Mondo Energy: The New Young Professionals Out to Make a Difference
- By Randy Brich -
In case you haven’t noticed there are some new young professionals (NYP) bent on making a difference. These NYP do not fit the mold of an average nuclear power advocate, even their name, Mondo Energy, conveys something non-standard compared to the more formal nuclear family. Check out their website www.mondoenergy.org and see if you agree.
In the “about us” section of their website Mondo succinctly addresses the importance of energy stating, in part:
”Modern society depends totally on energy for its existence. We need light, we need heat, and we need power to run machines or we will not have a civilization. It really is that simple…This is our mission at Mondo Energy: to help drive the discussions, the seemingly cross-purposed engagements in the global problem of energy processing, the pollution its generation and use creates, and the costs involved. Tomorrow will not take care of itself but if we don’t understand today, how can we hope to affect tomorrow?”
Surfing around the Mondo Energy website is like a taking a deep breath of fresh Northern Great Plains air. For example, under the “Nuclear Power” tab I found the following clear, concise description:
“There is no viable alternative to a vast enlargement of our nuclear generating capacity if we hope to significantly reduce our fossil fuel emissions while maintaining any semblance of our modern society. Nuclear powered electricity generation is the only type we now have that can both match the base-load capabilities of coal and natural gas, and do so with essentially no greenhouse gas emissions.
Nuclear is safe. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has succeeded (sic) in their mission to ensure the safety of the nuclear industry in the US. There is an enormous amount of intellectual dishonesty in the popular press, blogo-sphere, and the old, reliably trite and ever-so-valiantly-trying-to-stay-relevant enviro-protest crowd and they all spend an enormous amount of money and will in trying to perpetuate the political myth that nuclear energy is dangerous. This claim is false.”
On October 22 they made their public debut holding their first of undoubtedly several upcoming live shows, “The Truth About Nuclear Power: The Role of Nuclear Power in the Clean Energy Mix, The Neutron Economy – Past, Present and Future, and What “Green Incorporated” Doesn’t Want You to Know” at the Denver Art Museum.
Over 150 interested, concerned citizens heard the truth about nuclear power firsthand from a cross section of professionals, including two authors, a retired Air Force Secretary, two professors and a CEO. Specifically, the speakers and their order of appearance follows:
• Gwyneth Cravens noted author of Power to Save the World
• Honorable William C. Anderson, former Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Air Force
• Nick Rosen, award-winning international producer, journalist and author of How to Live Off-Grid
• Dr. Robert Amme, professor of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Denver
• Dr. Roger Pielke, professor of Environmental Studies at the University of Colorado, Boulder
• John R. Grizz Deal, CEO of Hyperion Power Generation
I recently had the pleasure of chatting with Cody Pearson (BS Business Administration and marketing with an emphasis on International Business and e commerce) regarding the show. Interestingly, not only is he not a geek, he’s also a fearless downhill mountain biker, skier and snowboarder.
According to Cody they decided to hold a live show at the Denver Art Museum for two reasons: (1) To help people understand the process that Gwyneth Cravens went through to arrive at her conclusion that nuclear power indeed has the ability to “Save the World” and (2) to showcase the new technologies that are being developed to help solve the world’s energy problems.
Cravens talk covered the salient features of her book by walking the audience through the process that she went through to gain first hand knowledge about all aspects of the nuclear fuel cycle. Cravens’ book captivatingly chronicles her journey from the darkness of ignorance to the light of knowledge, and, I can only wish I’d been there to hear her speak. This type of personal testimony by a lay person can be a powerful and effective means of conveying essential facts about nuclear power to a non-technical audience and Mondo should be commended for bringing Gwyneth Cravens to Denver. Prior to seeing Mondo’s show announcement, I hadn’t heard of Nick Rosen and hope to review his book at some point in the future.
Regarding the new technologies the event featured John Griz Deal CEO of Hyperion Power Generation, Inc. (http://www.hyperionpowergeneration.com/) who spoke about their new modular “nuclear battery” as an alternative to the large (1 GWe) capital intensive reactors that are currently in vogue across the U.S. and elsewhere. Following the formal presentations the audience broke into small groups centering on each of the presenters facilitating in depth discussions on their specific topics.
According to Cody, Mondo considers their first event a “success that generated great input, put new technologies in front of more people, and was, all in all, a great job, especially, since they advertised the event on a shoestring budget.” In addition to their website, advertising consisted primarily of emails to their sponsor organizations and flyers in coffee shops around the Denver Metro area. Regarding my question whether any anti-nuclear activists attended Cody expressed surprise that no one protested although some “free-spirits” did attend the event.
Currently, 6 individuals all about 30 years old comprise Mondo Energy with Anna Tison, Editor, doing most of the heavy lifting. All of the Mondo gang, as Cody refers to them, have “real day jobs” and are very committed to their mission of educating the public regarding energy generation and distribution.
Cody also described a significant website expansion slated for either later this year or early next which should help bring Mondo into the mainstream of the energy websites.
Meanwhile, as Mondo processes lessons learned from the show and plans their next live event for sometime next Spring, surf their website frequently and see what the NYP are doing about our current energy problems -- who knows what you might learn.
LAST WEEK'S COLUMN:
The Land Where Poseurs Count - By Randy Brich - On October 1, 2009, I attended a meeting sponsored by the Environmental Protection Agency held in conjunction with the biennial membership meeting of the Western Mining Action Network in Rapid City, South Dakota. The purpose of this meeting and similar meetings throughout Uranium ...
About Randy Brich
Randy graduated from South Dakota State University in 1978 with a M.S. in Biology. Following graduation he switched gears and began a lifelong study of ionizing radiation and its beneficial applications to humanity. During the course of his study he worked as a staff Health Physicist with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission specializing in the licensing and inspection of uranium recovery facilities. He transferred to the Department of Energy where he worked as a Health Physicist at the 
Nevada Operations Office and later to the Richland Operations Office specializing in environmental monitoring, dose reconstruction, worker protection, waste cleanup and systems biology.
Since then he has retired from the federal government and, after taking time out to build an energy efficient house near the Missouri River, has formed Diamond B Communications LLC. Diamond B Communications LLC uses a multimedia approach to explain complex energy resource issues to technical and non-technical audiences. He also guides for Dakota Bike Tours, the Relaxed Adventure Company, offering tours of the Badlands National Park, the Black Hills and Devils Tower National Monument.
If you have questions, comments, or know of a book that you think Randy should review E-mail Randy Brich>> randy@nuclearstreet.com