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By now we all know the truth spoken by the Guardian’s venerable former environmental journalist Paul Brown from his hospital bed (‘I have watched politicians failing yet and yet again’: lessons from a life as an environment writer, 28 November). Politicians have routinely failed basic leadership principles on even the most profound issues. The US government has taken this to appalling levels, and much of the UK opposition tries to do so too.
Brown and John Vidal’s work – now taken forward by Fiona Harvey, Damian Carrington, Phoebe Weston, Damien Gayle and others at the Guardian – highlights the reality gap between the best of science and the worst of political leadership.
Yet it doesn’t have to be this way – in my own 40 years in science, policy and communications, I see the tide turning. The Nordic council at Cop30 shows how young leaders like those in Iceland’s government, including its climate minister, Jóhann Páll Jóhannsson, are stepping up with an honest appraisal of global and national responsibility, future security risks and respect for facts.
After last week’s national emergency briefing (Scientists warn of severe climate-related risks to UK economy and security, 27 November), let’s hope that UK parliamentarians finally get the messages of Chris Packham, Lt Gen Richard Nugee, Prof Tim Lenton, Prof Kevin Anderson and others: billions of lives, millions of species and societal stability are at risk. Brown and other indefatigable journalists will not pass into oblivion. Thank you for keeping the torch high on our environment and civilisation. Literally everything we know and love is at stake.
Prof Phoebe Barnard
Professor of planetary and societal futures, University of Washington
As attorneys in New York who have worked with public officials and civil society groups concerned about the environmental, health, safety and security risks of nuclear power, we applaud Paul Brown’s call for more critical interrogation of the technology. Most people understand the incentives and career pressures that lead for-profit companies to cut corners, make foolish errors and engage in malfeasance. Yet many imagine that government leaders and agency staff would not succumb to such pressures where nuclear safety is a concern. Our personal experience has disabused us of that belief.
In the US, the situation is now truly beyond belief. The Advance Act of 2024 changed the mission of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission from protection of public health and safety to include the incompatible mission of promoting nuclear power.
The risk extends way beyond the subject of safety and far beyond borders. Nuclear energy is a consequential contributor to climate change, and subsidies for the so-called “renaissance” sabotage the transition to renewables, leaving countries locked in to polluting fossil and nuclear. The push to build fleets of small reactors to cool AI datacentres is particularly unsound. Renewable options such as solar-plus-batteries and geothermal cooling can quickly come online at a fraction of the cost and without creating unmanageable risk.
No industry and no government is immune from corruption and human folly. But the potential consequences of those ills as they interact within the international military-industrial-nuclear complex are grave indeed and demand far more serious attention from intrepid journalists. Thank you, Paul Brown. May others at the Guardian give heed to his entreaty.
Michel Lee Scarsdale, US
Susan Shapiro Nanuet, US
Paul Brown’s heartfelt final reflections are far deeper than a mere progress report of his career. Those of us who have followed his revelations over the years, in parallel with our own efforts to steer policymaking towards political and scientific solutions urgently needed, are indebted to him for his objective approach, not least on the shortcomings of nuclear. So thank you, Paul, for your final warning. After the disappointments of Cop30, let your words of wisdom ring out as a call for action as we face up to the steps needed to determine the future of humanity.
Joan Walley
Chair, environmental audit select committee, 2010-15
