Hi again, folks. This week’s column is dedicated to Earth Day and good news. Earth Day was first celebrated in 1970 but I missed it because it wasn’t quite the international event it is today and I was not living in the United States at the time.
Vietnam was not a particularly eco-friendly place back then and while I’m sure there were positive and happy things going on in the world, we were not exactly being deluged by news of them.
Both Vietnam and Earth Day have come a long way in 39 years and at a time when it seems like we’re foundering in a toxic media sea of layoffs and failing financial institutions, the evolution of global environmental awareness is producing its own positive headlines.
Wind turbines could meet all of America’s electrical energy needs, according to a report recently released by the U.S. Interior Department. While I’m certainly glad to hear that, I’m not surprised.
My family’s known about the power of wind ever since a very great grandfather contracted a dissolute Member of Parliament from Birmingham, an evangelical minister from Edinburgh, a noted Celtic philosopher and dramatist from Dublin and a famous solicitor (lawyer) from Cardiff to get him and his family out of Ireland during the Potato Famine.
This distant and long dead relative chartered a small ship and put his hired help behind the sails. Whenever the wind died, he plied them with poteen and got them debating about who was actually responsible for the deplorable state of the human condition.
The Atlantic Crossing was made in record time and such was the force of this human generated wind that The Molly McGuire was halfway up the St. Lawrence River before the anchor took hold and halted her western migration.
California continues to find new and better ways to harvest the sun. There’s a ten square mile solar generator plant under construction in the desert to the east of San Diego which is expected, when completed in five years, to provide for the electrical needs of 600,000. And in the Imperial Valley, near the Salton Sea, there’s a five story thermal generator producing enough electricity for 300,000 homes.
Both of these projects have, of course, created local jobs and proven yet again that green can work on a couple of different levels when it comes to environmentally appropriate technology.
Our neighbor to the north continues to take on an emerald glow as well. The British Columbia provincial government just gave $2-million to help fund construction of the first commercial-scale tidal current electrical turbine in North America.
The Canoe Pass Tidal Energy Corporation reports that the underwater turbine will be up and running in the tidal channel between Quadra and Maude Island, north of Campbell River, before the end of 2010.
The potential for the same energy generation in the Puget Sound has been confirmed by a study conducted by the University of Washington. The Sound’s strong currents have long been considered ideal for such technology and the Snohomish County Public Utility District is building three tidal turbines which will produce electricity for about 700 homes in that rural area between Seattle and the Canadian Border.
I wonder, once we have tapped into the same “limitless” sources of energy that have been available to the rest of life on this planet since it was created in primordial soup, what kind of world will we will build with it. Based on our track record so far, I believe that’s an issue which merits some concern.
Happy Earth Day, folks. Keep it clean and green. Until next week, take care, stay well and God Bless.
Vietnam was not a particularly eco-friendly place back then and while I’m sure there were positive and happy things going on in the world, we were not exactly being deluged by news of them.
Both Vietnam and Earth Day have come a long way in 39 years and at a time when it seems like we’re foundering in a toxic media sea of layoffs and failing financial institutions, the evolution of global environmental awareness is producing its own positive headlines.
Wind turbines could meet all of America’s electrical energy needs, according to a report recently released by the U.S. Interior Department. While I’m certainly glad to hear that, I’m not surprised.
My family’s known about the power of wind ever since a very great grandfather contracted a dissolute Member of Parliament from Birmingham, an evangelical minister from Edinburgh, a noted Celtic philosopher and dramatist from Dublin and a famous solicitor (lawyer) from Cardiff to get him and his family out of Ireland during the Potato Famine.
This distant and long dead relative chartered a small ship and put his hired help behind the sails. Whenever the wind died, he plied them with poteen and got them debating about who was actually responsible for the deplorable state of the human condition.
The Atlantic Crossing was made in record time and such was the force of this human generated wind that The Molly McGuire was halfway up the St. Lawrence River before the anchor took hold and halted her western migration.
California continues to find new and better ways to harvest the sun. There’s a ten square mile solar generator plant under construction in the desert to the east of San Diego which is expected, when completed in five years, to provide for the electrical needs of 600,000. And in the Imperial Valley, near the Salton Sea, there’s a five story thermal generator producing enough electricity for 300,000 homes.
Both of these projects have, of course, created local jobs and proven yet again that green can work on a couple of different levels when it comes to environmentally appropriate technology.
Our neighbor to the north continues to take on an emerald glow as well. The British Columbia provincial government just gave $2-million to help fund construction of the first commercial-scale tidal current electrical turbine in North America.
The Canoe Pass Tidal Energy Corporation reports that the underwater turbine will be up and running in the tidal channel between Quadra and Maude Island, north of Campbell River, before the end of 2010.
The potential for the same energy generation in the Puget Sound has been confirmed by a study conducted by the University of Washington. The Sound’s strong currents have long been considered ideal for such technology and the Snohomish County Public Utility District is building three tidal turbines which will produce electricity for about 700 homes in that rural area between Seattle and the Canadian Border.
I wonder, once we have tapped into the same “limitless” sources of energy that have been available to the rest of life on this planet since it was created in primordial soup, what kind of world will we will build with it. Based on our track record so far, I believe that’s an issue which merits some concern.
Happy Earth Day, folks. Keep it clean and green. Until next week, take care, stay well and God Bless.
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