No place to run; no place to hide?
Is Saddleback in Carthage the equivalent in raw beauty to such areas as the Grand Canyon or Glacier National Park? Of course not. I lived in Washington state and have traveled all around the country. I've camped in the national parks and climbed mountains that tower over Saddleback and I love those places. But when my friends from Seattle came to my wedding here, my father explained to them that while "their" northwest mountains are majestic and awe-inspiring, "There is nothing prettier than this."
These ridges and mountains here where we live are part of us. They are our daily bread. When we are away from home, we look forward to turning off of Route 2 or the like, driving away from town, looking to see if there is snow on the mountains and settling back in to our more natural surroundings. Many of us go into the woods daily. But I wonder where will we (the collective "we") go when our mountain tops are industrialized? Mainers are often guilty of poking fun at those from away. But I was (am?) one of those people. Webb Lake and the surrounding area was our sacred ground. We drove up here each summer to our aunt's old camp and could finally breathe. My father often says it was the only two weeks out of the entire year when he was relaxed. I met my husband there many years later. I got married there. I said good-bye to a good career and to friends and family to live here in Wilton and raise our son here. It's that important to me. It's as if everything that happened in my life before was leading up to the moment where I could be here for good--so that I could get that sense of peace for more than just two weeks a year.
We winter camped on Webb Lake last weekend. We skated all the way across that lake. And when we plopped down on the ice to catch our breath, we joked that in just a few months, we would be paddling right across that spot. And later, we would swim in that spot. And we looked up at Bald and Saddleback and sighed. Those mountains we've climbed countless times all over this region could change--either because they would be blasted to accommodate turbines or because we would be staring at turbines from a nearby viewpoint.
How many people are lucky enough to have a sense of place--to know that who they are and where they live are interchangeable? Maybe our special places can't be national parks. But can't they remain wilderness? Can't we call them wild and leave them be? Don't we owe it to ourselves? Because if we don't, where exactly will we go to find that peace we all need and long for? Where will we find wilderness?
Is there no value to our mountains besides the wind that blows over them?
Views: 117
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Comment by Lisa Lindsay on February 22, 2010 at 9:15am
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I love Blueberry. One of my favorite showshoe hikes. Fairly short, great view, and a fun "ride" down in winter. I fear many seasonal folks will be in for a rude awakening. We need to make sure they get this information come summer. I had hopes for the state to acquire Bald Mtn., but now I wonder...
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Comment by Long Islander on February 21, 2010 at 9:03pm
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Leola - I read your advice that "People need to read some Thoreau". Well I did and let me just say I am Thoreauly disgusted that you peons are ruining my plan to extract upwards of $50 million from this state. Is there something about the concept of royalty that you don't quite understand?
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Comment by Leola R. Ballweber on February 21, 2010 at 8:24pm
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Lisa, I spent my summers at Camp Lawroweld between 15-19 years of age. I worked at the Camp to work my way through private school. To sit on the dock and look across at Blueberry mountain and Tumble down mountain, Little Jackson, Big Jackson and all the mountains all the way around. Do you remember before the ledge fell off Tumbledown? Well I can and there was no other place to just sit, listen to the loons and see the mountains. Truly peace on earth and feeling close to God. My memories are still there and I get angery that our most treasured mountains are being destroyed just because others think they can make money. Man is his biggest enemy. We are left to fight with greedy, non-caring and just not able to feel the treasures we have felt. People need to read some Thoreau.....We the people will have to make our stand and hopefully not to deaf ears. Leola
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Thank you. Just needed to get that off my chest.
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Comment by Art Brigades on February 21, 2010 at 2:31pm
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Lisa- fantastic sentiments. Send them to NRCM and ask them how they can do what they're doing...not just supporting, but pushing the Wind Rush. cc the newspapers.
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Comment by Joanne Moore on February 21, 2010 at 2:03pm
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Thank you, Lisa. Your writing really touched my heart. We need wilderness to lift us up spiritually and to inspire us creatively. For those reasons and so many more we need to keep fighting against its destruction.
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Thanks, Brad. I'm glad I got to meet you and many others. I appreciate the work you're doing.
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Comment by Brad Blake on February 21, 2010 at 12:41am
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Lisa, what a great essay. Thanks for posting it. Please send it to MST as a letter to the editor. Great to meet you in Augusta.
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 on the Maine expedited wind law
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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