The Earth has suffered severe shocks in the past and life has still proliferated. However, life as we know it, with our delicate infrastructures, our abilities to kill ourselves and each other, our fragile food production and distribution systems, our need for complex chemicals and transportation and even water and sewage handling have not survived such shocks. China could handle such serious disruptions better than anyone else except maybe India. The US can't.
As far as the protesters go, whatever is cheapest always wins. Period. All one has to do is point out how much more something will cost or how many jobs will be affected and "conservation" will go by the wayside.

Protesting just gives people something to do. Not to worry. The minute it starts costing them they seem to wilt. Nuclear power will be back when we need it for desalinization if not before.