I am guilty of neglecting Grumbles and Grins in the last few days. Life has a way of inserting itself into my schedule with nary a phone call to warn me of its imminent arrival. Of a morning, I awake with a simple list of tasks which I’m sure, with prudent planning, I will be able to accomplish. Answer my morning emails. Send the kids off to school, go to work. Then, it’s home in the early afternoon for some housework; wash up the dishes, take out the trash, throw some clothes into the washing machine and sweep up the floor. After these chores I most often have an hour or so of quiet writing time, unless the afternoon’s emails require a great deal of my attention. The kids arrive home on the bus, snacks are doled out, supper is pondered and then prepared. And then, while the household quiets down as Mr. Grumbles and the teens busy themselves with their own chores or pleasures, I sit down here at my computer.
And I write.
Sometimes I compose a poem, or write an ‘Observations’ column. I occasionally write an op-ed piece, or a chatty letter. Sometimes I work on a novel or a short story or a commentary. Often, I write a blog entry for GAG.
This one will be short, as I’ve another in mind to post for tomorrow. After all, the Christmas season is upon us, and I want to celebrate it with you and share my virtual home with my friends. Therefore, this entry will be brief. That is my plan, anyway, and my hope. But you know me… I'm hopeless!
For those of you who are regular readers of my dribble here on GAG, you will already know that I am concerned with the looming threat of huge industrial wind turbine developments being built in the rural and unspoiled areas of this great state of Maine. You’ve already concluded, perhaps, that there are many questions regarding these wind ‘farms’ which have not been answered, and which need to be, before we citizens are comfortable with such a large-scale encroachment on our wild regions.
I am a free thinker. I don’t toe the line unless that line is clearly drawn and the destination at its end is one filled with promise and hope and good common sense. I want facts! Then–and ONLY then–will I use my right as an American and a Mainer to decide if these elementally transforming developments with their long-lasting consequences are worthy of my approval.
And I expect, in the future, to be ASKED, first.
Listed here are some informative links on the subject of wind turbine developments. As I obtain more, I may add to the list. I urge my readers and followers to make use of this information. I urge you to become educated, and to form an opinion, and to make your voices heard. If we do not begin to make our desires known, I fear it will soon be too late to do so. Say what you want to say, and what your heart and conscience tell you to. But please…
Say something!
http://www.windtaskforce.org/ Citizens' Task Force on Wind Power
http://www.windaction.org/ Good clearinghouse of info on wind turbine news
http://www.wind-watch.org/ Very similar to the above
http://windconcernsontario.wordpress.com This is a very good, comprehensive website inspired by numerous problems experienced in Canada with wind turbine siting.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8060969.stm Website about farm animals dying due to wind turbine development
www.friendsoflincolnlakes.org
Information on the Stetson (Maine) project, as well as photgraphs.
http://www.slideshare.net/JohnDroz/energy-presentationkey-presentation Extensive analysis of the problems of industrial wind turbines
http://www.vawind.org/Assets/Docs/Very_Shaky_Environmental_Claims.pdf The negative impacts to forest habitat per megawatt can be greater with industril turbines than with conventional plants
www.highlandmts.org Information on the Highland Wind LLC proposed development for Somerset County, Maine atop the peaks of Burnt, Briggs, Witham, Stewart and Bald.
http://www.aweo.org/ProblemWithWind.html This is a long article, but has valuable information on the findings of other countries' wind energy experiments, and more 'links inside the link', too.
http://www.aswag.org.uk/aswag.html
This is a website similar to that of the Friends of the Highland Mountains. My good friend Jack, another contributor to GAG, is a Scotsman, and his homeland is facing similar challenges. This site will allow you to see what other community members on the other side of the Atlantic are doing about this same issue.
http://www.caithnesswindfarms.co.uk/accidents.pdf This website gives data regarding wind turbine accidents in the UK
