Greens for Nuclear Power?

I linked to a Samizdata post previously that pondered the possibility of environmental activists potentially coming to consider nuclear energy. Most of their commenters were down on the mainline environmentalists as being primarlity luddite, interested less in the environment and more about returning humanity to a "natural" state.

This New York Times cites some environmentalsts who are doing just that nuclear pondering.

"It's not that something new and important and good had happened with nuclear, it's that something new and important and bad has happened with climate change," Mr. Brand said in an interview.

[snip]

But as mounting scientific evidence points to a direct connection between increasing carbon emissions and climate change, Mr. Brand and others have come to see conventional fuels like oil and coal as a greater threat.

In his article, Mr. Brand [Stewart Brand, a founder of the Whole Earth Catalog and the author of "Environmental Heresies," an article in the May issue of Technology Review] argued, "Everything must be done to increase energy efficiency and decarbonize energy production." He ran down a list of alternative technologies, like solar and wind energy, that emit no heat-trapping gases. "But add them all up," he wrote, "and it's just a fraction of enough." His conclusion: "The only technology ready to fill the gap and stop the carbon-dioxide loading is nuclear power."

It always makes me glad to see people who are willing to recognize the need to prioritize their objectives. That is the first step to any type of negotiation.

Link via Instapundit.