Sustainability and Place

I am unfortunately completely appalled by this project. I say unfortunately because I do not think my reasons for opposing the project come close to anything legitimate. I undertstand that the benefits of this project are innumberable when it comes to energy efficiency, local economy, and general awareness toward green technology. For those reasons, I see no argument in opposing the wind farm. However, my opposition is founded primarily in aethetic anger. I have my spent my summers around the Cape and Islands for as long as I can remember. Seeing the visual reproductions of what the wind farm will do to Nantucket Sound is quite depressing. (Just saying this makes me feel like a Kenndedy). That speccific case does not necessarily annoy me the most, its the idea that this farm will set a precedent that will follow around the country. In other words, soon we could find ourselves immersed in a world where every time we go to the beach we must look out onto enoromous wind farms instead of the majesty of the ocean. I am understand I am being a bit hyperbolic but there is not like sitting on the beach and staring into open ocean. So, in all my selfishness, I oppose this project. Lucky for me it is already greenlit.

I believe wind energy as well as other sustainable energy projects should be and need to be implemented throughout the world where the resources exist. However, I think that the host community needs to be justly compensated. For instance, a wind farm was constructed in my grandparent's farming community in Waymart, Pennsylvania. The company took advantage of the low rates of education in the area, using the bad economy to bribe the residents by offering large amounts of money. Most people gave in to the monetary temptations; my grandfather however had read the contract and thoroughly opposed the wind farm. He refused to sell his land, but every other resident had agreed to the project so he ultimately entered into an agreement with the company to set the wind turbines far back from the top of his mountain on the opposite side, and the company paid him far more than his neighbors who agreed at first. The reason my grandfather fought the turbines is because Waymart doesn't receive any further benefits from the farm. The energy generated is sent to far off communities leaving the host community to bear the burden of the turbines in terms of aesthetics as well as interferences with cable connections. Not all turbines are bad, however. The Fenner Wind Farm right up the road from Hamilton is committed to its community, leasing land from as many farmers as possible. This enables the farmers to continue farming without going bankrupt as is a problem for small-scale farmers in todays food economy. I believe that wind energy on Cape Cod, though disruptive of aesthetics, is worth it if the host community reaps benefits from being the wind site.