The Fonda Syndrome

In the latest edition of their Freakonomics column in The New York Times Magazine, authors Stephen J. Dubner and Steven D. Levitt suggest that Jane Fonda may have contributed to global warming in a big way. They point out that Fonda's anti-nuclear power movie The China Syndrome opened just three days before the Three Mile Island accident in 1979, sparking a widespread panic over the dangers of nuclear power which may have resulted in the needless continued use of greenhouse gas-emitting coal plants. Correlation without causation? Probably. The column also points out that cost problems, waste disposal issues, and Chernobyl didn't help nuclear power's image either. However, nuclear power may come back in style as a cheap, efficient, and clean source of energy. On the other hand, our best plan for dealing with all the toxic waste is still to bury it under a mountain. More details here.