Comments on: Wind power: four movements

By: Dave

Dave — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:55:13 +0000

Small-scale, backyard wind installations and giant industrial windplants are two very different things. wind power does nothing to slow down coal-burning, because coal (and nuclear and hydro) are still needed to balance the grid, wind energy being sporadic and impossible to store. If anyone ever comes up with affordable battery technology, that could be a game-changer, but until they do, industrial wind power will be an expensive and habitat-destroying symbol of good intentions gone awry. I think small-scale wind and especially solar installations can play a role in a greener future, but only as part of complete shift of priorities, away from building out and toward building in, radically decentralizing the energy grid, focusing on conservation and on earth-sheltered, passive solar design, and as for the overwhelming percentage of greenhouse gases that are actually produced by industry and agriculture, moving toward a steady-state economy and creating tax breaks for people who don’t reproduce.

By: Bacnet

Bacnet — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 10:54:49 +0000

Wind Power is one of the best alternative energy sources that we should utilize, it is very clean and non-polluting. I was able to built a small wind generator at home which can power small appliances.

By: Frida P.

Frida P. — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 14:31:21 +0000

National Wind Watch is another great source for information about the adverse impacts of industrial wind development, which by necessity must be in remote rural and wild places. See the "wildlife" category in their Resource Library.

By: Bill

Bill — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 16:53:49 +0000

At windaction.org the image of the wedge-tailed eagle crumpled, but standing was devastating.

By: Peter

Peter — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 03:53:53 +0000

I like Andante the best. It's kind of Allegro ad absurdum.

By: Shai

Shai — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 20:34:05 +0000

sometimes I think the impulse toward jealousy might be hard-wired

Indeed. And the "other" need not be a person, as the stanza portrays. Sometimes culture, convention, or religious upbringing/values can steer us toward fighting the hard-wiring. Maybe it is better to submit to the idea that jealousy can't be thought or willed away. The actions one takes in response to what is natural may appropriately be governed by culture, society, etc. But those structures that help make for civilization can do nothing, and shouldn't even try, to actually change us.

By: Dave

Dave — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 17:06:15 +0000

Thanks, y’all. Shai, sometimes I think the impulse toward jealousy might be hard-wired, even if it does represent a “grasping at wind,” as Qoheleth would say.

By: Jo

Jo — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 16:46:32 +0000

Loved the visuals this brought……each and every one great, though Largo is my favourite :)

By: Dick

Dick — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 06:32:06 +0000

Excellent, each one. Vivid & acute.

By: Shai

Shai — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 03:57:01 +0000

Out on a sailboat
secure in her windbreaker
she enjoys being buffeted so much
that her husband grows sullen & points
the boat toward shore

Why can’t the husband accept her joy? Why does it make him uncomfortable? Sad.