Solartopia

Small wonder the death knell of new U.S. nukes may be upon us. Two reactors proposed for Florida will now, say its would-be builders, cost $24 billio...

If the citizens of Vermont can shut Yankee, a dam will be breached and the post-Fukushima power of a rising grassroots tsunami will be made tangible. Solartopia will be that much closer.

Fukushima has taught us that as long as reactors operate, the apocalyptic clock is ticking. With that in mind, and with the flow of green money turning into a financial tsunami, we can make 2012 the year nuke power finally dies.

The Solyndra story is actually a great tragedy for the American economy. But its core problem was simple: China now sells solar panels 30-40% cheaper than the ones made in the USA.

The stream of reactor disasters spewing from this dying industry is certain to escalate. The toll rises with each leak at Fukushima, every flame at Los Alamos, each legal brief at Vermont Yankee, every foot of Nebraska floodwater.

Barack Obama's 2012 budget marks a major escalation in the nuclear war against a green-powered future, whose advocates are already fighting back.

The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission has made it clear that America's 104 licensed atomic power reactors are not accidents waiting to happen. They are accidents in progress.

Maryland's Calvert Cliffs nuke project is on the brink of cancellation. It's potentially one of the most critical atomic failures in decades.

For years reactor backers have touted the "Pebble Bed" design as an "inherently safe" alternative to traditional models. Now its South African developers say they're done pouring money into it.

It is now clearer than ever that atomic energy cannot compete. After a half-century this technology still can't face the prospect of full liability for the disasters it might impose.

For decades before it was fashionable or even on the radar screen, Pete Seeger has advocated an economic system that works in harmony with the Earth.

To have Pete singing for a green-powered Earth, putting our movement to music, is enough to give us all hope in yet another "hopeless" movement.

Stewart Brand has become a poster boy for a "nuclear renaissance," but we have cheaper, safer, cleaner, more reliable and more job-producing green alternatives.

How such a devil's brew -- of drilling for oil, digging for coal and big money for new nukes -- could save the Earth conjures a corporate cynicism beyond the scope of the human mind and soul.

Let's hope this bill's yank away from Chernobyl Day will take it to the desperately needed safe haven of a Solartopian plan built around renewables, conservation and efficiency.

Some corporations have learned that going green is actually more profitable. But some technologies and fuel sources are simply unworkable on a survivable planet. Topping the list is atomic power.

The corporate structure that rules our world must be replaced with a means of organization that serves people and the planet, not the reverse.

Hundreds of thousands of American soldiers sit on our dime in more than a hundred countries. Why aren't they in the Gulf of Mexico, fighting for our truest "national security"?

When you hear some hired gun selling nukes, remember: even $645 million can only buy so much green lipstick for a dead radioactive pig.

Harvey Wasserman, on Democracy Now! with Amy Goodman & Juan Gonzalez JUAN GONZALEZ: President Obama on Tuesday pledged $8.3 billion in loan guarantee...

In the wake of Copenhagen, an unheralded but hard-fought No Nukes victory has moved us closer to a green-powered Earth. It happened in upstate New York.

The epic fight over carbon emissions is barely the tip of how we survive. Mother Earth demands that fossil/nukes be transcended. This green-powered leap defines our technological, economic and ecological survival.

Only with peace can we win a true democracy based on social justice. The question of how many humans our planet can sustain will be answered with the empowerment of women.