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March 14, 2019

[SSJ: 10583] [Temple ICAS Event] Why Fear of Nuclear Threatens Japan's Energy, Environmental, and National Security

From: ICAS <icas@tuj.temple.edu>
Date: 2019/03/13

The Institute of Contemporary Asian Studies (ICAS) at Temple University, Japan Campus cordially invites you to the following evening lecture on April 11, 2019. All ICAS events are held in English, open to the public, and admission is free unless otherwise noted.


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- ICAS Event -

Nuclear, Panic, and Danger: Why Fear of Nuclear Threatens Japan's Energy, Environmental, and National Security

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Date & Time: Thursday, April 11, 2019 19:30 - 21:00 (Doors open at 19:00)


Location: Temple University, Japan Campus, Azabu Hall, 1F Parliament (access: http://www.tuj.ac.jp/maps/tokyo.html)


Moderator: Kyle Cleveland, ICAS Associate Director


RSVP: RSVP is encouraged but not required (icas@tuj.temple.edu <mailto:icas@tuj.temple.edu>).



Overview:

As we reflect on the eighth anniversary of the Fukushima disaster, a consensus <https://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/22/science/when-radiation-isnt-the-real-risk.html> has formed among experts that fear of nuclear has created far more harm than the radiation itself. Whereas 15,000 people died in the tsunami and the evacuations resulted in the death of over 2,000 people, the radiation exposure has killed, to date, less than a handful of people (only one death has been legally attributed to radiation effects).


The replacement of nuclear energy with fossil fuels will create thousands of additional premature deaths from conventional air pollution. Japan's economy and energy security has suffered from spending over $500 billion on fossil energy imports and clean up efforts. As a consequence, leading radiation scientists last year editorialized <https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0957582017303166> that never again should governments evacuate populations during or after a nuclear accident, no matter how bad it appears to be.


Since the accident, experts have pointed to the myth <https://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/25/world/asia/25myth.html> of perfect nuclear safety, psychological displacement of emotional trauma from the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami to Fukushima accident, and public ignorance of radiation, as the key reasons for the societal and governmental over-reaction. This includes a scapegoating of Japan's nuclear establishment, or "village," as retribution motivated by preexisting distrust and even disgust.


Michael Shellenberger will build on these factors to offer a unified picture of the danger created by nuclear panic, its motivations, and what to do about it. He will present evidence showing how widespread fear of nuclear energy within Japanese society reflects a displaced and often unconscious fear of nuclear weapons, anxieties over nuclear-armed North Korea and newly aggressive China and Russia, and uncertainties with regard to U.S. nuclear security guarantees. Resolving the continuing conflict within Japan over nuclear energy will ultimately require resolving domestic tensions over what kind of economic, military, and political power Japan should and will become in the 21st century.



Speaker:

Michael Shellenberger is a Time Magazine "Hero of the Environment <http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1841778_1841779_1841804,00.html>," Green Book Award winner <https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-01/siot-scf010908.php>, and the founder and president of Environmental Progress.


Michael is a regular contributor to Forbes <https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelshellenberger/#58309a82b1b8>, The New York Times <https://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/09/opinion/the-problem-with-energy-efficiency.html>, The Wall Street Journal <https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748704312504575618972157288244>, and The Washington Post <https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/former-nrc-chairmans-reckoning-with-his-rocky-tenure-and-resignation/2019/01/17/8766a776-0225-11e9-9122-82e98f91ee6f_story.html?utm_term=.249f26a90087>. His TED talks -- "How Fear of Nuclear Hurts the Environment <https://www.ted.com/talks/michael_shellenberger_how_fear_of_nuclear_power_is_hurting_the_environment>" & "Why I Changed My Mind About Nuclear Power <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciStnd9Y2ak>"-- have been viewed over two million times.


He is coauthor of visionary books and essays including "An Ecomodernist Manifesto <http://www.ecomodernism.org/>," and Break Through: From the Death of Environmentalism to Politics of Possibility <https://www.amazon.com/Break-Through-Environmentalism-Politics-ofPossibility/dp/0618658254/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=>, which was called "prescient" by Time Magazine <http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1841778_1841779_1841804,00.html>, and "the best thing to happen to environmentalism since Rachel Carson's Silent Spring" by Wired Magazine <https://www.wired.com/2007/09/mf-burning/?currentPage=all>.


Michael has advised policymakers around the world, from Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, and the Philippines to the United States and Australia to the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Belgium.



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ICAS (Institute of Contemporary Asian Studies)

Temple University, Japan Campus

www.tuj.ac.jp <http://www.tuj.ac.jp/> | icas@tuj.temple.edu <mailto:icas@tuj.temple.edu> | 03-5441-9800

Approved by ssjmod at 10:17 AM