Paris Ortiz Wines – Global Coordinator for Stand Up For Nuclear

There's a way, a way such a better way today, today. The nation flies till the world, there's a better way, today, and there's a better way. This is Rod Adams and it's time for another Atomic Show. And with me today, I have Paris Ortiz wines, who is the Global Director for an initiative called Stand Up for Nuclear. This initiative is all about displaying pride and activism in support of nuclear. So Paris, welcome. Hello, thank you for having me. Well, I heard about you from listening to you on Chris Keefer's podcast called Decouple. I actually knew you before that, but I learned a little bit about you and learned about what you're doing with Stand Up for Nuclear. And I thought it would be a good idea to introduce you to another audience, although we may have some overlap between Atomic Show and Decouple. So tell us, Paris, what makes a young lady decide that she's going to be a pro-nuclear activist? Right. Well, so I'm from, I was born and raised in Santa Barbara, California. And after I did my study at UC Santa Cruz, I got my bachelor's in environmental studies. I really was looking for a way to, as every young individual does, find a way to make an impact on the world. And I must say after my studies at Santa Cruz, I was pretty desperate and looking for something about how to help the world. I guess find my place in it. And so that's where I stumbled upon EP up here in the bay. And luckily I got my job with EP and I've been working there for the last two and a half years. And I must say that was the first time I was ever introduced to nuclear energy. I remember in one of my classes, I was, one of my teachers gave a brief PowerPoint slide on nuclear energy, but that was the massive exposure to nuclear energy. So after working with EP and getting to travel around the world and meet other pro-nuclear activists and get to see what nuclear does for our world, it was pretty easy for me to switch. It gave us clean, abundant energy for all people and it lessened our impact on the environment. And as my old days of the hit the in Santa Cruz, I found that that was the best technology that we needed to pursue. So luckily I found EP and was able to find out about nuclear energy. I didn't even know that California had nuclear plants and that my own hometown city benefits directly from electricity. So after two and a half years, I am now probably open from nuclear. So EP is environmental progress. That's Michael Shellenberger's organization. And I think that I heard that you were inspired by one of his TED talks. Is that an accurate statement? Yes. Yes. So during the process when I was looking or considering to apply an environmental progress, I stumbled upon his TED talk and it was the one of why I changed my mind about nuclear. And Michael beautifully laid out the arguments that I would see frequently in the classes in Santa Cruz, basically about renewables and this vision of us romanticizing, us harmonizing with nature and living within our means and basically not traveling and everything that we did was bad and humans were the virus. And so after seeing Michael's TED talk of as a pro, I guess environmentalist changing his mind about nuclear, I was able to see myself in that argument and was able to switch right over. There was no fear of nuclear weapons or nuclear bonds. I wasn't, you know, luckily with my age, I'm not scared of those things or didn't have to go through it. So I'm able to embrace nuclear energy with a new positive light and I hope that others will embrace it as well. So what do you think of the people who say that the answer to our global warming and our consumption of energy and the effect we have the environment is to be more efficient and to use less and to just reduce our consumption? Well, I think I will say as a person who bought into idea, it does sound romantic in a better way and I think it's a way of redeeming ourselves for being. I think there's a lot of guilt and shame as a way we live and living our modern societies. But when we talk about lessening our energy consumption, you're talking about poverty where these Western mainly and already developed nations are saying it's the less than our consumption, you're already coming from a place of privilege. One that had my one side of my family come from an undeveloping nation or had to suffer without electricity. It's pretty an elite thing to say. So I think that there's a way with nuclear energy we can have our modern societies power, have power 24 seven. Seeing what's happening in California, they weren't able to power our houses. We have a lot of blackout due to our losses. Because everybody else is going through the same heat wave and it's upsetting to see that they want us to return to energy poverty. So I think it's a use help at dystopia that we bought into and I think nuclear energy gives us the life that we all want, which is to lessen our impact on the environment while also having healthy clean light as humans. Are you in touch with your fellow students from UC Santa Cruz or within your professors have you had a chance to talk with them about your discovery? I must admit I haven't I'm not in touch with any of my professors at UC Santa Cruz, but during my time at Santa Barbara City College, I reached out to my professor who was the one that actually was the one that did the PowerPoint slide on nuclear energy and told him about my position with environmental progress and my work and he was really touched to hear from me. I think he's on the same page he's pretty neutral on our energy sources, but I was able to get in touch with him, but unfortunately I don't know who I would contact with UC Santa Cruz. I do think there's a lot of anti-nuclearism and anti-science and in the department that I wasn't at least. Anti-science now where to in environmental studies isn't that supposed to be a science based curriculum. It is, but I think so environmental studies it says it's a combination with science as well as humanity and I think we focused on the social justice aspect and how ideally we would like the world, which was very beneficial for me. And figuring out what I would like to do and what I would like to pursue, but as far as how like electricity works, how people get power to their homes and what we've done in the actual world. We didn't really focus on that unfortunately if I was maybe an major that was more heavily science or engineering. I think I would have been exposed to nuclear earlier, but luckily I found it. And one of the things that I've been trying to figure out how to do is to get more college campuses to have a more interdisciplinary approach not just in the classroom, but I mean in many campuses the engineering and science folks and the communities folks don't really even cross pass that often. They have different lives and different groups and they don't really seem to talk to each other about what they're doing. And one of the things that really is interesting or confusing to me about that is that the social justice aspects and making people's lives better everyone's lives people who have nothing requires an understanding of tools of how do we do this. How do we get electricity delivered to people that have none. How do we get running water to people. How do we clean up the rivers and streams where right now in some places we have people bathing just downstream of the discharge of a sewer. How do we get that corrected and it really does require some technology and some understanding of science and application and also maybe it also requires a belief that humans are kind of good. There was serving. Yeah, and I think that's where so. Okay, so my my boyfriend is an engineer and I was in and we both met at UC Santa Cruz and it was just it was it was comical comparing what studies that we had to do and he never had to take a humanities class and I didn't have to take any upper engineering classes. But I do think there's a divide although both. I'll say. I'll say that both studies are focused on making the world a better place. We have different applications and I think what I found when I was in the environmental studies program is that I think some felt that a lot of the engineers look down on those that were pursuing humanities majors and I think there was a misunderstanding and I do think that there needs to be more. but cross over and I think there's a way to do it and I think. We're working with our allies here in California and working on saving Diablo. January one of our last nuclear pants and we were just discussing of how one of our allies does. A class at Cal Poly slow and I think bringing in the engineering side of how everything works in California and how everybody gets their electricity and then also bringing in to light. What's happening right now why we're having a blackout and what we've done and the benefits of nuclear and what we benefits with today and unfortunately we have not seen in the media. Anything about what's happening with Diablo it's continued to produce electricity for 24 seven and nobody's talking about it they forget that we even have it. I think that mixing these two majors or studies would be very beneficial and I think it would bring more people and create this movement that or make this movement bigger. Let's talk about that movement the one of the things in environmental progress has been doing that is it's time actually it's way past time but it's time since we didn't do it 20 years ago may as well do it now for. I think that we get together and in a positive way help people understand that nuclear is a pretty darn good thing and it's certainly worth learning about talking about celebrating. And also about to stand up for nuclear thing just going around the world I keep saying things on Twitter. Yeah, so it started about two years ago so back in I believe 2018. Michael and us and as well as about 50 other individuals and organizations around the world came together Michael calls everybody. And we knew that we needed action we needed to have people that are from nuclear come out and engage with the public and just have a physical presence saying hey guys I like nuclear. And although we do have a lot of organizations for the nuclear industry this was a movement for the people that whether they're working in the nuclear industry or even just interested. or even just engineers or fellow environmentalists or environmental study majors like me. So we started our movement and I'll say the heart of anti-nuclearism, which was in Munich, Germany. And we did this huge festival and we called it nuclear prize. And it was with polar bears, we were singing, we had boobs, it was fun with radiation, we had actions on how to get involved. It was a fun light demonstration. And because it was so successful, we knew that it needed to be not just one weekend in October and one location, we needed to expand it. There was so many people reaching out to us saying they wanted to be involved and that there's a lot of prices around the world where nuclear planes were at risk. So we launched stand-up for nuclear last year, our first year, which was 2019. And we had over 30 cities and over 19 different countries, I believe and people were able to have their own events with their own people, own allies, and be able to have a message directly for their community because every place is different. Some people don't even have nuclear energy. But they were willing to stand up for nuclear. Our allies last year were, one of them was a last minute one. It was in Sudan and one of these students reached out to us and said, hey, we want to be part of stand-up for nuclear and they put one on last minute. So we wanted to create a movement that wasn't just for industry, for everybody to be involved, and for all the reasons that people like nuclear. Whether it's for environmental reasons or if they just want to live high-class supplies with a lot of energy and not feel guilty, then they were all there. And I must say we have a, there's so many different people in our group and it's only increasing. So I assume you're pretty busy this month and maybe into next month with helping to coordinate events all around the world. What kind of hours are you keeping? I must admit I'm not keeping them. I wake up and I'm like instantly on my phone and then I'll check if I can for dinner right before bed. So I will say this September or the past two weeks have been maybe I've been working at least double of what I should be. But I must say that it doesn't feel like working. Like I get a beyond Zoom calls with our allies and Denmark, to the Philippines, Argentina. We have all these things going on and it's very exciting. And so for this year we have over 40 cities and over, I wanna say 20 different countries. I still am getting so many inquiries about having their own stand-up. And it's exciting and overwhelming at times that it's happening. So we just had Denmark go today and we also had Sweden and we also had Taiwan. And then our first weekend was kicked off by Seattle and Finland and the following weekends are jam-packed. So Adam, I might just be up all night. So I don't know. I'll let you know after everything's been. Did you just call me Adam? Oh my God, yeah, I'm at at times. That's all right. My name is Rod Adams. And sometimes I know. I like to pronounce it sort of like atoms. There it is, that's why I left my opinion. Yeah, that's right. And there was a, I can't remember, it was a TV show or something where there was a character name, Adam Adams. Oh no, that's a thing. Yeah. Yeah, so yeah, it's one of the, I watched a beach party in Great Britain and thought, man, that would be a fun thing to do. I guess it was near the place where size well sea is being planned, which is that would be a follow on to inkley. Yeah, so that would actually, so I have to give all the credit to Z on mine. So she's our direct UK director. She works with me at environmental progress. And so she's been hard. It's been working away in the UK. So she just launched this new campaign, New Glier for Net Zero. And so she's going to be doing a stand up later in the year in March, but for this nuclear net zero, it's we found it very critical, especially with the possible, you know, the P&P point seemed that under construction we want to get size well, P-belt, we want more size. The UK is looking to bring in more nuclear energy, a lot of their plants are going to have to be shut down due to the reactor that they chose to pursue. So Z on has just been putting the, as we say, the pedals to the metals. The metals. Yeah. And so she wanted to do something fun. And so after working with extinction rebellion, she knows how to put on a party, knows how to do a banner drop. So it's been an absolute pleasure working with alongside her and just getting to see what she's been doing. So yeah, those pictures were her and her team in the UK and that more exciting things are planned for the rest of the year. And I think that's critical, especially during this time, during September, where there's so many events happening. Our allies in Germany are just killing it. Every weekend, every other day they have something planned and they're getting coverage. And they're getting beautiful images that we're sharing with our followers on Twitter and Facebook. And it's a part warming to see, especially when I have to start planning our stand up for nuclear ventilator and San Francisco. And five years of things continue, the same way that they've been going, we'll probably lose our last nuclear plant, but we're working really hard to not close it down. So we'll see. Yeah, I'm looking for the banner drop from the Golden Gate Bridge. With that call. No, I want to do that. I thought of it and I was like, oh my gosh, maybe I could get arrested too. I don't know. I'm like, good meat, attention in the media, still media attention. Yeah, of course, it's a pretty high bridge. It's not the easiest thing in the world to do that. But it would be pretty dramatic. Especially right now you're very dystopian looking skies. Oh my God. Yeah, we have you seen those videos of this, it's funny though that one day that we had those orange skies that woke up and it was so eerie and I'll bet blood is going on. And then we see how these videos on Twitter of people putting the background music to Blade Runner with these images and videos that they were taking as to wild. Yeah, interesting. During that day, the solar production on the coastal rooftops in California was almost zero. Of course, the smoke didn't go inland. So the big arrays and the desert were pumping out the juice but the rooftops in San Francisco didn't have any light to turn into electricity. Right. And I was, I was, you know, on that day I was looking through my Twitter feed and I saw this woman say that one of her coworkers, their employer sent them a solar panel and a generator in case their power went out. And I saw that a certain place in Silicon Valley was bringing in some generators, which was very closely located near school. So I just don't think people know what's happening here. So that's what we're gonna work on. We hope to launch the new campaigns in the next week or so. So I'll keep you updated. But California is going through it right now. We still got a lot of natural gas and people think we're gonna be 100% renewable. I'm here to tell you that it's not gonna happen and I wanna keep the envelope open. Yeah, it'd be a real shame to lose that. I mean, it's only one plant. Of course it's got two units, 2200 megawatts. But it does produce about, over between 17 and 19 billion kilowatt hours per year of essentially zero emission electricity. So it's important contributor. Right, and it's around 20% of our cleaner electricity and I don't think, I think a lot of especially my friends and my circles, they don't know that we even have nuclear and what's nuclear energy. And it's funny how when you see all these videos, especially with like the department of energy here in the US, when they have videos that nuclear plants, you always see Diablo. Our nuclear plant is the most beautiful nuclear plant in my opinion in the US. It's just absolutely breathtaking on the coast. There's no way that we can set down. Just even looking at it. So we're teaming up with some really cool people and we're gonna be doing a lot of cool initiatives that COVID permits with us following the year. Oh, that sounds terrific. I'm ready to help in any way I can. So what are the really cool events coming up in the next week or two? Who else is doing stand up for nuclear? Who's that? All right, so looking at my flyers. So the third weekend is free pop in. So we got our virtual event in Argentina. We have SF here, we have South Africa, we have Philippines, we have, oh, we have Alberta Canada, we have Poland, we have two or three events in Germany, and we also have Estonia on board. They're gonna be doing two events next weekend. So there's a lot to cover. In our last weekend, we're gonna be, we're gonna out with the bank. So we got Netherlands, the last weekend, Brazil, we got Boston, Cuba, New York, and we have seven different cities in Italy. All of them, all of them in Italy are being coordinated by this great group, student led group, and they're gonna be coordinating their efforts across their nation. And I think it's, especially after this last year with COVID, I wish them all the best. And I'm so excited that they're doing seven cities. They're making us look like fools over here. Yeah, I think that's more than we have in the US, if I remember the count that I think that's, I count maybe four or five here in the US. Yeah, it's been our allies across the East, I've just been amazing, as well as the ones here in the US. But I just think there's a lot of movement overseas, and we're so glad to be a part of it. Your Senate for New Cliers over, we hope to go and visit all of them. So exciting things are happening in the next couple weeks, and although COVID has made some of our events switched to virtual, our Mexico virtual event was viewed by a couple thousand, and that was their first event ever in the country. And a lot of people didn't even know they have nuclear and geo, or they have their one nuclear plant there. And with South Korea, they're not able to do their big events, like they did last year, where a couple hundred people showed up and got us beautiful images, where they, you could pose with their polar bear, as well as take a step into the Instagram frame and take some pictures. So with South Korea this year, they're gonna be doing a one-man relay, basically. So multiple locations around the country will be able to stand outside with their sign, take some images, and so everybody can participate, although gatherings are banned right now. There's, I just got over 20 people interested this morning from South Korea that they want to participate. And they're gonna be doing it in each of their cities. Wow, sounds like you're doing good work and you're keeping really busy. I'm happy to hear that. Hope that anybody listening will go and visit to website and find out what's going on. And the URL for that website, I believe, is standupornuclear.org. And is force spelled out or is it the number four? It's spelled out. Okay, so that's standupornuclear.org. All one word in the standup for nuclear. And there's a whole list, a table of events that are happening with the digital information. There's some, have you been posting pictures of any of the events or that just on Twitter? Yes, so both on our website, as well as our Instagram, which is... stand up for nuclear as well. And on our Twitter, but we also have a Facebook page. It's called Nuclear Pride Coalition, which is a original organization that started nuclear pride, but it has evolved into stand-up and I've been posting videos photos. So if any of you are interested and want to see who's involved in our movement, I highly encourage you guys to check out our social media. I'll be posting more on Twitter. I keep getting more pictures every day. So I encourage anybody is even remotely nuclear. Once in a more, I want to join the movement. I encourage you to sign up to our website, follow our social media accounts, and just know that more events are coming. Although it's our stand-up season is our big launch, we need consistent action for nuclear around the world. So I hope you join us. Everybody is welcome. Thanks for your time. Thank you very much, Perris, for your time, and we'll be talking soon. Yes, thank you, Rod. I'll be talking to you soon.