Understanding the Urgency

I am extremely interested in wind power, so when the opportunity arose to attend a local community’s forum to oppose a proposed wind farm, I didn’t have to think twice. I have attended similar events before and I  prefer to be a ‘fly on the wall’. I write lots of notes and jot down things I would like to research further based on  accusations. Prior to attending this forum, I heard news coverage of why the wind farm was being turned down, and the outdated opinions of the area shocked me. But, I didn’t realize how serious the problem was until I attended.

The first speakers were two men who lived near a recently installed wind farm in the area. They talked of horrific jet-engine and braking-train sounds that the turbines made when the wind blew hard. They also discussed the significant deforestation required to install all the turbines. They encouraged the community to do its homework and not to rush in to the wind farm, as their community had. “Do your homework and find out if it’s the right thing to do…and keep in mind that you don’t have to do it today.” That statement began a theme for the night. 

As the speakers went on, the depth of this problem seemed to deepen. A conservation biologist showed many graphs and statistics of how unhelpful wind power was in reducing our use of fossil fuels. As he was showing a bar chart of the billions of tons of green house gas emissions predicted for 2020, he pointed to a small green portion at the top of bar. This represented the reduction of emission that wind power is projected to contribute in 2020. From where I was sitting, I could clearly see that, relative to the scale of the graph, this green amount was about 1-2 billion pounds of green house gas reduction.  Only an hour into the three hour forum, I thought I was going to have to leave. I could not believe that he was claiming a 1-2 billion pound reduction was insignificant. While only a small portion of the emissions, any reduction is a good reduction, in my opinion. He also failed to pair wind power with other renewable technologies such as solar, biomass or hydro. Small impact when separated, but in combination could potentially greatly reduce emissions.

As the meeting went on, again residents of the community were encouraged to “wait” (someone suggested up to 5 years!)and that “now was not the time”.  I couldn’t understand how the community could not see that NOW is the time. The technology is here and its proved to be beneficial in more ways than one. Our emissions need to be reduced and wasteful habits must be changed. I don’t feel the urgency is understood in situations like this. I don’t have the answers, but there has to be away to motivate people to action on these issues.

I believe conservation is the most important issue. If we didn’t need the electricity, we wouldn’t have to disturb the land to put up the turbine to produce it. But, again, this issue was almost untouched. In the extra hour the forum went on, only a handful of citizens were left to hear the fifth speaker. She was the ONLY speaker who talked of conservation being important. Again, shocking.

Renewable/Alternative energy is needed. Conservation is needed. And the time is now.