My latest liherald.com editorial….
Plans to construct a wind farm in the ocean 15 miles south of Jones Beach will undoubtedly be met with opposition. The Long Island Commercial Fishing Association has already weighed in against the project, saying it could disturb vital fishing grounds. There will likely be others to follow during a two-year environmental review.
We mustn’t allow not-in-my-backyard protestations to scuttle such a project again, though. In 2007, plans for a 40-turbine wind farm off Jones Beach, 10 years in the making, were killed largely because of NIMBYist opposition by a small but vocal group called Save Jones Beach. Long Island Power Authority officials claimed the project would cost too much, but studies showed it would have raised ratepayers’ monthly bills by a mere $2.50.
Polling at the time showed Long Islanders overwhelmingly supported the wind farm, despite the rate increase. That’s because most folks understood then, and understand now, that we desperately need renewable energy sources like wind, solar and geothermal to reduce our reliance on dirty fossil fuels such as coal, oil and even natural gas in order to stave off the worst effects of the climate crisis.
Yes, the Earth is heating up beyond the bounds of predictable climactic cycles, and we’re responsible for throwing the world’s mean temperature range out of whack. Power plants, factories, and cars and trucks send more than 40 billion metric tons of heat-trapping carbon dioxide — the chief of driver of climate change — into the atmosphere every year. Since the Industrial Revolution began in 1750, humans have released 2,000 billion metric tons, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
That is, we have released enough carbon into the atmosphere to substantially alter its composition and set in a motion the climate crisis that we now face.
The question is, what will we do to stop it? Will we bravely seek new, clean forms of energy, or will we keep our heads buried in the sands of our pristine beaches until they’re all underwater?
To read the full editorial, click here.
