Journalist and environmentalist George Monbiot has had a change of heart after the Japanese quake and the problems with the nuclear reactors. In Going Critical, he says that considering the gravity of the earthquake and tsunami, and the age of the reactors, it's remarkable that no one has died from radiation exposure. (He may be jumping to conclusions though.) And all things considered, when comparing the (practically guaranteed) environmental damage caused by petroleum-based energy, and the inefficiencies of scale of renewables, that nuclear power comes out looking better in his opinion, especially as it has just "survived" just about the harshest test imaginable.

Columnist George F. Will doesn't seem to like passenger trains. In a recent Newsweek column he criticizes President Obama's plans for high-speed rail projects around the country.

Although Will might have been able to make a (short-term) case against trains by concentrating on the project's cost, instead he makes the loopy charge that Obama's real goal -- and the goal of progressives everywhere -- is "the modification of (other people's) behavior," and to get people out of their "subversive" automobiles. Making such a far-fetched suggestion of a greater progressive conspiracy reminds me of the equally loopy argument used by proponents of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), that the only possible reasons for being against GMOs must be either Luddism or some religious belief.

The main problem with Will's argument -- other than trying to further the myth that progressives are for behavior modification on the (inter)national scale -- is that he is not taking the long-term view; he makes the assumption that in 10 years, let's say, the world will be the same and there's no need to plan ahead for a changing planet.

I was at a conference recently where a speaker, who was talking about global warming and Gaia and the complex interactions of Earth's systems, decided to lighten the mood with the following joke:

Two planets met one day, and the following exchange was overheard:
"My goodness, you look terrible! What's the matter?"
"I have been diagnosed with an advanced case of homo sapiens."
"Well, I hope you get well soon!"