Judy Ringle
I am a certified Mother: our town’s first La Leche League leader and first Bradley Natural Childbirth teacher. Our youngest daughter was born at home, and now our oldest daughter is a Certified Nurse Midwife. I am a proud grandmother to six beautiful grandchildren.
I have supported countless women in preparation for peaceful and supportive childbirth, and in creating a nurturing and nourishing bond with their babies through breastfeeding. We mothers cannot limit our support of humanity to only those first few years of life. We need to support people to lead healthy and prosperous lives, and to do that we absolutely need electricity. It saves countless lives and powers our well-being.
I married a nuclear engineer, and I always believed nuclear energy to be the most environmental solution to provide power to a growing population. I remember back when the Sierra Club raved about nuclear because it meant no more hydroelectric dams. It was the wave of the future, a promising way to preserve the environment while supporting the needs of humanity. I continue to believe in the original environmental vision for nuclear energy, although our modern society has gotten tragically sidetracked.
I am passionate about our natural environment. I am a defender of wildlife, wolf lover, tree hugger, and general environmental weirdo. This is why I was so captivated with the original environmental hope for nuclear energy – with nuclear energy we can leave nature alone! When I see coal trains, smog, or even wind farms along the hilltops, I cringe to think of the damage.
“ I continue to believe in the original environmental vision for nuclear energy”
Many mothers are already aware that coal, oil, and other fossil fuel sources pollute our air and harm our children. I heard an engineer at a meeting say that he believes that at least one of his grandchildren will die as a result of global warming. What a tragic, tragic, thought. Our kids and their kids and their kids deserve a lifestyle as rich as ours (yes to hot showers, heat, air conditioning, refrigeration, etc.) without threatening their very lives. Nuclear energy does not produce harmful emissions, and it can reduce our dependence on fossil fuels.
I’ve heard from many people who are concerned about nuclear waste. Of all the things in life we have to worry about, that is not one that makes my list. I’ve toured Yucca Mountain and I understand the waste to be a political problem, not a technical one. Unfortunately some people use their reservations about nuclear waste as a way to distract from progress on our world’s most critical issues.
I have dedicated my life to supporting women and children through my work in the birth and baby community. We need midwives, birth coaches, La Leche League leaders and nuclear energy to support and protect human lives on this beautiful planet.