Author Question: G. Easterbrook(25) has said: The population growth for the next 2 generations is 100 percent cast in ... (Read 37 times)

Tazate · **on:** Jul 28, 2018

G. Easterbrook(25) has said: The population growth for the next 2 generations is 100 percent cast in stone. Nothing short of world pestilence or a nuclear war can halt population growth for the next 2 generations. ...

And with the growth in the world's population that is inevitable through the next 2 generations at least, global resource consumption is going to have to rise. That's the only possible moral outcome, so that millions of people don't die in misery. We're going to have to manage a short-term drastic increase in global resource consumption. And the only way we're going to be able to get through the night with that, is with strong environmental regulations and optimism about the success of reform in technology. Agree or disagree with Easterbrook, citing specific reasons.

Question 2

Why was the presence of a steam void so dangerous in the Three Mile Island accident? What could have happened?

What will be an ideal response?

ryhom · **Reply #1 on:** Jul 28, 2018

Answer to Question 1

Morality is a human concept. As human beings, we certainly want to assure that
everyone alive have a life as meaningful and rewarding as ours. Wishing it so does not
necessarily make it so.
Easterbrook's idealism is clearly tempered with realism. He cites the need for preserving the
environment. He does not say how the drastic increase in consumption will coexist with the
environment.
Technology is clearly a way to do more with less or the same, so there is some reason for
his optimism. Easterbrook seems less dogmatic than Simon in his prognosis.
Let us hope with him that we do not need to do great damage to Earth to sustain its present
and expected population.

Answer to Question 2

The water surrounding the reactor was less than what was needed to carry away
the thermal energy safely in liquid form; therefore, the water boiled to steam, and the steam
was not able to carry thermal energy away as efficiently as the water it replaced. In the
presence of so much thermal energy, steam could dissociate into hydrogen and oxygen, ripe
for exploding were a spark to ignite the hydrogen.