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Vista Song for Joe Sam, Martin and John
Submitted by scharrison on Tue, 07/07/2009 - 4:28pm
While I dedicate this to the three gentlemen above, I do hope you'll all pay attention. This song is about beauty, and nature, and mankind's inability to see much farther than the nose on his face. While he frets about imaginary tourists that would turn their cars around in disgust if they spot some distant skinny man-made object, this is occurring:
Now, this might be occurring a few hundred miles away in another state, which may as well be in another galaxy as far as these men are concerned. But make no mistake, it is these three men, and you and me, and all of our friends and neighbors, that are making things like this happen:
How is that for a "vista"? It's not a very nice "view", is it? Not really what you would describe as "scenic beauty", if you know what I mean. Yet we're making it happen. And when one of their colleagues tries to do something to protect those other mountains, these three men don't think it's important enough to add their names in support.
You want more scenic beauty? Okay. How about the TVA's lovely coal ash ponds:
And now let's take a look at what these three men are so concerned about:
Now why don't you take a few moments to do a little compare and contrast with these images. Picture yourself as an imaginary tourist, or a bird, or Euell Fricking Gibbons; I don't care. Because I know which vista your brain would choose. Your mouth might not admit such, but it would hopefully be less likely to repeat tired inaccuracies the fossil fuel crowd have been scattering about.
We do have choices, my dear Senators. We can choose to continue our addiction to mountain-shattering, river-clogging, air-quality-degrading, mercury-level-rising, atmospheric-carbon-compounding coal-fired steam plants, or we can reach out and grasp the clean and bountiful energy that shines on us, blows over us and washes by us every single day. Every megawatt we generate from clean renewables is a megawatt of coal we won't need.
You want to protect some ridgetops? There you go.
I think they are beautiful
graceful and almost majestic, especially when compared to those poison spewing cylinders.
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Currently lacking a witty signature.
Aren't they?
I can't imagine too many sightseers finding them ugly. As a matter of fact, I can imagine a lot of people trying to get to a place where they could see them. Well, I would, anyway. :)
The choice is simple.
Your picture tells a thousand words comparison points to that fact without question.
North Carolina. Turning the South Blue!
It is simple,
and it's also a critical component in the "basket" of renewable energy/efficiency measures this state (and country) needs to pursue to reduce our coal consumption and the poisons that produces.
Those who are truly concerned about losing tourism dollars should consider the economic impact that things like bad air quality days and Mercury-tainted fish (to name just a few issues) are already having on the tourism/recreation industry.
Having traveled the back roads
in the mountains via miles and miles of winding gravel roads where I never passed another car, there must certainly be some out of the way places where few people we even see turbines if they were built.
I remember the hoopla over cell towers being an eyesore last millenium. Two or three artificial pine branches placed strategically...poof...you can't even find them anymore.
Progressive Democrats of North Carolina
I'd be willing to bet
there are far more ridges not visible from the main highways and scenic byways than those that are, and the fear that someone would plop the turbines down right next to the Blue Ridge Parkway is just foolishness.
Wind turbines are beautiful.
Mountain top removal is a sin against Nature's God. Period.
"Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius and power and magic in it." - Goethe
Nuclear is far safer and efficient
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/02/wind-vs-nuclear-energy-wind-powe...
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Government crises are usually manufactured to pick your pocket.
With the caveat
that I'm not going to engage in a protracted argument with you, let me say this:
I am impressed with the potential of Gen 4 nuclear reactors, mainly because of the reuse of fuel. But they will still be expensive to construct and operate, just like other (current) designs. I think this IAEA report sums that point up nicely. If the massive investment to construct a nuclear power facility is too much for a poor country to survive until they achieve a 15-20 year ROI, then it's too much for a rich country also.
The scalability of wind projects is just one of their strong selling points, and you can't get that with a ten-billion-dollar nuke plant.