Philippine Tatler – August 2019

upfront / Close Up

The Ecomodernist

American author and environmental policy writer Michael Shellenberger

explains how nuclear energy can prove advantageous to a world coping

with the impact of climate change

by Chit l lijauCo

In the spring of 2015, Michael Shellenberger joined 17
environmental activists in signing a manifesto that would
promote the belief that renewable energy is not enough
to stop the harmful effects of climate change. The group
further posited that an answer to this environmental threat
could be clean energy, the largest source of which is nuclear
power. They called themselves ecomodernists.
As expected, the manifesto was disparaged and
condemned; its authors pilloried and denounced by those,
of course, who thought otherwise. And yet they prevailed,
gaining more converts through the years.
Shellenberger was honoured by Time magazine as Hero
of the Environment in 2008. He shared the recognition
with Ted Nordhaus, his co-founder in the environmental
research company Breakthrough Institute. One of
ecomodernism’s staunchest advocates, he holds the record
of saving—or helping save—14 nuclear power plants all
over the world. He now believes that another one, the
mothballed Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP) in the
Philippines, can and must be revived.
His interest in the Philippines was piqued by a kindred
spirit, former congressman Mark Cojuangco. Himself a
believer in nuclear energy, Cojuangco has been championing
this cause since August 2007, during his last term as
congressional representative of Pangasinan’s 5th district.
He communicated with Shellenberger via the Internet
and on a trip to San Francisco, they met. When Cojuangco
extended an invitation to come to the Philippines,
Shellenberger countered with another, quid pro quo. Would
Cojuangco join him in Taiwan where the government was
holding a referendum on its anti-nuclear law that mandates
that its nuclear plants be closed by 2024?

Now, there was a small group of passionate

anti-nuclear advocates whose campaign consisted of

simple stuff like giving out flyers, television interviews,

and the sort. Yet, at the end of the day, the nuclear

advocates won the memorandum.

“The big surprise for me in the Philippines,” the visiting

Shellenberger says, “was that as soon as I got here, a law

that would create an independent regulator [for nuclear

energy] separate from the promoter was just passed by

your Congress. The Senate will likely pass the law and the

President will sign it; so it’s great that they are starting to

set up the framework.”

Cojuangco interejects: “It is internationally accepted

that to be credible, regulation must be separate from

promotion. This was how it was before here, but the

Cory Aquino administration abolished the Philippine

Atomic Energy Commission [the regulator] and merged its

functions with the Philippine Nuclear Research Institute

[the promoter].”

“The most important thing is that there is a

conversation and a consensus in Philippine society to do

nuclear. Going nuclear allows you to become independent

and energy-secure, and to lower the electricity prices,”

adds Shellenberger.

Nothing in this advocate’s background hints at the

making of a believer in nuclear energy, but everything

points to a future warrior for the environment.

He was born in Greeley, Colorado in the early ’70s and

in his words, “raised by hippies.” He remembers idolising

the modern environmentalist Stewart Brand, and playing

with the cooperative game that Brand designed as an

antidote to the Vietnam war. “I was raised by Christian Photogra

PhS

by

alex van

hagen in

M

anila hou

Se and ferdinand john balanag in bataan

56 philippine tatler. august 2019