When I first joined the Board of IICPH little did I realize what adventures were in store!

This year I have represented IICPH in a coalition “Energy Vision” of a dozen or so energy organizations led by Greenpeace, the Canadian Environmental Law Association, Pembina, Sierra Club of Canada and others. At every meeting I learned more about alternatives to nuclear and coal.

It was many years ago I first met Rosalie Bertell who made it clear to me that nuclear power and nuclear weapons were closely connected. So I oppose nuclear power and with two grandchildren with asthma I also oppose coal power.

The United Church has also been part of my learning curve. Starting with the nuclear waste Seaborn Panel in 1989 I was ready to join a group under the direction of David Hallman to take part in the Nuclear Waste Management Organization’s dialogue on the problem of high level nuclear waste over the past three years. I feel Rosalie is there beside me as we debate with the experts on just what can be done with the growing mountains of spent fuel rods, contaminated reactors and the devastation caused by our uranium mines, the largest in the world.

One thing leads to another and now I am part of United Church involvement in COP11/MOP1. Or, the Montreal United Nations Climate Change Conference November 27 to December 9. This is the Eleventh Session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change(COP11) and the first meeting of the parties that have ratified the Kyoto Protocol (which expires in 2012) with more specific targets and timetables.(MOP1). It is also the first to be held in North America. Canada is the host and will be President of the conference in the person of Stephane Dion.

The newspapers, egged on by the strong nuclear establishment, will argue that nuclear energy will reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This is not true if the whole life cycle is considered.

You’ve seen the ads saying nuclear is safe, clean and cheap. Two reactors with high safety ratings were Chernobyl and Three Mile Island. All nuclear reactors leak radioactivity during operation even without specific spills and they are hugely expensive. Our diminutive nun has noted this for many years along with health warnings on all radiation, low level included.

There is a danger at this UN conference that the nuclear forces will be at it again even as the sun shines and the wind blows in our faces.

Shirley Farlinger, Director of the IICPH