Sometimes I wish the European governments would open "climate sanctuaries", where Green Party members and other individuals can go and live for a while taking only cold showers, not using any plastic, living with dim lightbulbs and low flush toilets, and perhaps even whipping themselves occasionally.
As they leave, they will get a certificate that says they helped to "save the planet". The dedicated ones can live there while less dedicated visit just for a few hours on Sundays.
Meanwhile the actual governments can build out nuclear power and do something that is effective. This would give both sides what they want.
What's their motivation for this? (I see something similar and I don't understand. I have explained it for myself by Hanlon's razor.)
Then add in existing degrowth movements.
Hence the faithfull can demonstrate their goodness but flying to some enviro conference even if the private jet burns a bit of gas getting there.
What stops an economic powerhouse like the EU:
- engineering and design costs are insane for new nuclear plants
- waste is also probably expensive given a largely urbanized continent
- solar and wind plummeting in costs, as well as batteries (yes, I will admit this is counter to the previous point as solar/wind occupy more space than waste storage)
- potentially, a stigma associating nuclear energy with former incompetent governance
- not all of EU (or world) is in a geographically stable region, i.e. resilient against earthquakes, which would balloon the cost of a safe nuclear power plant