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to be retired, which will mean another reactor needs to be built.

Additionally, the building of nuclear reactors may eliminate some greenhouse gases from electricity production, but that's not the end of the story. Electricity production is only one major source. If we're not doing anything about all the carbon put out by automobiles and other vehicles, we're still going to have serious problems in the future. There are six billion people on this planet, a good many of them own cars, and still more are gaining affluence and would like to own cars one day. That's going to add up in a hurry.

If we only consider greenhouse gases produced by power plants and don't consider other sources of those gases then we haven't solved anything. People will assume it's OK to continue buying lots and lots of cars, and that it's OK to not care whether those cars have the best fuel efficiency possible. We will also continue engaging in other behaviors that increase the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere.

We need to look at global warming as a systemic problem with lots of different causes, which is exactly what it is, and approach the problems from that perspective. I have doubts we are going to be able to reverse the damage we have done, but if we are serious about even trying in the first place, let's do it right.

Learn more about this author, Dana Seilhan.
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