Steve Wright Misses the Big Wind Power Picture

Steve Wright would be better served to focus on the bigger picture of climate change rather than one wind farm in one part of the world.

In his op-ed, The Not-So-Green Mountains, published in the  New York Times, he rails against a wind energy project in Vermont for its negative impact on the Lowell Mountains. This view is narrowed by the blinders of local environmentalism.  

Certainly, his blanket indictment of wind energy “in Maine and off Cape Cod” is a disservice.

The bigger and broader view is every beautiful mountain in Vermont denuded and massive biodiversity loss throughout the region because of mutated weather due to climate change. 

These very real scenarios are many, and the interconnectedness of nature ensures there are still many more we cannot even predict or imagine yet. 

I agree with Steve about the value of nature. I suggest we are on the same team in the fight of our lives. But some compromise is necessary. We cannot accept flagrant assaults on ecosystems, but we also cannot lose on climate change.

People who will determine the victor end up listening to the most strident voices, usually with facts trampled underfoot. It's the harmful bluster of climate deniers and the fossil fuel industry. It damages all of us when Wright adds his voice to theirs.