Sentinel Watch July 18, 2011 Issue

Energy that is plentiful—and safe

Channing Walker

A noisy conversation sprang up in the aftermath of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster. At its heart was a concern for the early 21st century and beyond: What source will produce energy that is both plentiful enough to meet humanity’s voracious demands, but safe enough to still the concerns of an increasingly uneasy public? Continuing problems at the Fukushima plant raise questions about the role nuclear power should play in meeting humanity’s energy needs, especially given public concern about safety and the nagging issue of nuclear waste and its radioactive half-life of more than 10,000 years.

What is the best source of power? Similar, equally noisy conversations continue to rattle on about the merits and demerits of coal, of oil, of natural gas, even of hydroelectric. How plentiful is the energy from each source? How safe is it for us, for the oceans, for the atmosphere, for the land, for the planet’s nonhuman inhabitants? Will there always be a trade-off—plenty or safety?

A far quieter but profoundly more significant conversation follows a less-traveled path. It explores a line of spiritual reasoning tracing back to the divine source of all true energy. This spiritual reasoning begins with the one Almighty God who, in Bible times, stilled storms and rolled back a sea. This is the God who is both limitless Spirit and infinite Mind. The energy emanating from this divine source is both abundant and benign, both plentiful and safe.

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