The conflict between the better mind of human beings and the weight of human possessiveness and greed is quite apparent in the Cape Wind conflict, which moves closer to resolution today at the Massachusetts State House.
The best scientific minds have guided the public to an awareness of the effects of depending heavily on fossil fuels to maintain the easy lifestyle of machine-dependent nations. Fossil fuel usage poisons the atmosphere and disrupts the balance of gases in the planet's atmosphere, causing devastating sea level rise. None but those on the fringe dispute global warming.
Wind power, currently being exploited with urgency from Europe to Saudi Arabia to China, is a low-carbon, renewable (perhaps endless) supply of electrical power. Now, if I can imagine myself on an alien space ship looking at the situation, I think I'd be saying, "Wow, those humans finally realized the power source they used to grind grain to feed themselves centuries ago can easily produce electricity and maybe save their planet."
This hasn't been the opinion on Old Cape Cod. The wealthy on Cape Cod and the islands have caught the NIMBY bug with considerable financial booster shots from the fossil fuel industry, who have contributed to at least one opposition group loudly protesting the construction of a wind farm in Nantucket Sound on the grounds that it will spoil their views, scare the tourists and knock some misguided birds senseless. The NIMBY-ites have also pulled in the American Indian community who claim that the wind farm obscures views of the sun, essential to their rituals. Apparently they plan to position the casinos they would like to develop away from holy horizons.
So far, Cape Wind has generated more hot air than energy. Nearly ten years of contention have brought us to the announcement today from the Secretary of the Interior, which will either bless or nix the project from the Federal government's perspective. This will not be the end. Further court battles will most likely ensue.
The better judgment of the human mind would vote to restore the planet's viability for human life, no matter what it takes. No planet to live on means no views, no Indian rituals, no worrying about concussed birds, no law suits at all. But, as amply illustrated by the opponents to Cape Wind, clinging to what we already have can be the enemy of getting what we need.
