[The Typing Baker] An Environmental Activist's Exclamation... Stop Blaming Straws Now!

"Only 0.03% of 9 Million Tons of Plastic Waste Are Straws
Renewable Energy Is Critically Harmful" Specific Cases Presented

[Asia Economy Reporter Donghyun Choi] Christine Figgener, a marine biology major at Texas A&M University, discovered a sea turtle suffering with a straw stuck in its nose off the coast of Costa Rica in 2015. The process of removing a 12 cm-long straw from the sea turtle was captured in an 8-minute and 6-second video and released on YouTube. The video shocked the world, garnering 2 million views within two days.

In 2018, Starbucks replaced plastic straws with paper straws. Since then, movements to stop using plastic straws have spread worldwide. South Korea was no exception. Many food and beverage and fast-food companies eliminated plastic straws. Recently, the Korean government decided to completely ban the use of plastic straws in coffee shops and bakeries starting June next year.

How effective has the plastic straw disposal movement, triggered by a single sea turtle, been in protecting the marine environment? According to a 2015 paper by Jenna Jambeck of the University of Georgia, straws account for only 0.03% of the 9 million tons of plastic waste flowing into the ocean annually. The actual impact of plastic straws on the marine environment was likely minimal.

Nevertheless, the plastic straw disposal movement is still ongoing. Why are we so obsessed with straws? The new book The False Promise of Saving the Earth criticizes emotional environmental movements that exclude rational and scientific approaches. The author, Michael Shellenberger, is not an anti-environmentalist. He is an environmental activist who has led climate, environmental, and social justice movements for 30 years. He currently heads the American clean energy research organization Environmental Progress.

The author warns in his over 600-page book about the apocalyptic environmentalism that has recently gained influence worldwide. He argues that apocalyptic environmentalists are inciting the public with unscientific facts about plastics and nuclear power. He also demonstrates that renewable energy sources like solar and wind power can be more harmful to the environment. While presenting controversial claims, he supports them with recent experimental results, statistics, and specific cases. The book cites 1,240 references.

The author proposes, "Let's stop blaming plastics." He points out that human activities such as poaching, beach development, and coastal aquaculture are far more significant pollutants of the marine environment, yet there is an excessive fixation on plastics. He argues that plastics have actually been a major contributor to saving marine life and nature by replacing materials like turtle shells used for eyeglasses and ivory used for piano keys.

The author devotes the most extensive and dense discussion to the issue of renewable energy. He criticizes many people for falling into the naturalistic fallacy?that "natural is better"?and blindly following renewable energy despite witnessing its inefficiencies. He also takes aim at environmentalists and politicians who have been swayed by lobbying from green businesses.

The author defends nuclear power as being more environmentally friendly. Its energy production efficiency is incomparably higher than that of renewable energy. Wind power can theoretically convert only 59.3% of the wind energy hitting the blades into electricity. Solar panels can produce a maximum of 50 watts per square meter. No matter how much technology advances, these physical limits remain. Natural gas and nuclear power can produce 2,000 to 6,000 watts per square meter. The inefficiency of renewable energy can only be overcome by expanding facilities, which entails environmental destruction.

In the past, the author was an advocate of renewable energy. He led the New Apollo Project starting in 2002, which became the foundation of the global "Green New Deal" policy. The New Apollo Project was adopted as a policy by Barack Obama, who became U.S. president in 2008, and attracted $150 billion in investment.

Now, the author concludes, "Low-density energy like renewable energy is a disaster for nature."

(The False Promise of Saving the Earth / Michael Shellenberger / Translated by Jeongtae No / Bookie / 22,000 KRW)

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.