Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress

65. L. Sorantino, “Annenberg Study: Pope Francis’ Climate Change Encyclical Backfired Among Conservative Catholics,” Daily Pennsylvanian, Nov. 1, 2016, https://goo.gl/zUWXyk.

66. The actual carbon-to-hydrogen ratio in the cellulose and lignin making up wood is lower, but most of the hydrogen is already bound to oxygen, so it does not oxidize and release heat during combustion; see Ausubel & Marchetti 1998.

67. Bituminous coal is mainly C137H97O9NS, with a ratio of 1.4 to 1; anthracite is mainly C240H90O4NS, with a ratio of 2.67 to 1.

68. Carbon-to-hydrogen ratios: Ausubel 2007.

69. Decarbonization: Ausubel 2007.

70. “Global Carbon Budget,” Global Carbon Project, Nov. 14, 2016, http://www.globalcarbonproject.org/carbonbudget/.

71. Ausubel 2007, p. 230.

72. Carbon plateau, GDP rise: Le Quéré et al. 2016.

73. Deep decarbonization: Deep Decarbonization Pathways Project 2015; Pacala & Socolow 2004; Williams et al. 2014; http://deepdecarbonization.org/.

74. Carbon tax consensus: Arrow et al. 1997; see also “FAQs,” Carbon Tax Center blog, https://www.carbontax.org/faqs/.

75. How to implement a carbon tax: “FAQs,” Carbon Tax Center blog, https://www.carbontax.org/faqs/; Romer 2016.

76. Nuclear power as the new green: Asafu-Adjaye et al. 2015; Ausubel 2007; Brand 2009; Bryce 2014; Cravens 2007; Freed 2014; K. Caldeira et al., “Top Climate Change Scientists’ Letter to Policy Influencers,” CNN, Nov. 3, 2013, http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/03/world/nuclear-energy-climate-change-scientists-letter/index.html; M. Shellenberger, “How the Environmental Movement Changed Its Mind on Nuclear Power,” Public Utilities Fortnightly, May 2016; Nordhaus & Shellenberger 2011; Breakthrough Institute, “Energy and Climate FAQs,” http://thebreakthrough.org/index.php/programs/energy-and-climate/nuclear-faqs. Though many environmental climate activists now support an expansion of nuclear power (including Stewart Brand, Jared Diamond, Paul Ehrlich, Tim Flannery, John Holdren, James Kunstler, James Lovelock, Bill McKibben, Hugh Montefiore, and Patrick Moore), remaining opponents include Greenpeace, the World Wildlife Fund, the Sierra Club, the Natural Resources Defense Council, Friends of the Earth, and (with some equivocation) Al Gore. See Brand 2009, pp. 86–89.

77. Solar and wind provide 1.5 percent of the world’s energy: British Petroleum 2016, graphed in https://www.carbonbrief.org/factcheck-how-much-energy-does-the-world-get-from-renewables.

78. Land required by wind farms: Bryce 2014.

79. Land required by wind and solar: Swain et al. 2015, based on data from Jacobson & Delucchi 2011.

80. M. Shellenberger, “How the Environmental Movement Changed Its Mind on Nuclear Power,” Public Utilities Fortnightly, March 2016; R. Bryce, “Solar’s Great and So Is Wind, but We Still Need Nuclear Power,” Los Angeles Times, June 16, 2016.

81. Chernobyl cancer deaths: Ridley 2010, pp. 308, 416.

82. Relative death rate from nuclear vs. fossil fuels: Kharecha & Hansen 2013; Swain et al. 2015. A million deaths a year from coal: Morton 2015, p. 16.

83. Nordhaus & Shellenberger 2011. See also note 76 above.

84. Deep Decarbonization Pathways Project 2015. Deep decarbonization of the United States: Williams et al. 2014. See also B. Plumer, “Here’s What It Would Really Take to Avoid 2°C of Global Warming,” Vox, July 9, 2014.

85. Deep decarbonization of the world: Deep Decarbonization Pathways Project 2015; see also the preceding note.

86. Nuclear power and the psychology of fear and dread: Gardner 2008; Gigerenzer 2016; Ropeik & Gray 2002; Slovic 1987; Slovic, Fischof, & Lichtenstein 1982.

87. From “Power,” by John Hall and Johanna Hall.

88. Variously attributed; quoted in Brand 2009, p. 75.

89. Necessity for standardization: Shellenberger 2017. Selin quote: Washington Post, May 29, 1995.

90. Fourth-generation nuclear power: Bailey 2015; Blees 2008; Freed 2014; Hargraves 2012; Naam 2013.

91. Fusion power: E. Roston, “Peter Thiel’s Other Hobby Is Nuclear Fusion,” Bloomberg News, Nov. 22, 2016; L. Grossman, “Inside the Quest for Fusion, Clean Energy’s Holy Grail,” Time, Oct. 22, 2015.

92. Advantages of technological solutions to climate change: Bailey 2015; Koningstein & Fork 2014; Nordhaus 2016; see also note 103 below.

93. Need for risky research: Koningstein & Fork 2014.

94. Brand 2009, p. 84.

95. American gridlock and technophobia: Freed 2014.

96. Carbon capture: Brand 2009; B. Plumer, “Can We Build Power Plants That Actually Take Carbon Dioxide Out of the Air?” Vox, March 11, 2015; B. Plumer, “It’s Time to Look Seriously at Sucking CO2 Out of the Atmosphere,” Vox, July 13, 2015. See also CarbonBrief 2016, and the Web site for the Center for Carbon Removal, http://www.centerforcarbonremoval.org/.

97. Geoengineering: Keith 2013, 2015; Morton 2015. Artificial carbon capture: See the preceding note.