March 17, 2004
-
Check it out:
http://www.moveon.org/censure/caughtonvideo/
Hrm. I actually would have preferred full clips of the contradictory statements, but it is amazing that anyone is still taken in by these people. I did love the “uh oh” look and little nod on his face though.
…
I am still fundamentally unhappy with the concept that the cure for the Republicans is the Democrats. That’s kind of like amputation being a cure for gangrene. Yeah, it works and yeah losing a limb isn’t as bad as death, but ultimately, it still sucks. I’d rather see the approach of cleaning out the wound before it is too late and the rot sets in.
I don’t think it is too late for us, but the effort required to cure things is growing dramatically.
###
In local news, there is a debate over whether the park board should allow a contract for a small hydro operation to be put in by the mill ruins park – next to the St. Anthony waterfall.
Even though it is a small amount of electricity (3.1MW), I tend to be in favor of the concept – it seems like a broad network of small producers based on different renewable power sources would be superior than a few large producers.
There are some environmental and aesthetic concerns, but due to the small size of the proposal, some of the nasty hydro effects (like flooding land) won’t be an issue.
There have been a number of other effects listed from deoxygenation of water to the stagnent water in the tail race to various erosion concerns. I’ll have to wait for the experts to weigh in, but it seems like most of those issues are already there with the old mill ruins and the waterfall.
My vision of a wise city would include thousands of micro power installations on private and public land – for instance, i’d like to do solar shingles and a small windmill on my roof. It may not generate a lot of power, but if you start looking at thousands of them combined with other types of power where applicable (geo/hydro/etc.), it has to make a difference.
I’m not sure if this little hydro installation would be a good step in that direction, but I like that it is being talked about.
Comments (2)
wind mill on roof bad the vibration would drive all inside crazy. anyone i’ve checked with recomends an off house setup for noise and other problems. the state will pay for part of the cost of the solar and wind set up will see what i can find on that. Craig
Oh, for an ideal world where humans could convert sun into energy without a go-between and then infuse inanimate objects with power.
I don’t think the real trick is in creating more power. I think the solution lies in consumption. Even at my college, we turn off the lights in the bathroom if no one is in it, we recycle voraciously, and we’ve cut back on food waste in the caf by making people think. We are not in an energy crisis. We’re in a waste crisis.