Bad Idea #19 "greens are anti-science" with Tea Törmänen

🔍 Episode Summary

Can Greens support nuclear power? Finnish environmentalist and WePlaneteer Tea Törmänen joins Mark Lynas to dismantle Bad Idea #19: “greens are anti-science.” With clarity, courage, and a wealth of lived experience, Tea shares her journey from feeling like an outcast in the environmental movement to helping make the Finnish Green Party officially pro-nuclear.

Drawing from decades of activism, Tea explains how anti-nuclear sentiment became part of the environmentalist identity — and how that is now changing. She unpacks the myths around waste, safety, cost, and tribal loyalties, and shows how climate goals demand pragmatic, science-based solutions — including nuclear energy.

From wolves to fast reactors, American football to European energy policy, this episode explores what it takes to change minds and movements — and why it’s time for Greens everywhere to evolve.

🧠 Topics Discussed

● 🌱 How anti-nuclear views became “baked into” green identity

● 🧠 Tribalism, virtue, and the psychology behind environmental dogmas

● 🚧 Why Greens often oppose solutions more than problems

● 🗳️ How the Finnish Green Party became officially pro-nuclear

● ⚛️ Myths about nuclear waste and how Finland solved it

● ☢️ Radiation vs risk: what safety really looks like

● 🔁 Nuclear fuel recycling and “the waste of waste”

● 🧊 Why SMRs could decarbonize district heating

● 🌍 Building a global pro-nuclear environmental movement

● 🧬 From gene tech to clean heat — embracing science in climate action

● 💚 Finding your tribe when you don’t fit into one box

👩‍🏫 Guest Bio Tea Törmänen is a Finnish environmentalist, science advocate, and movement builder. She’s a former chair of WePlanet Finland and played a key role in shifting the Finnish Green Party toward a pro-nuclear and pro-GMO stance. With a background in animal cognition research and a fierce commitment to evidence-based activism, Tea combines a passion for nature with a pragmatic embrace of clean technologies. She’s also a former a Finnish national team American football player and a wolf behaviour researcher.

📚 Recommended Reading & Resources

● WePlanet.org

● Prescription for the Planet – Tom Blees

● Not Beyond Redemption – Tea’s upcoming work (TBD)

● Apocalypse Never – Michael Shellenberger

● The God Species – Mark Lynas

● Finnish Green Party platform (updated pro-nuclear position)

● POSIVA – Finnish nuclear waste repository project

● Barakah Nuclear Power Plant (UAE case study)

💬 Quote Highlights

“Being an environmentalist doesn't mean rejecting technology — it means embracing what works.”

“Too much clean energy? That’s not a problem. That’s the solution.”

“We solved nuclear waste in Finland. It was never a technical issue. It was political.”

“You don't stop climate change by limiting options. You stop it by using all the best ones.”

“I never fit in one tribe. Now I’ve found mine in WePlanet.”

🌐 About WePlanet WePlanet is a global citizen and science movement challenging bad ideas and championing evidence-based solutions for climate, nature, and human development. Learn more at weplanet.org.

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