I came out here to be alone

An ugly battle over clean power

(Sandy) Sandall says he doesn't oppose wind power. He gets his electricity from solar panels and from his own relatively tiny wind turbine mounted on a 50-foot pole. But rows of white massive white poles, topped with blinking lights and propeller blades that make a "whoosh" audible from several hundred yards away — that's another thing. Sandall remains unconvinced by assurances that the sound won't be noticeable from farther off, and that it won't hurt property values.
"I'm 72 years old. I came out here to be alone," said Sandall, who is part of a citizen group, Residents Opposed to Kittitas Turbines. "I have no objection to alternative energy. This is just not the place."

My American generation – “Gen X” and the following, will surely exceed the Baby Boomers in narcissism and selfishness, and blind destruction of the globe, given the chance. Yet the likelihood of this scenario fades as energy depletion fundamentals lock in and feed back.

The United States has spent one trillion dollars, those are energy bucks, on the Iraq war instead of plowing one trillion energy bucks into investments renewables like wind, solar, and active conservation technology.

Imagine the standing of the United States in the world if the latter project had been embarked upon. Instead, the following artifacts have been left in the wake of the Iraq war - spent shell casings, pollution, and dirty pictures. Kind of like the Moon shot but without the Teflon frying pans.

That is the spirit in which I bemusedly maintain a casual intolerance for the opinions of people like Sandy Sandall, aging boomers who happily exist in the world they believe in, ignoring the reasons why Big Wind is important to the survival our species.

We all made it for years, ignoring the blood soaked oil from Nigeria, the incestuous cronyism that marks the relationship of the United States with Saudi Arabia and their medieval kingdom, (another example of the depredations which seemingly unlimited oil wealth can prop up).

We all made it for years, thinking we could dump soot and carbon into our air without limits.

Now a need exists to tap the steady wind of the Columbia River Gorge, and regions like it around the world.

Naturally a few local crybabies refuse to acknowledge their complicity in the created world and the created problems therein. They blubber about the view, and property values. A final spastic episode of Nimbyism played out by actors who believe they still have selfish options in a small and shriveled world.

Being alone – “I came out here to be alone” – is a luxury, not a birthright. So this becomes then a nursery tale, a child’s fable. Piss on the world all ones life, consume resources and carbon fuel from six continents, and the world will have her revenge.

Welcome to Gold Rush territory, Sandy. You are not alone.

Paper Thin Walls
Modest Mouse

These walls are paper thin
And everyone hears every little sound
Everyone's a voyeur, their watching me
Watch them, watch me right now
They're shakin' hands, they're shakin' in their shoes
Oh Lord, don't shake me down
Everyone wants two themselves
And half of everyone else who's around
Its been agreed, the whole world stinks
So no ones taking showers anymore
LAUGH HARD IT'S A LONG WAY TO THE BANK

free as a bucket of gas

energy porn