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Letter: A superpowered way to save the world

Published 21 April 2001

From Alfred Holzheu

Whoever wrote that ridiculous editorial
(24 March, p 3) in your otherwise
fantastic magazine is seriously deluded if they think that the “rest of the
world” is somehow so altruistic that it can “save the world” by itself, without
the help of the US.

Let’s talk about the pollution coming out of China and all its coal plants.
Do you fantasise that the Chinese are going to jeopardise their glorious
economic plans with anything other then lip service to the Kyoto agreement? Or
that the government of Russia is going to reverse the environmental devastation
it has unleashed on its own territory?

Europe might be making progress toward cleaning up its environment, but where
do you think France is going to store all that nuclear waste as it decommissions
its reactors?

The US has made great strides in cleaning up from the excesses of the
industrial age, and will continue to do even more. In fact, I will bet that when
push comes to shove, the next real energy source that runs the engine of our
modern society will come from the unfettered minds at our great American
universities.

Solvang, California

Issue no. 2287 published 21 April 2001

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