Our society has an obsession with growth - economic and population growth that nourish those at the top but do nothing to nourish our souls. In this episode of the #OVERSHOOT podcast we talk with ecological economist Peter Victor about economic growth and the impossibility of this model in a finite system. This episode is available on all streaming platforms https://www.populationbalance.org/podcast/peter-victor #OvershootPodcast #economicgrowth #populationgrowth #newepisode #podcast #PopulationBalance (fb)

The nuclear industry and its boosters promise clean, abundant energy, but nuclear power delivers expensive electricity while posing catastrophic radiation risks and a constant threat of nuclear war. M. V. Ramana, physicist and author of Nuclear is Not the Solution, explains why respecting the limits of the biosphere means reducing our energy use and rejecting elites’ push for endless growth. Highlights include: 🔻Why nuclear energy is inherently risky due to its complex, tightly coupled systems that are prone to catastrophic failures that can't be predicted or prevented; 🔻Why nuclear waste poses long-term threats to all life by remaining dangerously radioactive for thousands of years, with no safe, permanent disposal solution and frequent storage failures; 🔻Why nuclear energy is expensive, with projects routinely running over budget and behind schedule; 🔻Why the expansion of nuclear energy increases the likelihood of devastating nuclear war; 🔻How climate change and war-time accidents or direct targeting increase the risks of nuclear catastrophe; 🔻Why nuclear Uranium mining and its wastes often require ‘sacrifice zones’ that are disproportionately found in indigenous land and less powerful communities; 🔻How the nuclear industry shapes nuclear policy and debate by capturing regulators and creating an energy ‘panic’ based on one-sided narratives that block democratic discussion and scrutiny; 🔻Why, despite the hype from the nuclear industry, new nuclear plant designs like small modular reactors are subject to the same cost and safety concerns as the old designs; 🔻Why the best answer to dealing with renewable energy's variability is not nuclear or fossil fuels but reducing demand; 🔻Why renewable energy is no panacea for planetary overshoot and why we need to have a broadly democratic conversation about living within the limits of the planet. This episode is available on all streaming platforms https://www.populationbalance.org/podcast/mv-ramana (fb)