Apple launched its 2022 Earth Day initiative on Thursday with $ 1 for each Apple Pay transaction until the environmental holiday on April 22 donated to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), an explicit anti-nuclear group.
“WWF has a vision for the future that will phase out the use of fossil fuels and nuclear power in
share of energy consumption across the globe, ”reads a 2003 non-profit position paper outlining an attitude maintained almost 20 years later.
The WWF push was highlighted by energy writer Alex Epstein on Twitter as just the latest example of Apple’s promotion of an anti-nuclear agenda. The company is misleadingly promoting its activities, which are powered solely by renewable energy, which excludes nuclear power, with the purchase of green credits from other consumers on local electricity grids to provide coverage for its use of reliable coal and natural gas.
Green pursuit of a low-carbon future without the introduction of more nuclear power on existing networks is nothing but a fantasy. Today, nuclear power generates nearly 20 percent of U.S. electricity and more than half of the country’s carbon-free energy from 93 reactors, according to the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI). In contrast, the Ministry of Energy reports that wind and solar energy produce 12 percent. While nuclear reactors maintain the ability to produce stable production, solar panels and wind turbines are weather dependent.
Excessive reliance on unreliable wind and solar energy has triggered short-term energy crises in Europe and California. Europe’s reliance on Russian fuel to generate instantaneous power when weather-dependent sources failed during the closure of nuclear power plants has further limited Western diplomacy with President Vladimir Putin at war in Ukraine. The United States runs a risk of a similar dependence on Russian resources without diversifying its uranium supply to burn the country’s nuclear reactors. 46 percent of U.S. uranium comes from Russian-backed states.
However, embracing nuclear power remains the only environmentally sustainable solution for a future of lower carbon, with facilities that require 300 to 400 times less soil than what is required to mass produce from wind and solar, according to an analysis by Environmental Progresss Michael Shellenberger .
Last week, a wind power company was fined millions after pleading guilty to killing at least 150 protected eagles.
Tristan Justice is the Western correspondent for The Federalist. He has also written for The Washington Examiner and The Daily Signal. His work has also been featured in Real Clear Politics and Fox News. Tristan graduated from George Washington University, where he majored in political science and taught journalism. Follow him on Twitter at @JusticeTristan or contact him at Tristan@thefederalist.com.