The problem with my takes is that they’re too good. Many of the people who find me annoying refuse to engage because they know my takes are ironclad.
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Alex Trembath
@atrembath
Non-Governmental & Nonprofit Organization Oakland, CAthebreakthrough.org/people/alex-tr…Joined April 2009
Alex Trembath’s Tweets
Regulations should provide net benefits to the public and environment. Unlike other safety regulators, current NRC regulations don't even consider that metric.
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“I haven’t joined Mastodon because I’m not any more interested in being at the mercy of a condo board full of MSNBC addicts than I am in being at the mercy of Elon Musk.”
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Long article expresses frustration with a nuclear regulatory institution that is slow to change. I've often thought that changes of public opinion on nuclear could be generational. Well it seems like changing the regulatory mindset could take longer still.
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Will Washington Halt the Global Renaissance of Nuclear Power? - Hopes to slash emissions using nuclear energy are being dashed by U.S. regulators. foreignpolicy.com/2023/04/08/nuc
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Please, please take the time to click on the link to the Foreign Policy article found in @atrembaths's tweet.
and have clearly explained the crying need to change the way the approaches its regulatory mandate.
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“Absent substantial regulatory reform, the future of nuclear energy in the United States will look very much like the past.”
Important deep dive into Oklo’s struggles and NRC’s unacceptable proposed framework by @TedNordhaus @Dr_A_Stein: foreignpolicy.com/2023/04/08/nuc
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Say what what you will about technophobic procedural fetishism, at least it’s an ethos.
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Wherever one stands on the issues, infrastructure permitting and construction will need to be addressed in a post-IRA world, yet I get the distinct sense that some corners of the climate advocacy community would rather just not talk about it.
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Will Washington Halt the Global Renaissance of Nuclear Power? - Hopes to slash emissions using nuclear energy are being dashed by U.S. regulators.
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“Absent substantial regulatory reform, the future of nuclear energy in the United States will look very much like the past.”
Important deep dive into Oklo’s struggles and NRC’s unacceptable proposed framework by :
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Very interesting thread. Some thoughts here, we can put 300GW of #solar cost effectively on rooftops so let’s make sure we don’t forget that. Next, while the hype around 100% renewables is real it is not now nor has it ever been realistic.
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I’m not now, nor have I ever been, an ecomodernist.
But I strongly disagree with the argument being made here. The idea that renewables are worth their trade-offs & land-use impacts is a long-standing claim *not* of ecomodernists or climate liberals, but of the climate left. twitter.com/KetanJ0/status…
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"America could use another Eisenhower right about now. But how would we know one when we saw one?"
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"Ecomodernism offers a distinct ideological approach to the Anthropocene, one that challenges many deeply held assumptions of traditional environmentalism and insists on that ecological flourishing can be made possible..."
wpsanet.org/papers/docs/WP
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To have any sort of energy transition, whatever your preference, we need permitting reform
Opposing permitting reforms is pushing to entrench the status quo and reduce competition
Tax money is subsidizing new technologies and the money is spent on lawyers to fight the gov't...
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This branch of eco modernist, pro-tech advocacy is becoming increasingly more explicit in being anti environmentalist.
Their agenda:Wind, solar and transmission *should* be allowed to destroy biodiversity, and enviro regs need "permitting reform"to allow that...
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Begging people to be more consequentialist in their environmentalism, refusing to build renewable infrastructure to protect local environments will end up being much, much worse for the global environment
Solving climate change requires building more low-carbon energy
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This branch of eco modernist, pro-tech advocacy is becoming increasingly more explicit in being anti environmentalist.
Their agenda:Wind, solar and transmission *should* be allowed to destroy biodiversity, and enviro regs need "permitting reform"to allow that...
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on the other hand, this kind of process-obsessed, status-quo preserving ""environmentalism"" is becoming increasingly explicit in its commitment to global warming and climate arson
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This branch of eco modernist, pro-tech advocacy is becoming increasingly more explicit in being anti environmentalist.
Their agenda:Wind, solar and transmission *should* be allowed to destroy biodiversity, and enviro regs need "permitting reform"to allow that...
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When wind and solar were niche markets, the "100% renewable" slogan was able to paper over fundamental differences between anti-growth and green growth environmentalism. That is no longer the case, and the coalition is falling apart, as documented here.
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I’m not now, nor have I ever been, an ecomodernist.
But I strongly disagree with the argument being made here. The idea that renewables are worth their trade-offs & land-use impacts is a long-standing claim *not* of ecomodernists or climate liberals, but of the climate left. twitter.com/KetanJ0/status…
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Don't say I didn't warn you.
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It seems inevitable that the marriage of convenience b/w clean energy lobbies and environmentalist groups will be tested once the former have secured 10 years of subsidies and the latter support regulatory barriers to actually using those subsidies.
twitter.com/JStein_WaPo/st
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When you say you care about climate change but are opposed to making it easier to build solar + wind + transmission... 🤔
(obviously the stuff about destroying biodiversity is a straw man)
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This branch of eco modernist, pro-tech advocacy is becoming increasingly more explicit in being anti environmentalist.
Their agenda:Wind, solar and transmission *should* be allowed to destroy biodiversity, and enviro regs need "permitting reform"to allow that...
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"A 2012 analysis by the eco-modernist Breakthrough Institute pointed out that six of the planetary boundaries...do not have planetary biophysical thresholds."
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Stewart Brand’s writing put me on my current career path in clean energy, so unlike Rob I am/have been an ecomodernist (or at least a fellow traveler).
Would co-sign on his whole thread here:
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I’m not now, nor have I ever been, an ecomodernist.
But I strongly disagree with the argument being made here. The idea that renewables are worth their trade-offs & land-use impacts is a long-standing claim *not* of ecomodernists or climate liberals, but of the climate left. twitter.com/KetanJ0/status…
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Replying to
Those guys are awful
They like nature and people
They are optimistic and even happy
They want a great future for everyone
And they listen to people we don’t like
Nothing worst than an ecomodernist
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Our feature interview this week is w/ eco-modernist deep thinker and all-around nice guy of . You can listen to the interview portion on the podcast itself, or you can watch the conversation w/ host on YouTube here:
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I'd say the climate left has mostly just muddled through the tension rather than staked out a clear position on what to do when fossil-free energy production conflicts with local nature preservation
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Not only was it the mainstream environmental movement that embraced the “100% renewable energy” slogan as a core policy, but it’s been so dominant, for so long, that the funding community has been focused on HVDC transmission for over a decade to deal with this specific problem.
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I’m not now, nor have I ever been, an ecomodernist.
But I strongly disagree with the argument being made here. The idea that renewables are worth their trade-offs & land-use impacts is a long-standing claim *not* of ecomodernists or climate liberals, but of the climate left. twitter.com/KetanJ0/status…
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Good thread pushing back against climate left's "100% renewables" demand:
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I’m not now, nor have I ever been, an ecomodernist.
But I strongly disagree with the argument being made here. The idea that renewables are worth their trade-offs & land-use impacts is a long-standing claim *not* of ecomodernists or climate liberals, but of the climate left. twitter.com/KetanJ0/status…
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"Regulations" are nothing most people want to have anything to do with. puts in the work and produced some great additional ideas to the "ADANCE" act; yet another bipartisan attempt at getting the NRC to do its job...
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New blog post episode summary is up!
Free the Economy Episode 15: Eco-Modernism and Abundance with
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"But protests demanding a total shutdown of fossil fuel production don’t accomplish very much, because you’re raising the salience of an idea that people don’t like."
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Ketan, we published an energy modeling report focused on including adv nuclear fission w/ learning rates & tech-specific operating parameters. See for yourself how much wind & solar our best modeling efforts show. Seems hard to believe this is consistent with an anti-RE agenda.
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If you think technology can enable a bright future for humans and nature…you might be an ecomodernist.
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Last month the Breakthrough Institute sent a letter to the Office of Science and Technology Policy to provide input on how to use biotech and biomanufacturing for food & agriculture innovation. Learn more: fal.cn/3xe2t #BreakthroughInstitute #biotech #agriculture
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The fact that some progressives are now opposing the transmission lines that their policy preferences would inevitably require is illustrative of how slogans and sexy messages may get certain people excited, but they don’t solve real problems.
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I’m not now, nor have I ever been, an ecomodernist.
But I strongly disagree with the argument being made here. The idea that renewables are worth their trade-offs & land-use impacts is a long-standing claim *not* of ecomodernists or climate liberals, but of the climate left.
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This branch of eco modernist, pro-tech advocacy is becoming increasingly more explicit in being anti environmentalist.
Their agenda:Wind, solar and transmission *should* be allowed to destroy biodiversity, and enviro regs need "permitting reform"to allow that...
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!!!!
+ Bonus from this piece: learned the term "climate fuckboy," which does not but should mean a guy who won't commit to a relationship with you because "the world is going to end in 12 years, anyway."
slowboring.com/p/biden-made-t
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Clearly-argued thread reiterating the ecomodernist approach to really building energy stuff by .
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I think the anti-ecomodernists need to get their stories straight.
Are the ecological impacts of solar/wind exaggerated and permitting reform just a Trojan horse for fossil fuel interests?
Or is permitting reform a free pass for solar and wind to "destroy biodiversity"? twitter.com/KetanJ0/status…
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-Ecomodernism seeks to reform traditional environmentalism. That's not antienviro!
-Ecomodernists support land-efficient nuclear/geothermal to reduce wind/solar overbuild
-An ecomodern low-carbon world would have more trees than a traditional enviro vision *AND* more transmission
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This branch of eco modernist, pro-tech advocacy is becoming increasingly more explicit in being anti environmentalist.
Their agenda:Wind, solar and transmission *should* be allowed to destroy biodiversity, and enviro regs need "permitting reform"to allow that...
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This is complete bullshit. We've supported wind and solar - including subsidies and clean energy standards for almost 20 years. We also don't lie and obfuscate about the tradeoffs in terms of land use, mineral intensity, or preposterous 100% RE fantasy like Ketan.
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Replying to @atrembath and @TheBTI
You're pro renewables to the extent that they anger, alienate and enrage environmentalists. If they're built in a sensitive and environmentally friendly way, that's not really fulfilling your mandate.
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That the attacks on ecomodernists have become so varied — they're anti-renewables! no wait they're so PRO renewables they want to destroy biodiversity! no wait it's all fossil industry talking points! — is a sign, IMO, of needed introspection among institutional environmentalism.
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But unlike w/ permitting, where they're strategically incoherent, environmentalists remain mostly consciously and aggressively opposed to nuclear.
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