The lesser evil choice is not a choice I want
All that is allowed in our rigged electoral system
If only everything were different I wish
To let there be a choice between good and better.
And yet what choice do we have today
Faced with the urgency of the climate crisis
Some say nuclear energy is necessary
Even with all the risks and lasting toxicity.
I am not convinced, being older and remembering
All that we learned about radiation as problematic
But the youth are acutely aware of global warming
Threatening cataclysmic events in their lifetime.
Even improved reactor designs are a kind of lesser evil
With radioactive waste for hundreds instead of thousands of years
With mining and transportation and storage hazards unsolved
And all the unforeseen consequences that promise disasters.
Agreed wind and solar cause destruction in other ways
That needs to be mitigated through improved design and operation
And other technologies are promising but need development
So I say do nuclear if you must but make it only as the last resort.
It takes many years to construct a nuclear reactor
Time to put maximum resources into alternate approaches
And doing everything to make existing ways more efficient
Anything that helps so we don’t have to pick that poison.
