CLIMATE GAMBLE

Reviewed 8/15/2016

Climate Gamble, by Partanen & Korhonen
Cover art by Katariina Pekkola
CLIMATE GAMBLE
Is Anti-Nuclear Activism Endangering Our Future?
Rauli Partanen
Janne M. Korhonen
CreateSpace, August 2015

Rating:

5.0

High

ISBN-13 978-952-7139-05-9
ISBN 952-7139-05-8 99pp. SC $9.99

The errors in this book are exclusively grammatical, and result from the fact that English is the authors' second language. They and their associates have done an admirable job of translation; but errors do sneak into it. The most frequent error is omitting articles like "an" or "the" that should precede common nouns. I can illustrate this by writing: "I read book by two Finnish authors." The highlighted part should be "read a book."

Also there is a chunk of text (five sentences) that appears twice on pages 78 and 79. Except for this duplication, I regard these errors as minor defects, closely approaching insignificance. I reproduce those errors here in case they might wish to correct them for a future edition.

Note: The abbreviation "S/B" means "should be."

Errata

Page 2: "At certain points in this book, the reader could be excused of believing that we are hostile toward renewables..."
  Usage: S/B "excused for believing".
Page 6: "At the moment, there are plenty of individuals and groups who have a high interest in halting climate change that are doing everything in their power to leave one of the most potential solutions — nuclear power — out of our very limited selection of available tools."
  Word choice: S/B "one of the best potential solutions".
Page 10: "For example, small-scale firewood use for cooking, common in poorer countries was counted as a renewable and sustainable practice..."
  Missing comma: S/B "common in poorer countries, was".
Page 12: Footnote 3: "Around 5.6 billion of us have access to any energy services at all."
  Word missing: S/B "have no access to".
Page 15: Footnote 5: "Feed in tariff is a price or a premium that a given energy production gets payed no matter what the actual price of energy is."
  Missing hyphen, word choice, spelling: S/B "feed-in-tariff", "a given energy producer", and "paid".
Page 16: "If the current feeble excuses of proper climate policies prevail..."
  Usage: S/B "feeble excuses for".
Page 21: The two figures are too large, forcing a footnote begun on page 20 to jump to page 22.
  Shrink these figures a bit. Also, label every figure with a figure number and add a list of figures.
Page 26: "A further problem is that we are unlikely to even have enough of the certain critical materials for a renewable world."
  Extra word: S/B "certain critical materials".
Page 27: "In theory, renewables have immense potential and technological progress compared with decreasing costs will mean that more of them will be built."
  Word choice: S/B "combined with".
Page 28: "...the popular press was awash with fanciful projections of world's problems being solved through the 'unlimited power of the atom.' "
  Missing word: S/B "of the world's problems".
Page 29: "To conclude our message so far, we have explained some of the more significant, if under reported problems that plague intermittent renewable energy sources."
  Missing hyphen, missing comma: S/B "under-reported,".
Page 31: "...the countries with lowest carbon energy mix would get the most points."
  Missing hyphen: S/B "lowest-carbon energy mix".
Page 31: "With a swift stroke of a pen (or perhaps an extra variable in the excel sheet, WWF decided..."
  Capitalization: S/B "Excel". Also probably needs a ™ symbol — or just say "spreadsheet".
Page 36: "Especially liquid fuels and industrial heat are going to be difficult to replace..."
  Word order: S/B "Liquid fuels and industrial heat are going to be especially difficult".
Page 37: "Environmentalists cannot be blamed on the climate emergency..."
  Word choice: S/B "for".
Page 38: "Even though readability prevents us from stating this in the every juncture..."
  Extra word, word choice: S/B "at every juncture".
Page 38: "We will most certainly need a lot more renewable energy, and we are certain that they are being built."
  Number error: S/B "it is". (Or leave this unchanged, and write "renewable energy sources".)
Page 40: "If nuclear has the possibility to kill any people at all in the future for example due to poor waste management (which we will discuss later in more detail), it is seen as..."
  Missing comma: S/B "in the future, for example".
Page 43: "They do not seem to be deterred in the slightest by the fact that in places, the area is significantly more radioactive..."
  Missing comma: S/B "by the fact that, in places,".
Page 43: "When uranium inevitably decays, it releases odorless, invisible and radioactive noble gas named radon."
  Missing word: S/B "an odorless,".
Page 43: "...of Finland's approximately 5.5 million inhabitants at least hundred thousand people receive annual doses ranging between..."
  Missing word: S/B "at least a hundred thousand people".
Page 44: "From Fukushima, the single worst exposure to general public is believed to be..."
  Missing word: S/B "to the general public".
Page 46: "...and it is possible that the next ten years will shed some more light into matter."
  Usage: S/B "on the matter".
Page 47: "...the continuing allure of hormesis hypothesis is in itself an important reminder..."
  Missing word: S/B "allure of the hormesis hypothesis".
Page 49: "This, remember, was an accident that resulted to three uncontrolled reactor meltdowns."
  Word choice: S/B "resulted in".
Page 54: "...the massive quantities of coal burned every day throughout the world mean that vast amounts of this waste escapes even the most effective anti-pollution systems..."
  Number error: S/B "vast amounts of this waste escape".
Page 56: "...it is a very small unit whose use results to reports with many zeroes behind every number."
  Word choice: S/B "results in".
Page 56: "For example, we have never seen any estimates what a leaking nuclear fuel repository could cause for the people in the area."
  Missing word: S/B "estimates of what".
Page 56: "...but we can conjure scenarios and forecasts that give us some idea of various ways of how things are likely to unfold..."
  Redundant phrases: S/B either "of various ways" or "of how things." I'd prefer the latter phrase.
Page 58: "...nuclear waste is treated routinely as something utterly horrifying and mysterious substance, endowed with almost magical powers for harm..."
  Usage: S/B either just "something utterly horrifying" or "some utterly horrifying and mysterious substance".
Page 58: "...the harm caused by a nuclear waste repository going horribly wrong will be very small and limited to a very limited area near the repository."
  Although grammatically correct, this is redundant. (English speakers might joke that it reads like a statement from "the department of redundancy department.") I would recommend "confined to a limited area".
Page 58: FN 38: "In Finland, the NIMBY aspect and local opposition to disposal facility was largely overcome by an open decision-making process..."
  Missing word, number error: S/B "to a disposal facility were".
Page 59: "The results are very interesting and eye opening."
  Missing hyphen: S/B "eye-opening".
Page 59: "...where several spent fuel bundles are stored within cast iron framework..."
  Missing word: S/B "within a cast iron framework".
Page 61: "...seemingly small quantities of plutonium could, in principle, pollute entire lakes were plutonium to be distributed evenly into lake water..."
  Missing word: S/B "into the lake water".
Page 61: FN 43: "Another thing left unsaid was that by same measure and under similar conditions..."
  Missing word: S/B "by the same measure".
Page 62: "It should be reminded that one of the alternatives in this case includes..."
  Word choice: S/B "remembered".
Page 64: "Other analogues can be found from places as varied as the Loch Ness in Scotland and Sicily."
  Extra word: S/B just "Loch Ness". Being a proper noun, it doesn't need an article before it. (I really hated to point this out, after noting so many missing articles.) Also, it would be better to mention a specific place in Sicily, so the pattern is the same as with Scotland.
Page 68: "...and there is a legitimate reason to be concerned that especially latter could be diverted to nuclear weapons."
  Missing word: S/B "especially the latter".
Page 72: "So when compared to similar amount of actual generation capacity..."
  Missing word: S/B "a similar amount". Alternatively, "similar amounts" would work.
Page 72: "...a nuclear plant has roughly three times longer lifetime..."
  Missing word: S/B "a three times longer lifetime". Alternatively, "three times the lifetime" would work.
Page 72: "Other way to think about this..."
  Usage: S/B "Another way" or "The other way".
Page 73: "The renewable capacity we currently have and are building now will mostly not be included in 2050 energy production mix."
  Missing word: S/B "the 2050".
Page 73: "It is problematic to put a monetary value for something that is produced far off into the future."
  Word choice: S/B "on".
Page 73: "When comparing the value of a plants' total energy production..."
  Misplaced apostrophe: S/B "a plant's".
Page 74: Heading: "Ignoring system wide and external costs..."
  Missing hyphen: S/B "system-wide".
Page 74: Heading: "...intermittent power sources induce increasing system wide costs."
  Missing hyphen: S/B "system-wide".
Page 74: "Such target implies that..."
  Missing word: S/B "Such a target".
Page 75: "...the growth of wind and solar PV generation in Europe-wide grid..."
  Missing word: S/B "a Europe-wide". (Yes, even though Europe is a proper name.)
Page 76: "...with all the fuss and hand waving on solar and wind..."
  Missing hyphen: S/B "hand-waving".
Page 76: "...the very same hand wavers often complain..."
  Missing hyphen: S/B "hand-wavers".
Page 76: "...in this country of mere 5.5 million people..."
  Missing word: S/B "a mere 5.5 million".
Page 76: "This happened because of rather generous feed in tariff..."
  Missing word, missing hyphen: S/B "a rather generous feed-in tariff".
Pages 78-79: "Electricity, which currently accounts for just over 20 percent of global energy use, is something we actually know how to make relatively cheaply and cleanly in large amounts. Cheap electricity will start to substitute other energy carriers elsewhere in the energy sector — be it oil now used in transportation or domestic and industrial heat that are right now made mostly with natural gas, coal and biomass. This substitution absolutely needs to happen. This sets huge pressures to build much more low-carbon electricity production — not just to replace coal and gas generated electricity, but to replace fossil fuels elsewhere in the energy sector as well. It is a tall order, and it has to happen, and preferably it has to happen before mid-century."
  Repetition: This entire chunk of text is repeated immediately in the same paragraph.
Page 80: "...they would be ridiculed and with a good reason."
  Colloquial English doesn't need this article: it would be "with good reason".
Page 81: "This productivity and growth has enabled hundreds of millions of people to leave the farm..."
  Number error: S/B "have". Alternately, delete the "and" — which may be what was intended.
Page 87: "Is it wonder, then, that Energiewende is so popular..."
  Usage: In colloquial English, S/B "Is it any wonder, then".
Page 89: "Geoengineering poses huge unknowns and risks, and often uses huge amounts of energy and resources. They should be an emergency solution..."
  Number error: S/B "It".
Page 89: "There is lot to we can do."
  Missing and incorrect words: S/B "a lot that".
Pages 93-94: "They also often view rising living standards amongst the poor as something to be embraced and welcomed, as they see the positive effects it will have..."
  Number error: S/B "they". A better option would be to write "a rising living standard".
Page 95: "...we should ask if these are available, what their limits (scalability) and prices will be, and whether have they been tested on a proper scale."
  Word order: S/B "whether they have".
Page 96: "The projects underway and those being planned..."
  Missing space: S/B "under way".
Page 98: "Putting these against each other in a situation where around 87 percent..."
  Probably a typo: S/B "Pitting" since "pit" used as a verb appears two sentences further on.
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