In this repeat episode I chat with Dr. Ben Heard about environmental advocacy and communicating science-based viewpoints in a polarised debate. Dr. Heard provides his assessment on the rationality of the anti-nuclear lobby.
Dr. Ben Heard is recognised as a leading voice for the use of nuclear technologies to address our most pressing global challenges.
It certainly didn’t start that way.
Back in the day he was a member of environmental NGOs and shared their basic objection to nuclear technologies. After completing a Masters in Sustainability he started working in major projects in climate change. But there was just no solution on offer to match the scale of the problems at hand. So instead of continuing his objection to nuclear technology he shut his damn mouth about it for a couple of years and did some learning. That was the start of pathway of writing, presenting, advocating and ever more learning about how we can reinvent the future using all our knowledge and ingenuity.
Ben was awarded his doctorate from the University of Adelaide in 2018, where he examined clean energy supply with a focus on nuclear technologies. He has presented his research findings at conferences around Australia and the world. He founded Bright New World in 2016 to provide a new organisation for people who want pragmatic, compassionate, and science-based environmentalism, in particular that values the role of nuclear technologies.
Ben lives in Adelaide, South Australia where he works in the private sector on energy and asset performance projects. He features as one of the global voices in the documentary Juice: How Electricity Explains the World.
Support the podcast at Patron.podbean.com/TheRationalView
Chat with the experts at TheRationalView Facebook group
Follow me on Instagram @the_rational_view
Follow me on Twitter @AlScottRational
Laser Fusion Ignition with Drs. Hurricane and Zylstra
Dr. Larry Katz on why we are too competitive
Dr. Marc Wortman discusses Admiral Rickover of the nuclear navy
Andy Vasily with deep thoughts on life and podcasting
Dr. Ellen deLara discusses bullying
Escaping my bully
What I’ve learned about the hard problem of consciousness
Angelica Oung says the world needs more CANDU reactors
Dr. Bernardo Kastrup on the Universal Mind
Dr. Gerfried Jungmeier discusses electric vehicles
Communicating science through fiction with Eric Choi
Dr. Scott Aaronson on sentience, AI and quantum computing
Dr. Michael Levin on cellular cooperation and cognition
A Buddhist perspective on awareness with Dr. John Dunne
Lemmel and Hofmann experiment with reality
Shorting the Grid with Meredith Angwin
Dr. Ruth Kastner and the transactional interpretation of quantum mechanics
Dr. Sangeetha Menon with a Hindu perspective on consciousness
Professor Jack Tuszynski probes proposed quantum processing proteins
Dr. Luca Turin detects quantum clues to consciousness
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
The Modern West
Just Dumb Enough Podcast
Freakonomics Radio
The Why Files: Operation Podcast
Criminal
Jimmy Akin’s Mysterious World