Hi everyone, Does everyone feel a little greener after watching Live Earth? I wont get into the argument about whether the concert was the beginning of a new era, or just a huge publicity stunt and emissions source. I will note that however, there was one international star that wasn't on stage Saturday during Live Earth extravaganza, and that was our very own, the pride of Springhill Nova Scotia, Ann Murray. Just when you thought every celebrity in the world was jumping on the green bandwagon, Ms Murray has decided to use her celebrity status speak out publicly against a potential wind farm near Pugwash, on the North Shore of Nova Scotia. After only 3 days into her 3 month summer visit to Nova Scotia, she has been able to publicize that she doesn't think wind turbines are beautiful, and that she hasn't met anyone in support of installing them. I hope that if I ever release a Gold-selling album, that I too can use the resulting publicity to stifle environmentally and economically sustainable development in my community.
Regardless of Ms Murray's not-in-my-back-yard stance, there are also about 200 permanent residents who are also not supportive of this project. This provides a great example of how community-owned projects have an advantage over firms owned mostly by Bay St. investors.
Just in case Live Earth left you feeling like all you had to do was change 4 light bulbs and famous people would take care off rest, an article from one of the world's most respected voices on Climate Change. George Monbiot wrote the excellent book "Heat: How to Stop the Planet From Burning" (which makes An Inconvenient Truth look like a children's story) and continues to write articles on the subject. The article focuses on Confederation of British Industry, and the role that existing industry forces can have in preventing action on Climate Change. Although it is fairly specific to the British situation, we can easily see how these ideas apply to us here in Canada. The Canadian public cannot be fooled by the the opinions of representatives of the "petroleum industry" or the "automotive industry". Their claims regarding job losses don't take into account that someone will have to work at the turbine manufacturing plants, cellulosic distilleries and electrical transportation developers. Although there will be job changes the only people out of work will be the people that stood in the way of sustainable development. The article, from the Guardian UK, also provides some fairly grim details about how desperate our climate situation already is. The article http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,2117235,00.htmlanyway, that's all for tonight. more to come later this week
2 comments:
Are you perchance following the diatribes and misinfo on the blog about the Pugwash windfarm? It's enough to make a person gag, although there are some wind-energy proponents challenging the misinformation of the blog owner and her ilk. Interesting, but still alarming.
I have been keeping in touch with the information on the Pugwash Blog. It is disappointing that the efforts of these few individuals, who are acting in their own interests and not the best interests of their community, the province or our planet, will have a negative effect on wind energy development in their area. The people, businesses and municipal governments of Cumberland County will therefore miss out on the many long lasting benefits of renewable energy. There are lots of areas to develop wind energy in nova scotia, and developers will be more likely to focus on areas where the public is supportive of development.
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