ASK A PRO
    OUTDOOR PURSUITS
    READER STORIES
    PHOTO GALLERY
    TRAIL CAM GALLERY
    HUNTERS OF THE YEAR
    ANGLERS OF THE YEAR
    RECIPE OF THE MONTH
ORDER YOUR
BACK ISSUES TODAY!
ONLY $7.00

(includes shipping)

 OUTDOOR PURSUITS
 with Rob Miskosky

The Not-So-Green Future?


We’re meant to believe that growing food and raising animals is ‘environmental vandalism’ but living in concrete jungles, driving EVs full of toxic minerals, and living off triple-plastic-wrapped vegan food is ‘saving the planet’. Talk about being disconnected from reality.
– Alexandra Marshall, Twitter

“People think solar panels protect the environment but they require 300+ times as much land as conventional energy sources and now the Los Angeles Times has discovered that they could “contaminate groundwater with toxic heavy metals such as lead, selenium and cadmium.”

– author Michael Shellenberger

The Claresholm Solar Farm in southern Alberta.
I’m not much into the whole global warming issue because like everybody else, I’ve been bombarded with both sides of the story—by those who don’t believe it and by those that are completely sold that the world is ending if we don’t do something and do something fast. I have to stop and take pause though, because I don’t think this has been thought out too well, especially by those that are pioneering change and the end of fossil fuel use, etc.

Lately, it appears the lunatics are leading the charge. I recently read about a group claiming to be environmental activists that deflated the tires of dozens of SUVs in Kitchener, Ontario. They then sent an email to media outlets claiming, “We’re taking this action because governments and politicians have failed to protect us from these huge vehicles. We want to live in towns and cities with clean air and safe streets. Politely asking and protesting for these things has failed. It’s time for action.”

The group is calling themselves the “Tyre Extinguishers”, of course.

But my concern outside of the loonies is the environmental impact so-called green energy is going to have on the land and the animals that live there. Look at the photo at left. This is being hailed as Canada’s largest operating solar power plant. The plant is supposed to “generate sufficient renewable power for approximately 33,000 households in Alberta.” That looks like an awful lot of land suddenly out of the picture for the wildlife that used to live there. You can only imagine how much land would be used to power up Edmonton and Calgary.

And, according to E&E News, “More than 1,000 pronghorns galloped onto Wyoming’s Highway 372, terrifying drivers and biologists alike. The animals would typically migrate over public land, but with the 700-acre Sweetwater Solar farm blocking their way, they took to the highway.”
 
“State officials are working now to make sure that doesn’t happen again, as energy developers eye wide-open swaths of land for utility-scale solar projects.”
 
A study on the impact of the Sweetwater Solar Farm showed that “as much as 12 percent of the species’ average summer range and 10 percent of its average winter range were lost.”

And both solar farms and massive windmills are a blight on the landscape, ugly as ugly is. So, by my estimation, the green energy plan hasn’t been too well thought out. Or maybe that’s just me? ■


For previous Outdoor Pursuits click here.




 
Sports Scene Publications Inc.
10450 - 174 Street, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T5S 2G9
Phone: 780-413-0331 • Fax: 780-413-0388

Privacy Policy




© 2019 Sports Scene Publications Inc. All Rights Reserved