Poverty and the Greens

Bill Gates thinks if there is one thing we could do to fight global poverty it would be to provide the world with abundant, inexpensive energy. His answer is nuclear energy based on thorium. It is much safer than conventional nuclear energy, doesn't produce so much toxic waste, and isn't suitable for use in weapons. There is enough of the stuff lying around to supply the world's electricity needs for thousands of years. Everything I read suggests he may be about thirty years ahead of himself on thorium technology but if he is right he could be about to change the world for the better. He is spot on about the benefits of inexpensive energy. I would take Mr. Gates' argument a step further and say that if there is one thing we could do about global warming, or climate change if you prefer, it would be to make the world a more prosperous place. For one thing prosperous countries tend to be cleaner than poor ones, a lot cleaner. Take a boat ride down the fjord from Stockholm toward the sea if you want to see an environment about as pristine as it gets. Contrast that with the all too evident pollution you would see in any given third world country, or emerging country for that matter. For another, a more prosperous world will be better positioned to deal with climate change when it comes, and you don't have to be an anthropogenic global warming alarmist to know that it will come. We don't have to wait for thorium technology either. Americans are currently blessed with an abundance of natural gas. We are about to begin exporting it. That will provide a boost to the global economy and to our own. It is inexpensive compared to alternative supplies even when liquified for shipping. It is much cleaner and safer than coal, the only viable substitute for at least the next few years. It's extraction has been one of the few bright spots in an economy that has been in the doldrums for more than five years. There are other exciting technologies out there too. In situ coal gasification may be about to open up major new supplies without the hazards or mess of conventional mining. Pyrolysis, the chemical process used in making charcoal, is being used to produce electricity from everything from forest debris, to corn stover, to animal waste. It comes without the emissions of conventional incineration, and with the added benefit of a residual that can be used as a valuable soil amendment. Plasma arc gasification, a process that uses such intense heat that virtually any compound breaks down into its atomic elements has the potential to eliminate the need for new landfills, and to clean up old ones. Organic compounds produce a synthetic gas that can be burned for electricity, or converted to ethanol, gasoline, or diesel. Inorganic compounds can be stripped of hazardous materials and used for construction aggregate. The principle objections to all of this come from Malthusian environmentalists who believe the world is on an unsustainable course to exhaust its resources, or to make the planet uninhabitable. But all of these technologies have potential environmental and economic benefits that far outweigh the negatives. My church teaches that the first measure of any public policy should be its impact on the poor and vulnerable. She also teaches that we are stewards of creation. Both of these obligations have moral and ethical dimensions that cannot be ignored. Over the past sixty years or so we have made enormous progress towards balancing those obligations in the developed world. We must find ways to extend those benefits to the world's remaining poor. I wish Mr. Gates the best.