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
Dr. Blake Walters on cancer radiotherapy
A Brief History of CANDU Reactors with Chris Adlam and Tom Hess
Farzad Khosravi and Cicero--a rational social media option
Professor Don Gurnett on the Voyager Missions
Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson on The Rational View (2/2)
Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson on The Rational View (1/2)
Scientific Responsibility and Outreach
Cool Stuff: The James Webb Space Telescope with Prof. René Doyon
The inexorable advance of Security Theater
Inequity and the Pandemic with Edgardo Sepulveda
‘What about the waste?‘ with Sheila Whytock
Electrification and Climate with Edgardo Sepulveda
Stand Up For Nuclear with Paris Ortiz Wines
The Rational View podcast retrospective
Tax the Gas and Save Pickering with Dr. Chris Keefer
Gender equity in STEM fields with Dr. Merryn McKinnon
Dr. Charles Hall on sustainable energy sources
The physics of UFOs with Robert Powell
Environmental Advocacy with Dr. Ben Heard
Gender Issues in STEM with Clare Scott and Sarah Kerns
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
The Modern West
Just Dumb Enough Podcast
Freakonomics Radio
Criminal
The Why Files: Operation Podcast
Jimmy Akin’s Mysterious World