Global Warming Poll

[sugarpop]

What kills me is even people who think we are contributing to the problem don't think we need to take any kind of action to help slow it down or stop it. No, let's just keep digging for oil, and building dirty coal plants, and throwing toxic chemical into the air we breathe *cough*cough* or the water we drink. Don't worry that chronic and autoimmune illnesses are on the rise, or that certain species are dying off (indicator species), or that insect proliferation is on the rise because of the rise in temperature (and that is definitely NOT a good sign), or that some of the forests are dying off because they don't get to burn, like they should, or the ice and glaciers are drastically melting.... I could go on and on.

On another note, and pretty scary, Rachel Maddow reported this last week about several of our nuclear power plants. Scary stuff.
Next up: This here is the Indian Point nuclear plant. It‘s located 45 miles north of New York City. And Indian Point is a little bit accident-prone. Back in 2000, an old steam generator ruptured, releasing a small amount of radioactive steam into the air. In year 2005, water laced with the radioactive element called tritium leaked from a spent fuel pool.

And today, we learned a burst pipe has spurted out 100,000 gallons of water at the nuclear facility. We still do not know when the leak began, only that the pipe in question is buried deep underground. Not a single visual inspection of the underground pipes has taken place since operations began in 1973.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission doesn‘t require inspections like that. Similar problems with aging underground pipes have occurred at the Byron, Braidwood and Dresden twin-reactor plants in Illinois and at the Palo Verde plant in Arizona. All this to say, if you were looking for something legal and non-habit-forming to keep you up all night this weekend, you‘re welcome.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30561015/

See, that is why I am against nuclear power plants in this country. The people who build things for the public good, like the power grid and running water, the infrastructure is crumbling. The people who own them make billions of dollars, but they don't upgrade them or keep them in very working order. IF they actually DO take the time and spend the money, then they jack up our rates, so we are the ones who end up paying for it, either in rate hikes or in subsidized taxpayer money. Why is that? Why should the people have to pay for a company upgrading the things they need to in order to provide a service? But they don't. They NEVER upgrade until they are forced to. So, until the corporations take responsibilty for their technology and their hardware, I do not trust anyone to build and maintain nuclear power plants. Maybe if we brought over some French companies, then I might be OK with it. But trust American businessmen to do? Nope. I surely do NOT.