A former activist in radical climate change group, Extinction Rebellion, has called on Australia not to follow Europe’s footsteps into its current energy crisis through the aggressive pursuit of net-zero.
Zion Lights, former Extinction Rebellion spokesperson, said Europe was currently a “sinking ship” that was forcing residents into “scrambling to keep” the lights on.
“Europe is in an energy crisis and is a crisis of our own making. Please do not make the mistakes that we’ve made,” Lights told the audience at CPAC (Conservative Political Action Conference) Australia in Sydney on Oct. 1.
“People can’t afford electricity bills because of a pipe dream that was based on fantasy instead of evidence.”
The British activist said people in Germany are talking about “not having enough wood to burn to keep them warm through the winter,” while in the UK the government could shut down power to certain businesses as a “backup plan” if the country runs out of energy this winter.
Moving Towards Nuclear Energy
Europe’s energy crisis is a result of countries phasing out nuclear power stations and “doing everything on renewables” without the energy supply to back it up, said Lights.She described nuclear energy as “clean,” “firm” and “reliable.”
“No industrial-sized country in the world with an industrial grid has been able to decarbonize without a third—without nuclear energy— firm, clean source of energy to back up,” the British environmental activist argued.
“No one wants to shut fossil fuels more than me. I’ve been on this train for a long time. But I also don’t want people to suffer and have blackouts and not have energy.”
She called Australia a “nuclear nation just waiting to happen,” being the third largest exporter of uranium in the world and having world-leading research institutes like ANSTO (Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation). She also pointed to several coal-fired power stations which could be converted to nuclear sites.
However, Australia has banned nuclear power since 1998 as part of the Coalition government’s deal with the left-wing Greens and the Australian Democrats to pass other bills through the Senate.
Zion’s Road to Damascus
The climate activist also revealed that she quit Extinction Rebellion after realising that the group’s approach to environmental problems did not lead to viable solutions.“I was starting to think that we’ve been protesting for 20 years,” she said, “First of all, are we getting it wrong? Are people sick of hearing what we don’t want?”
“When you join the environmental movement, it’s just completely standard that you’re anti-nuclear,” she added. “And I never questioned it, I was young, and I really was worried about the environment.”
Despite the debate around energy becoming increasingly polarising, Lights noted that it’s not a “left, right issue.”
“Maybe you don’t care about climate change, but you should care about energy because we live this high quality of lifestyle because we have access to energy. And now in Europe, we’re losing access to it.”
