In seven months, the policymakers, activists and the global press will gather in Glasgow for the 26th Conference of Parties (COP). These 'climate talks' are basically the only opportunity we get to engage with stakeholders from all around the world and show them how valuable an ally nuclear energy currently is, and could be, in the fight against climate change. There is not long to prepare. COP26 will be the fifth iteration of this event that I've had the opportunity to attend and it seems even more consequential than the previous four. It's heartening and inspiring to see the YGN and other pro-nuclear NGOs laying out plans to make it impossible to ignore the perennial clean energy elephant in the room: nuclear power.In abstract, it's pretty incredible that the largest source of carbon-free electricity in North America and Europe, and the world record holder for fastest decarbonization, was worth only a cursory mention at many COP meetings. My first COP was in Paris in 2015. As a semi-pro opera singer and labour organizer, I decided to sing a nuclear-powered parody of the Toreador aria (from Carmen) on the buses and trains en route to the climate talks. I accompanied Finnish authors Rauli Partanen and Janne Korhonen, who had a goal of handing out 5,000 copies of their crowdfunded pro-nuclear book, 'Climate Gamble'. We were able to hand out 3,000 books and received much applause, but we knew our small effort was quixotic.
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