As you say, Steve, there’s no such thing as a free lunch.

If rich countries had converted early from fossil fuels to nuclear power for energy generation, we would now have a different set of problems, most likely those arising from the presence of nuclear waste. The anti-nuclear protesters were not entirely wrong-headed.

Hydro power is often cited as the “cleanest” established energy source, but it, too, causes extensive environmental damage. While it doesn’t pollute the air, dam construction alters entire watersheds and destroys vast tracts of habitat for every imaginable form of life. Maintaining those dams and their associated distribution systems is an enormously important and complex task that must be planned and conducted over generations. Only a prosperous nation with a stable government committed to the public good can do it.

As humans, our biggest problem is that we’re not very good at long-term anything. Five years seems to be our maximum manageable planning horizon, which is why it’s the standard in both business and government. But for most of us, it’s a challenge to plan constructively for any project that lasts more than a few months, and a depressingly large proportion of us live from pay-cheque to pay-cheque, even day to day.