Editor’s note: This op-ed is by Suzanna Jones, an off-the-grid farmer who lives in Walden. She was among those arrested protesting the Lowell wind project in 2011.
Climate activist Bill McKibben told an audience at Sterling College recently that “people all over the world are paying an enormous price for our energy use,” and that our exorbitant use of energy is the source of the climate change problem. But rather than urging us to drastically reduce that energy use – to make radical changes to our growth-at-any-cost economic system and give up some of the luxuries and convenience we have become accustomed to – he instead talked about the “sacrifices” needed to allow industrial-scale renewable energy to spread. Unfortunately, most of those sacrifices will be made by the natural world, not by us.
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Annette Smith & M.K. Barton via Facebook
Comment
One of The reasons Why Our Earths Air,
Land & Water are POLLUTED is Partially due to the Lack of CONSERVATION in All things at ALL Levels. One of the areas of Conservation of the Earths ECO-System is Energy Conservation- Every Day the HUMAN race -especially the so -Called DEVELOPED World literally Pumps Billons of Tons into our Atmosphere and Yes part of the Solution is ALTERNATive Energy Production Methods other than the Combusting Fossil Fuels (Carbon Emissions). But that is only PART Of the answer- The Entire HUMAN RACE has to wake up to the fact that There is NOTHING On this Planet that is INEXHAUSTABLE.
It is estimated by the vast majority of the EARTHS Natural Resource Managers/professionals -that at the Present rate of Consumption of the KNOWN reserves of ALL Known (useable) Natural Resources- this Planet will Exhaust its Entire supply by the Year of 2100 - assuming that There will not be any attempt by the HUMAN Race to institute ANY CONSERVATION measures of ANY Kind !
Is this what u want to leave to your Grand-Children and Great Grandchildren and all other Future Generations? Energy Conservation will play a CRUCIAL Role in Extending the Sustainability for Future Generations of HOMO SAPIENS and Preserve the Air, Water and Land for Generations to come !
I know I Am a "LONELY Voice in a BIG FOREST"- I realize that and I am not trying to be an ALARMEST either- But the "HAND WRITING is on The Wall" so to speak.
Wind Power Generation is going to fall flat on its face- when the U.S. Taxpayers stop Subsidizing the Costs associated with Production. I Still firmly believe that the Most Reliable and Cost efficient source of Electrical Energy is either HYDRO, Geo-thermal or Solar Power!
Adult Experience & Knowledge Schools could provide some senior citizen with not only a purpose or companionship to the outside world of retirement but also some supplemental income. As a group of 14 Electricians, we learned from each other's experiences. That is what protected us, shared knowledge. 1 Million Man Hours of safety in 5 years without an injury. (lots of OT)
@Sherwin -- We have but limited time in a child's life to provide the basic tools of Reading, Writing (of which penmanship has been dropped) and Arithmetic ( Math these days). The tools to begin High School (which I guess goes by another name in some communities) which provides them the beginning tools of HOW to learn while guiding them toward interests for careers or lesser known as Jobs to provide for themselves and family if that is chosen also. Mandating the basics would be nice, however over my last 50 years, C average students going on to become teachers of the future generations, is a failure. A 100% achievement of a C student now teacher's knowledge is still a C. A C average of a C student as a teacher is 82% of 82% which is 67.24%, just above an F. With each 8 year cycle since I graduated (not saying my experience at HS was complete to my satisfaction) we are at about 24.92% (or less) of the standard 50 years ago. Unions protect and the government has rewarded the "Dumbing up of America".
There were many classes in HS that I would have liked to have taken and felt cheated. I was required then 16 Credits, received 21.5, and needed to learn more. Luckily I had hard working parents that took the time to educate themselves the hard way. (Hard Knocks experience). I went into the Military during Viet Nam, by choice, not by the draft. I was well equipped to hand sew my stipes on to keep them while others lost theirs due to lack of skill. On KP duty (a one day event) I went from dishwasher to cooking advisor. Cooked an entire Hunters Breakfast during HS. Knew how to do Laundry for the troops in my squad.
Yes we do need to turn off the switch, conserve power and move toward other conservation such as Reuse, Reduce, Recycle, (5 points actually) our waste stream that is filling so called landfills in Maine, that are nothing more than Mountains of Waste.
My conservation efforts over the last 50 years as an electrician (primary 1 job of many) has not only kept my power consumption below 1986 levels and costs but have saved my former employer over $30,000 per month at the wholesale price of .05 per Kwh at the time Maine homeowner rate payers were paying .15 per Kwh.
Conservation prevents the need, aka Waste Not, Want Not.
But as a Required class in all schools... NO... I would suggest, Adult Experience & Knowledge Schools, with Experienced persons of all jobs and careers offering their time and expertise to all, especially our youth as they begin their hopefully long lives.
Not only in conservation but other life experiences of reality vs hope or desire not yet resolved.
You know you have succeeded when your no longer needed. No matter the task.
I am proposing a new series of MANATORY classes be required in ALL Our SChools through-out this Nation on How to CONSERVE Energy IN All forms in ALL Functions of our Every day lives - IT CAN BE DONE and WE MUST DO IT for Future generations and the very existence of all Forms of Life on this Planet !!
It is So sad to See our NATURAL resources DESTROYED so that There can be So-Called "ENERGY Conservation" /Reduction of "CARBON FOOTPRINT" .. I Totally agree with the Statements Made in this Article 100%! We should be TEACHING OUR CHILDREN and GRANDCHILDREN to be ENERGY CONSERVATIONISTS in EVERYTHING that they do at home or in School or Where- ever they are !
My Father was an Energy Conservationist -He taught us to Turn OFF THe Light in the Room if we were the last one in it and if we did not we were admonished for not doing so !
But EQUALLY important is Where and How we Derive our Electrical Power - WITH THE LEAST AMOUNT of DESTRUCTION to our Planet !! WE ARE Literally destroying the VERY PLANET that we live on right out from under our very own feet !!From the COAL Fields on Tennessee /Kentucky to the Mountain tops ridges in New England the DESTRUCTION TAKING PLace Will Contribute to the DEMISE of the Human Race and ALL Other Living Species of Plants & Animals at a such an accelerated Pace -that The Appalachian Mountains will be reduced to a PLAIN Greater in size and flatter than the Great Plains of the U.S. Mid-West. .If We TEACH Our Future Generations HOW To take Action to CONSERVE as much ENERGY as Possible- There MAY Not be any Need for any additional Power!!!
U.S. Sen Angus King
Maine as Third World Country:
CMP Transmission Rate Skyrockets 19.6% Due to Wind Power
Click here to read how the Maine ratepayer has been sold down the river by the Angus King cabal.
Maine Center For Public Interest Reporting – Three Part Series: A CRITICAL LOOK AT MAINE’S WIND ACT
******** IF LINKS BELOW DON'T WORK, GOOGLE THEM*********
(excerpts) From Part 1 – On Maine’s Wind Law “Once the committee passed the wind energy bill on to the full House and Senate, lawmakers there didn’t even debate it. They passed it unanimously and with no discussion. House Majority Leader Hannah Pingree, a Democrat from North Haven, says legislators probably didn’t know how many turbines would be constructed in Maine if the law’s goals were met." . – Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting, August 2010 https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/wind-power-bandwagon-hits-bumps-in-the-road-3/From Part 2 – On Wind and Oil Yet using wind energy doesn’t lower dependence on imported foreign oil. That’s because the majority of imported oil in Maine is used for heating and transportation. And switching our dependence from foreign oil to Maine-produced electricity isn’t likely to happen very soon, says Bartlett. “Right now, people can’t switch to electric cars and heating – if they did, we’d be in trouble.” So was one of the fundamental premises of the task force false, or at least misleading?" https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/wind-swept-task-force-set-the-rules/From Part 3 – On Wind-Required New Transmission Lines Finally, the building of enormous, high-voltage transmission lines that the regional electricity system operator says are required to move substantial amounts of wind power to markets south of Maine was never even discussed by the task force – an omission that Mills said will come to haunt the state.“If you try to put 2,500 or 3,000 megawatts in northern or eastern Maine – oh, my god, try to build the transmission!” said Mills. “It’s not just the towers, it’s the lines – that’s when I begin to think that the goal is a little farfetched.” https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/flaws-in-bill-like-skating-with-dull-skates/
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Hannah Pingree - Director of Maine's Office of Innovation and the Future
"Once the committee passed the wind energy bill on to the full House and Senate, lawmakers there didn’t even debate it. They passed it unanimously and with no discussion. House Majority Leader Hannah Pingree, a Democrat from North Haven, says legislators probably didn’t know how many turbines would be constructed in Maine."
https://pinetreewatch.org/wind-power-bandwagon-hits-bumps-in-the-road-3/
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