1. As Germany reactivates its coal-burning power stations in response to the double whammy of Putin’s threat to gas supplies and the closure of its last nuclear reactors, please remember that the harms falsely attributed to nuclear can be correctly attributed to coal. Thread/
2. Let’s begin with total death rate, *including* the deaths caused by nuclear accidents, but *excluding* the deaths attributable to coal and caused by climate breakdown. As you can see, nuclear is massively safer. Image
3. Were we to include the climate deaths caused by coal burning, the contrast would be even starker. In fact, coal burning could help push us into systemic environmental collapse.
4. But how about the long-term health impacts? Surely radiation from nuclear plants causes transgenerational disease? No it doesn’t. Even in the case of the worst of all nuclear power plant disasters, at Chernobyl. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33888597/
5. However, the products of coal burning can cause major, lifelong conditions in foetuses exposed to them. Take mercury, for example. Prenatal exposure to methyl mercury causes a wide range of serious conditions. sciencedirect.com/science/articl…
6. So hang on, what about all those photos of children with terrible disabilities in the wake of Chernobyl? There is no evidence whatever that these conditions were caused by the disaster. science.org/doi/10.1126/sc…
7. In all populations, some children are born with disabilities. The photographers who sought out visibly disabled children in the regions surrounding Chernobyl, then displayed them like exhibits in a mediaeval circus, behaved in an utterly disgraceful and unethical manner.
8. So why do we do this to ourselves? Why do we give the most damaging energy technology a free pass, while transferring the blame? Well, we tend to be far more afraid of new, unfamiliar technologies than of old, established ones, even when the new ones are much less harmful.
9. For example, I know people who have junked their microwave ovens because they are afraid the non-ionising radiation the ovens use will affect their health (it doesn’t). But they retain their wood-burning stoves, whose health effects are major and well-documented.
10. Some of us tried to warn our friends in Germany that shutting down its nuclear power stations before the end of their lives was madness, again monbiot.com/2011/11/22/how…
and again: ft.com/content/e7e081…
We were ignored.
11. Now Putin has his hands on Germany's gas tap, and this otherwise enlightened nation is preparing once again to poison itself – and the planet – with yet more coal smoke. It’s the outcome of an irrational policy, guided not by science but by superstitious fairytales.

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More from @GeorgeMonbiot

Mar 11
1. One of the big lies used to impede our transition to a low-carbon economy is that householders couldn’t afford the renovations. But there’s no reason why they should carry this cost. Let me introduce you to the Italian Superbonus scheme. It’s astonishing.
Thread/
2. It’s not perfect. There has been some maladministration and corruption. Some people question whether it’s the best way to go about it. But it’s yet another sign that when governments want to spend money, they can. It’s called the Superbonus scheme because, wait for it, ….
3. … it pays (as a 5-year tax credit) 110% of the cost of the energy and seismic improvements you make to your home. Yes, 110%. (The 10% is to cover transaction and finance costs etc). An Italian friend has received a credit of €120,000.
Read 12 tweets
Mar 9
Europe now has until October - when major heating demand kicks in again - to do what it should have done years ago, and free itself from Russian gas. That means a comprehensive energy transition in 7 months.
Can it be done?
Yes!
My column:
theguardian.com/commentisfree/…
In researching this column, I became aware of the almost unbelievable compound idiocy of successive generations of German politicians, across the political spectrum. If they had set out to ensure that Germany was completely kippered by Putin, they couldn't have done a better job.
It's one spectacular act of self-harm after another. But allowing Gazprom to take control of a major part of Germany's strategic gas storage facilities – and then empty them! – has to be the crowning achievement.
What blithering idiots!
Read 6 tweets
Feb 28
When I wrote last week about a faction in the "anti-imperialist" left that recycles Kremlin propaganda and whitewashes atrocities [see linked thread], I knew some people would get angry. What I wasn’t expecting was flat denial that it even exists. Thread/
So, in the following tweets, I link to some the articles and programmes about this issue, concerning just one of the topics I discussed last week: the spreading of Kremlin propaganda that seeks to whitewash the atrocities of the Assad regime in Syria, that is backed by Putin.
Fighting the disinformation war in Syria
indexoncensorship.org/2021/08/spinni…
Read 19 tweets
Feb 26
For years I've been arguing with a faction within the "anti-imperialist" left, that is neither anti-imperialist nor distinguishable in its foreign policy positions from the far right. It is pro-Putin. It recycles Kremlin propaganda and whitewashes atrocities.
Thread/
I've been contesting its justifications of Vladimir Putin’s and Bashar al-Assad’s atrocities in Syria. Its attempts to justify Putin's attacks on Ukraine are equally shameful.
In the approach to Putin's invasion, this faction has blamed everyone but him. Its excuses for his imperialism happen to be identical to the Kremlin's:
It's all NATO's fault
It's about the Azov battalion
It's about protecting Russians from Ukrainian aggression.
Read 12 tweets
Feb 24
Yet, while you've clearly and unequivocally condemned US/UK wars of aggression for what they are, this morning you've been amplifying Putin's "I was provoked" excuses for Russia's war of aggression.
You rightly accuse the media of double standards, then apply your own.
Again and again, with complete justification, you have pointed out that wars of aggression such as the US/UK invaion of Iraq are the "supreme international crime", as the Nuremberg tribunal put it.
This morning, however, it's "but Neo-Nazis ...", "but puppet government..." etc.
The condemnation has been entirely in one direction.
This is not an anti-war stance.
It is not an anti-imperial stance.
It is not a pro-humanity stance.
It's an anti-west, pro-Russia stance.
Read 4 tweets
Feb 16
Capitalism's broken promises breed humiliation and fury. And this, among some men, has created a movement in which everyone proclaims himself King.
A movement that is as self-destructive as it is incoherent.
My column.
theguardian.com/commentisfree/…
I've been wondering for a while what some of the really crazy stuff coming my way was about. Then I started researching the "sovereign citizen" movement and began to understand what I was seeing. It's one of the strangest belief systems I've encountered.
Thread/
Its adherents believe that, if they recite the right words, verbally or on paper, they can release themselves from the law of the land, from taxes, licences and criminal penalties. It's a magical belief in incantation.
Read 9 tweets

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