brook, barry

wikifluff

Barry William Brook (born 28 February 1974 in Melbourne, Australia) is anAustralian scientist. He is a professor and Chair of Environmental Sustainability at the University of Tasmania in the Faculty of Science, Engineering & Technology. He was formerly an ARC Future Fellow in the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Adelaide, Australia, where he held the Sir Hubert Wilkins Chair of Climate Change from 2007 to 2014. He was also Director of Climate Science at the Environment Institute.

Early life and education

Brook attended high school in Coonabarabran, before studying at Macquarie University, Sydney, where he earned a B.Sc.(First Class Honours) in biology and computer science, and a Ph.D. in population viability analysis.

Career

Brook in an ecologist who has published three books and over 280 peer-reviewed scientific papers, is an ISI highly cited researcher, and regularly writes opinion pieces and popular articles for the media. He is known for his work in ecological systems models, conservation biology, paleoecology, sustainable energy and climate change impacts.

Brook established the popular blog Brave New Climate in 2008 and posts regularly. Guest bloggers also feature and BNC occasionally republishes articles by authors who share Brook's interests. Brook describes the website as catering "for people concerned about mitigating climate change, protecting biodiversity, whilst also enhancing human well being and growing our civilisation."^[1]

He is a strong proponent for nuclear power as a viable carbon-free energy source for wholesale replacement of fossil fuels, especially using generation IV technology that recycles used nuclear fuel, like the Integral Fast Reactor.^[2] His most recent book is Why vs Why: Nuclear Power, which is co-authored by Ian Lowe. The two authors present opposing viewpoints.

In 2011, Brook co-authored a "Nuclear Series" of articles for the South Australian Chamber of Mines and Energy with Ben Heard,^[3] and Australia's nuclear options, a policy perspective document for CEDA (Committee for Economic Development of Australia). Brook contributed the first of five chapters to the latter, entitled The role of nuclear fission energy in mitigating future carbon emissions. The other chapters were written by fellow advocates Anthony Owen (UCL), Tony Wood (Grattan Institute),Tony Irwin (Engineers Australia) and Tom Quirk (a nuclear physicist).^[4]

In an open letter of December 2014 that he led, 75 leading scientists urged environmentalists to set aside their preconceptions about nuclear power.^[5] They express their support for an article titled Key role for nuclear energy in global biodiversity conservation.,^[6] written by Brook, stating that it provided "strong evidence for the need to accept a substantial role for advance nuclear power systems" as part of a range of sustainable energy technologies. "Much as leading climate scientists have recently advocated the development of safe, next-generation nuclear energy systems to combat global climate change ... we entreat the conservation and environmental community to weigh up the pros and cons of different energy sources using objective evidence and pragmatic trade-offs, rather than simply relying on idealistic perceptions of what is 'green'."^[7]

Brook's advocacy for nuclear power has been challenged by opponents of nuclear industries, including environmentalist Jim Green of Friends of the Earth.^[8] Brook has been similarly critical of anti-nuclear activists and in 2015 described the Australian Greens political party (SA Branch) and Australian Youth Climate Coalition as "sad" and "increasingly irrelevant" after they expressed their opposition to nuclear industrial development.^[9]

In February 2015, the South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill announced the Nuclear Fuel Cycle Royal Commission to investigate the potential for an expanded role for the state in all aspects of the nuclear industry (mining, enrichment, reprocessing, waste management and nuclear electricity generation). Brook described the announcement as "real progress."^[9]In April 2015, Brook was one of five members appointed to the Expert Advisory Committee of the Royal Commission, along with Ian Lowe, SA Chief Scientist Dr Leanna Read, Timothy Stone CBE and John Carlsson, to provide high-level advice. Commissioner Kevin Scarce said "The members of this Committee have been chosen to ensure that the Commission receives a broad range of advice and reflects the diversity of views that the community holds," ^[10]

Brook, along with 17 other environmental scholars,^[11] released An Ecomodernist Manifesto^[12] in April 2015, which represented a declaration of principles for new environmentalism.^[13] The summary of the manifesto says: "We offer this statement in the belief that both human prosperity and an ecologically vibrant planet are not only possible, but also inseparable. By committing to the real processes, already underway, that have begun to decouple human well-being from environmental destruction, we believe that such a future might be achieved. As such, we embrace an optimistic view toward human capacities and the future." It was described by Eduardo Porter of The New York Times as a "...new strategy [that], of course, presents big challenges".^[14]...

http://www.agreenroadjournal.com/2015/06/breakthrough-institute-prof-barry-brook.html

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Debunked; Breakthrough Institute, Prof. Barry Brook, Chair of Climate Change at Adelaide University's Environment Institute;

Renewables Can Meet 100 Percent Of All Energy Needs

This article provides the proof that a mix of 100 renewable energy sources can provide a reliable source of energy for an electric grid, which people like Barry Brook claims is not possible. He claims to be an expert on renewable energy and a green future, but all he does is promote nuclear power, while putting down renewable energy systems, exactly like Dr. James Hansen, who is leading the Citizens Climate Lobby. This article explores the Breakthrough Institute, debunks Barry's claims and outs him as a pro nuclear greenwashing disinformation specialist, just like many other organizations denying global warming and then providing disinformation campaigns that are nothing more than pro nuclear promotion snake oil salespeople.

Top 100 Global Warming Denialist Groups Are ALL Funded By HUGE Corporations, Scientist Caught Getting Paid By Them For 'Deliverables'

http://agreenroad.blogspot.com/2012/06/top-global-warming-denialists-funded-by.html

Something interesting that you will notice is that if you search for videos featuring Barry Brook or the Breakthrough Institute on Youtube, is that none of these videos feature him debating anyone with an opposite point of view. All of the videos feature Barry promoting nuclear energy. In his videos, no one is debating him about any alternatives to nuclear energy. In other words, if you confirm that this is true, then Barry is a snake oil salesman, shill and/or promoter of nuclear energy, and he cannot stand being confronted with any other point of view. True scientists debate one another and discuss different theories and points of view.. Only PR people and marketers show only one side of things and refuse to debate.

WHAT DO BILL GATES, PETER THIEL, RACHEL PRITZKER, AND STEWART BRAND HAVE IN COMMON WITH BREAKTHROUGH INSTITUTE?

Bill Gates, Peter Thiel, Breakthrough Institute etc – more like snake oil salesmen for nuclear

Nuclear pitched as the new green, Charlotte Observer, 9 Dec 15 BY EVAN HALPER

“……..Investors, including Microsoft founder Bill Gates and PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel, have poured about $2 billion into a few dozen small outfits, many of which are concentrated in the West. The entrepreneurs behind them are racing to design nuclear power facilities engineered to seem no more imposing than a neighborhood arts center……The Breakthrough Institute in Oakland, where philanthropist Rachel Pritzker and Whole Earth Catalog founder Stewart Brand sit on the board, has been a major proponent of the technologies as a solution to climate change, most famously in the 2013 documentary “Pandora’s Promise,” which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. Pritzker is also on the board of Third Way, an influential advocacy group best known for helping centrist Democrats find bipartisan approaches to policy disputes. The group, which receives some nuclear industry funding, is leading the push in Washington…….

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/science-technology/article48767550.html

That may all be possible someday, say the nuclear experts at the Union of Concerned Scientists, but that day is probably several decades and many tens of billions of dollars away. The sudden excitement around nuclear makes them nervous. They say they have seen this before.

“The people who deny or downplay the risks involved are doing a disservice to the future of nuclear power that leads to complacency, and complacency leads to Fukushima,” said Edwin Lyman, a senior scientist at the organization. “This is very complex. It is hard. It costs a lot. It is slow, especially to develop advanced systems. … It seems nuclear will at most be a minor contribution over the next few decades to dealing with the climate crisis.”……

The Sierra Club says it has all the makings of a snake-oil sale.

“There is always such a rosy picture coming from the industry of what it can deliver with these technologies, yet it has such a terrible history with over-promising and under-delivering,” said John Coequyt, the Sierra Club’s director of international climate programs. The organization would prefer the Obama administration abandon the extremely costly pursuit of advanced nuclear power in favor of greater investment in renewable energy such as solar and wind power.

But that’s not the direction the White House is headed. It hosted a nuclear power summit last month during which John Holdren, the president’s senior adviser on science and technology, expressed hope of “making nuclear energy everything that it can be, and thus a major contributor in this country and worldwide to minimizing the risks from climate change.”…….

The administration announced its budget plan, including $900 million in new funding for development of advanced nuclear technologies, as well as plans to allow firms like UPower and Transatomic access to testing facilities in federally funded national research labs, which the firms had been lobbying for. This year, the House passed a resolution nudging regulators to nurture the industry.

Such moves have come at the urging of some muscular neoliberal think tanks in California and Washington, D.C.

http://nuclear-news.net/2015/12/11/bill-gates-peter-thiel-breakthrough-institute-etc-more-like-snake-oil-salesmen-for-nuclear/

PANDORAS PROMISEMOVIE ANALYZED AND DEBUNKED: EXPOSING THE LIES AND DECEPTIONS

Pandora's Promise Movie Review And Synopsis, Part I. Debunking The Lies And False Claims

http://agreenroad.blogspot.com/2014/05/pandoras-promise-movie-review.html

THE BREAKTHROUGH INSTITUTE RUNS DISINFORMATION CAMPAIGNS, SUFFERS FROM LACK OF INTELLECTUAL RIGOR, AND PROMOTES NUCLEAR EVERYTHING

While sometimes functioning as shadow universities, think tanks have been exposed as quasi lobbying organizations, with little funding transparency. Recent research has also pointed out that think tanks suffer from a lack of intellectual rigor. A case in point is the Breakthrough Institute run by Ted Nordhaus and Michael Shellenberger, which describes itself as a "progressive think tank."

http://ethics.harvard.edu/blog/breakthrough-institutes-inconvenient-history-al-gore

"The Breakthrough people and their allies, among whom one must include Lomborg and Pielke Jr. at this point..., are not asking for the technologically impossible. They are asking merely for the technologically possible at an economically impossible cheap price."[2] "This disinformation campaign is almost entirely driven by fossil fuel companies and conservative media, politicians and think tanks. It is also advanced by the Breakthrough Institute and its president, Michael Shellenberger. His central myth -- a science fiction fantasy, really -- is that it would be possible to sharply reduce emissions without raising the cost of carbon pollution."[3]

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Talk:Breakthrough_Institute

NUCLEAR ENERGY INDUSTRY IS PART OF THE TOP DOWN, PATERNALISTIC, AUTHORITARIAN, DESPOTIC SYSTEM, IT NEEDS LOTS OF HUCKSTERS AND A DESPOTIC TOP DOWN GOVERNMENT TO PROMOTE IT

https://youtu.be/5fbvquHSPJU

FOUR HORSEMEN is an award winning independent feature documentary which lifts the lid on how the world really works. As we will never return to 'business as usual' 23 international thinkers, government advisors and Wall Street money-men break their silence and explain how to establish a moral and just society.

"Four Horsemen is a breathtakingly composed jeremiad against the folly of Neo-classical economics and the threats it represents to all we should hold dear."

Harold Crooks, The Corporation (Co-Director) Surviving Progress (Co-Director/Co-Writer)

on https://www.facebook.com/RenEconomist

The movie explains Neoclassical economics, which relies on the 99% supporting the 1%. The 1% make all decisions, and control the media, money, and all the levers of power and energy, including nuclear energy. This top down, hierarchical system destroys the environment, spreads poverty and enriches the 1%, while extracting wealth from the 99%, via corporate subsidies, corporate entitlements, taxpayer loan guarantees and other shell games. The bad part of this system, is that it destroys the environment, human health, animal health and poisons everything with a focus on short term profits and nothing else.

The nuclear industry is currently holding the 99% hostage, as they claim that they are too big to fail, just like the big banks, 35: min. in.. Socialism is in part, being bailed out by the government. Big Banks got bailed out by the government a few years ago. The nuclear industry has been asking to be 'bailed out' since 1945.. When is enough, enough?

Today the nuclear industry is asking governments all around the world for an even bigger than big bailout, because they are not competitive any longer in the free market. In addition, when huge mega nuclear accidents happen such as Fukushima, the government bails out companies like TEPCO, via taxpayer funding, which again, is Socialism. The whole military industrial complex, all nuclear bombs and all wars are nothing but taxpayer funded Socialism, funded by taxpayer money via a bloated government.

Anything artificial and toxic energy source needs massive support via propaganda, lies, deception and lots of government support, via entitlements, subsidies and loan guarantees, which is exactly what the nuclear industry does in order to maintain itself. The nuclear industry needs the propaganda put out by greenwashing organizations that promise lots of things, but deliver the exact opposite.

Censored, Top Secret! Art And Science Of Deception; Global Corporations, ALEC, TPP, CIA, Journalism And The 1%, Whistleblowers, Voting, Elections And Solutions

http://agreenroad.blogspot.com/p/corporations-art-and-science-of.html

NUCLEAR INDUSTRY IS SUPPORTED AND MAINTAINED BY PROPAGANDA OUTLETS, HYPING THE BENEFITS AND SAFETY OF NUCLEAR ENERGY AND RADIATION, WHILE PUTTING DOWN EVERYONE ELSE

Many people still believe in the hyped up, pro nuclear propagandistic future vision, such as the one laid out at www.bravenewclimate.com, created and maintained by Prof Barry Brook, Chair of Climate Change at Adelaide University's Environment Institute.

List Of Hormesis And Radiophobia Theory Promoters And Organizations

http://agreenroad.blogspot.com/2015/04/list-of-hormesis-and-radiophobia-theory.html

GREENWASHING FAKE ENVIRONMENTALISTS CLAIM THAT ZERO CARBON RENEWABLES ARE NOT THE ANSWER, AND THAT NUCLEAR IS LIKE GOD, OFFERING ALL OF THE ANSWERS

This professor is just another pro nuclear apologist who also claims to be an environmentalist, but knows almost nothing about nuclear energy and it's true costs, dangers or toxicity. Like other greenwashing environmentalists, Barry claims that renewables are 'not enough' and lack storage capacity for the grid's energy needs. Prof. Brook is a biologist, and is a fellow at the pro nuclear apologist filled Breakthrough Institute, which was behind the pro nuclear propaganda movie; Pandora's Box.

Pandora's Promise Movie Review And Synopsis, Part I. Debunking The Lies And False Claims

http://agreenroad.blogspot.com/2014/05/pandoras-promise-movie-review.html

Barry is a member of the Science Council for Global Initiatives along with James Hansen, another pro nuclear greenwashing environmentalist, who is promoting the IFR 4th generation nuclear reactors.

James Hansen; A Pro Nuclear Industry Cheerleader, Supports Citizens Climate Lobby Group, Along With Bill McKibben, Founder of 350.org

http://agreenroad.blogspot.com/2015/04/james-hansen-pro-nuclear-industry.html

How Pro Nuclear And Anti 99% Corporations Control Eco Environmental Organizations Like Greenpeace, Sierra Club, 350.org, Ceres, Blue Green Alliance

http://agreenroad.blogspot.com/2014/04/how-pro-nuclear-and-anti-99.html

NUCLEAR IS AN EXPENSIVE, TOXIC, MONEY LOSING DISASTER, FROM START TO A NEVER ENDING RADIOACTIVE GARBAGE PROBLEM WITH NO SOLUTION

Maybe they are too busy with all of their well paid expense accounts and high paid speaking engagements, so they have not been keeping up on the latest news. The latest news coming out is that nuclear is 200% more expensive than renewable energy, and rising fast.

Meanwhile, the cost of renewables such as wind and solar are dropping fast and are now cheaper than nuclear. The following video explains in 5 minutes, how a mixture of renewables can and does meet 100% of all energy needs, fairly easily.

https://youtu.be/rF9H7aIYAzE

Solar power's rapid growth and the myth of storage breakthrough's necessity

New Nuclear Power Plants Are An Expensive, Global Warming, Money Losing Disaster; Dispelling the Myth That It Is Economically Sound, 200 Percent More Expensive Than Renewables

http://agreenroad.blogspot.com/2015/01/nuclear-power-is-expensive-money-losing.html

New Nuclear Power Plants Are An Expensive, Global Warming, Money Losing Disaster; Dispelling the Myth That It Is Economically Sound, 200 Percent More Expensive Than Renewables

http://agreenroad.blogspot.com/2015/01/nuclear-power-is-expensive-money-losing.html

Nuclear Power Plants Cost 600% More To Operate Than ANY Other Type Of Power Plants, Plus Very Risky, Unreliable And Unstable

http://agreenroad.blogspot.com/2013/09/nuclear-plants-are-six-times-more.html

ROCKY MOUNTAIN INSTITUTE SHOWS HOW A MIX OF RENEWABLES CAN MEET 100% OF THE ENERGY LOAD ON THE GRID

List Of Countries Powered 100% By Renewable Energy, Or Close To It

http://agreenroad.blogspot.com/2014/06/list-of-countries-powered-100-by.html

List Of Countries And Nations With NO Nuclear Power Plants Is Growing; Decline of Nuclear Power; via @AGreenRoad

http://agreenroad.blogspot.com/2012/04/list-of-countries-closing-down-all.html

Iceland Bailed Out People Instead Of Banksters; Is Now Doing Much Better Than EU, or US; via @AGreenRoad

http://agreenroad.blogspot.com/2013/05/iceland-bailed-out-people-instead-of.html

DEBUNKING PROF. BARRY BROOK

One of the primary dogmas held by all pro nuclear apologists is the belief that anything radioactive, is good for health. The more man made heavy metal poisonous radiation people are exposed to, the better health gets, via the hormesis theory.

Thus, by extension of this dogma, the more radiation released by nuclear accidents and nuclear plant emissions, the healthier everyone gets. Pro nuclear apologists claim no one died from Fukushima, no one will ever die from it, and that it is safe to move back into the 'exclusion zone', because whatever radiation contamination is still present is actually improving health, via the hormesis theory. They also usually promise and promote lots of solutions for radioactive garbage, none of which actually work.

TomSparc Christine Brook Barry Brook is basically an incompetent ideologue. His initial response when Fukushima exploded was "The [Fukushima] plant is safe now and will stay safe." When it became undeniable that this was nonsense, he edited the claim out of his blog post - but it remains quoted in the comments and all over the internet.

Similarly, the Breakthrough Institute is just a bunch of 'free' market ideologues. An example of their incompetence: Mark Lynas pens error-riddled, cost-less nuke op-ed after relying on wingnut Breakthrough Institute for data.

http://thinkprogress.org/romm/2011/04/13/207880/mark-lynas-error-cost-nuke-op-ed/

Dr. Wade Allison, Emeritus Professor of Physics at Oxford University Promotes Hormesis Theory, Same As Galen Winsor And Dr. Yamashita MD

http://agreenroad.blogspot.com/2014/12/dr-wade-allison-emeritus-professor-of.html

Ann Coulter, Forbes, Conca, Corbett Report Agree; More Radiation Is Good For You. As Part Of Mass Media And Nuclear Industry Promoting Quack Hormesis Theory Promoters

http://agreenroad.blogspot.com/2014/08/ann-coulter-says-more-radiation-is-good.html

No One Died! How The Nuclear Industry Gets Away With Genocide Due To Nuclear Bombs And Nuclear Plant Accidents, Explained By Dr. Helen Caldicott MD

http://agreenroad.blogspot.com/2015/04/no-one-died-how-nuclear-industry-gets.html

4TH GENERATION NUCLEAR TECHNOLOGY SUFFERS FROM THE SAME PROBLEMS AND ISSUES THAT ALL OTHER NUCLEAR GENERATIONS SUFFER FROM, BUT THE SAME PROMISES THAT DID NOT WORK THEN, ARE STILL BEING MADE NOW; CHEAP, CLEAN, GREEN AND SAFE

There is no "roll-out" of IFRs. Just a lot of hot air from the nuke lobby and the people gullible enough to fall for their lies. Nukes are in global decline. It's a failed, toxic 20th century technology. Renewables are the future.

http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2013/01/pro-nuclear-power-environmental-movement

PRISM Liquid Sodium Cooled, Small Modular Nuclear Reactor (SMR) Problems And Issues Analyzed, WIN Nuclear Lobbyist Corruption

http://agreenroad.blogspot.com/2015/02/prism-liquid-sodium-cooled-small.html

A Global Overview - How And Why Fast Neutron, Fast Breeder Reactors Like PRISM And FBTR, Never Lived Up To The Hype Or The Promises

http://agreenroad.blogspot.com/2013/09/a-global-overview-how-and-why-fast.html

Nuclear Power Plant Threats, Accidents, Recycling Nuclear Fuel, Movie Reviews, Next Generation Nuclear Plants, Terrorists

http://agreenroad.blogspot.com/p/nuclear-accidents-around-world.html

THERE IS NO FUTURE FOR HUMANITY IF WE KEEP GOING WITH NUCLEAR ENERGY, EXCEPT MORE NUCLEAR ACCIDENTS, MORE SACRIFICE ZONES AND ARMAGEDDON VIA NUCLEAR WEAPONS

The entire nuclear industry and the regulators of it, are based on a system of vulture Capitalism, which does nothing to protect or increase the health of the environment, much less benefiting 7 future generations. Some of them go so far as to claim that there is a new nuclear renaissance going on, but nothing could be further from the truth. The only countries building any new nuclear plants are despotic top down 1% controlled regimes. Any democratic, bottoms up ruled countries are saying no to nuclear and putting all of their money and energy into zero carbon, zero nuclear renewable energy and systems. America is falling behind, because it is controlled by the 1%, and monopolistic, dead enders.

Sacrifice Zones, Nuclear Power and the Sacrificial Victims System Is Spreading Globally As Part Of Predatory Capitalism

http://agreenroad.blogspot.com/2014/09/sacrifice-zones-nuclear-power-and.html

The Nuclear “Renaissance” Is Dead In France And Globally; Zero Carbon, Zero Nuclear, Zero Carbon Renaissance Birthed And Growing Fast

http://agreenroad.blogspot.com/2015/01/the-nuclear-renaissance-is-over-zero.html

First Strike Policy, Nuclear Bombs, Down Winders, Acute Radiation Sickness, Nuclear War, Dirty Bombs, Bomb Shelters

http://agreenroad.blogspot.com/p/nuclear-bombs-and-nuclear-weapons.html

Super Solar Storm To Hit Earth - 'Carrington Effect'; 400 Nuke Plants Will Melt Down/Explode, Lawsuits Needed; via @AGreenRoad

http://agreenroad.blogspot.com/2012/03/super-solar-storm-predicted-to-hit-2013.html

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Debunked; Breakthrough Institute, Prof. Barry Brook, Chair of Climate Change at Adelaide University's Environment Institute; Renewables Can Meet 100 Percent Of All Energy Needs

http://agreenroad.blogspot.com/2015/06/breakthrough-institute-prof-barry-brook.html