, policy, and environmental science.

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Nuclear Fusion Is Not the ‘Holy Grail’ of Clean Energy

Damianos talks about important developments in fusion research at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory that have the potential to fundamentally change nuclear power. Environmental difficulties are brought on by nuclear energy, however unlike fission, fusion offers a plentiful energy source with little radioactive waste, potentially easing some of those issues. Damianos goes into great length on the technological challenges as well as the anticipated timeline for commercializing fusion power.

Fusion research is connected to environmental science and stirs up strong emotions in people since it lies at the nexus of the two scientific disciplines. It presents the tantalizing possibility of a clean, abundant energy source, despite the fact that it is still a very long way from being an economically viable energy source. Although I’m aware that there are still many challenges to be solved before fusion power can be employed as a realistic power source, I believe it has a lot of potential.

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The Federal Government Must Deal with the Storage of Hazardous Nuclear Waste in San Onofre

The difficulties California faces in controlling the radioactive waste from its shut-down reactors are highlighted in Lauries piece. The lack of a federal repository for spent nuclear fuel, which is a popular topic of discussion, has caused controversy and disagreements about disposal and management choices. The article also discusses the effects of these problems on politics and society.

This article gives a brief introduction of nuclear waste management, a significant environmental concern, in relation to environmental science and individual reaction. Though technology has advanced, I’m still concerned that there isn’t a perfect way to dispose of nuclear waste. It is a sobering reminder of the long-term effects of our energy choices and the necessity for sensible waste management regulations.

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No, California Doesn’t Need Diablo Canyon to Keep the Lights On

Lovins piece addresses the current discussion regarding nuclear energy’s place in California’s energy future in light of Diablo Canyon’s upcoming closure. It contrasts the opinions of those who favor a focus on renewable energy sources with those of people who support advanced reactors as a carbon-free energy source. In order to provide a balanced overview of a challenging topic, the article considers both sides of each issue.

Environmental science includes extensive research on energy sustainability. It emphasizes how difficult it is to design energy policy choices that take carbon emissions, safety, and dependability into account. This demonstrates how challenging it is to create a sustainable energy future. I find it intriguing to see these talks progress. It makes me wonder what the energy future may hold and how we can balance the demand for steady power with the requirement to reduce our carbon footprint.

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6 Environmental Justice Policy Fights in 2023

Tigue, K. (2023, January 19). Six Environmental Justice Policy Fights to Watch in 2023. Inside Climate News. https://insideclimatenews.org/news/19012023/environmental-justice-policy-2023/

This source illustrates how the US government has dedicated their spending, which is some 47-60 billion dollars, into the “nation’s communities hardest hit by climate change, industrial pollution and racist practices like redlining”. It explains how most of the money will go to families in need in the USA. The Environmental Protection Agency also stated that the first $100 million in grants would be for the community and local governments.

 

This is related to environmental justice because it is talking about the grants that the US government is giving to more disparate communities that are in need, because of climate change or other environmental factors as well as environmental racism.

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Biden on Environmental Justice Initiatives

Nilsen, E. (2023, April 21). Biden announces new environmental justice initiatives. CNN. https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/21/politics/environmental-justice-biden/index.html

This source states that President Biden announced that environmental justice would be a part of every federal agency, and they must all take into account the environmental health impacts on communities and try to decrease the negative effects. The source also states that the Biden administration plans to decrease pollution from natural gas power plants, which decreases some of the greenhouse gas emissions.

 

This source really helped me see how the government is trying to decrease more greenhouse gas emissions and try to make communities with more environmental issues better. It’s interesting how some of the republican senators try to vote against these kinds of things because 1) they’re pretty wealthy people, they aren’t living in hovels or in really bad environmental areas like a lot of people are so they don’t really know what it’s like, so heck are they speaking out against it. Yes it does cost a lot of money, but then again, they’re probably getting their money from oil companies that they have stock in. I agree that it does cost a lot of money to do this, but it’s better to live in a good environment than have a flourishing economy where the environment has gone to hell.

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The Environmental Justice Policy

Lindwall, C. (2023, August 22). The Environmental Justice Movement. Natural Resources Defence Council. https://www.nrdc.org/stories/environmental-justice-movement

This article is stating how environmental justice is the idea that people of all colors should have the same environmental rights and environmental benefits. Because of people with low incomes (usually people of color), these people are living in worse environmental areas( for example; pollution) than the more wealthy, and this it has been shaped by hundreds of years of racism in the Americas. The source also states that people living in lower income areas are more effected by multiple environmental issues at once, leading the people living there to have higher environmental and monetary risks. The source talks about the Warren County protests, where the North Carolina government sorted oil laced with PCBs in a low income relatively black community. The public were outraged and this resulted in protests with people lying down on the ground to stop the trucks from moving. These nonviolent protests resulted in more than 500 arrests and laid the groundwork for more environmental protests in the future.

 

This is a helpful article because it explains first of all what environmental racism really is and how it’s been used throughout history. I think this article was well written and a pretty easy read. It is especially good for someone who is just starting to look into environmental justice because it explains it in simple terms and then gets progressively more complicated, which is much easier to understand than simply reading an article and not knowing what is going on. My two big takeaways was that environmental racism affects more than just people living in worse environments, but people who are living somewhere and people decide to try and ruin their environment as well, through malicious intent or not.

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One Size Fits All Policy and Environmental Justice

Donoghoe, M. (2023, June 1). US can’t achieve environmental justice through one size fits all policy. Brookings. https://www.brookings.edu/articles/the-us-cant-achieve-environmental-justice-through-one-size-fits-all-climate-policy/

The source talks about how the US governments efforts for environmental pollution reduction in the past haven’t always been the most equitable, with lower income communities having rates of 10-15% higher pollution than other communities. It also talks about how people with lower incomes are more likely to live by areas with more pollution and higher risks of environmental hazard. It states how the US government needs to be more equitable instead of equal because not all commmunities need the same things. Because states and local governments could make these efforts more equitable, it is important to have these smaller governments actually focus on this and not brush it off.

 

This source was nice because it talked more about how the laws being passed this year still have some downsides, which is not really mentioned in any of the other articles, so it’s nice to have a differing opinion.

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Environmental Racism in Boston

Alston, P. (Host). (2023, April 13). How environmental racism is hurting communities of color in Boston [Audio podcast interview]. In How environmental racism is hurting communities of color in Boston. WGBH. https://www.wgbh.org/news/local/2023-04-13/how-environmental-racism-is-hurting-communities-of-color-in-boston

This source is an interview By Paris Alston, interviewing Professor Lacee Satcher, who first explains what environmental racism is, then mentions places in Massachusetts where there is more risk for environmental hazards and places where income disparity is an issue that ties in with environmental justice. She says that many of these places are getting hotter due to asphalt heating up as well as the buildings, and then releasing the heat. These environmental issues aren’t on the community to fix, but the policy makes and the government. She adds on that asthma rates are much higher in Boston because of all the pollution, and these things need to be fixed.

 

This was a really interesting article, mainly because unlike the others, this was an interview and you really got to see the input of another person who was very knowledgeable about these things.

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America’s trains and buses are speeding toward a Cliff

Levitz, E. (2023, May 15). America’s trains and buses are speeding toward a Cliff. Intelligencer.

Retrieved August 27, 2023 https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2023/05/americas-mass-transit-systems-are-speeding-toward-a-cliff.html 

 

In the recent past, mass transit systems have gone down, especially since COVID-19. In the United States, “ridership sits at about 70 percent of pre-pandemic levels.” Since the pandemic, there are many people that have started working from home and it has affected the transit system overall. Since then the government has put billions of dollars into the public transit system nationwide, but it is still short falling. There will need to be changes like less trains that run, fewer intervals, and cuts overall. It is also very important because it affects climate change  because there are less carbon emissions created by public transport than more personal vehicles. For example, diesel buses with enough passengers are better than cars because buses let out less carbon emissions per mile. 

 

This article is connected to environmental science because transportation heavily affects climate change. This article has taught me a lot about the current decline of the use of public transportation, specifically buses and trains. This makes me very sad because I think that public transportation is a great resource and it is a much better alternative for the environment. It makes me want to be more aware and use public transportation more when I can and encourage others to use it.