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Renewable energy and wilderness conservation – Is it up for that?


Guest essay by Eric Worrall

People who truly care about animals and plants have ultimately pushed back and won, against the wholesale destruction of wilderness, by renewable energy advocates trying to encroach on green spaces.

Tensions and trade-offs between protecting biodiversity and avoiding climate change

BY CHRIS DUNN, PH.D. AND MORGAN BAZILIAN, PH.D., KEY CONTRIBUTORS – 02/20/22 11:30 AM EST
VIEWS REPRESENTED BY CONTRIBUTORS ARE THEIR OWN VIEWS AND NOT HILL VIEWS

Land just upstream of the Minnesota Wilderness Frontier Waters Canoe Area has been leased for copper mining – until the plan was recently scrapped.

The mine will provide a source of domestic minerals crucial to decarbonizing the economy and mitigating climate change, but at a hefty price – providing a glimpse into the tough decisions that await. in front of.

The development of these leases could be a disaster for the wilderness: there is a high probability that sulfide ore mining will eventually lead to acid mine drainage and the leaching of toxic metals. into protected waterways, home to a diversity of life, in an area with a substantial and established foundation entertainment economy.

To combat climate change, we need such minerals – in abundance – and quickly.

For example, electric vehicles (EVs) use 10 times more copper than internal combustion vehicles – 183 pounds versus 18-49 pounds. And a Research 2020 predicts an increase in demand for the material between 2015 and 2060 of 87,000% for EV batteries, 1000% for wind power, and 3000% for solar and photovoltaic cells. ” Another study notes that “demand for minerals for use in electric vehicles and storage batteries is a key driver, growing at least thirty-fold through 2040. Lithium is the fastest growing, with demand increasing more than 40 times… followed by graphite, cobalt and nickel (about 20-25 times). ”

All of this reflects the growing conflict between competing – albeit ultimately interconnected – environmental concerns. On the other hand, large open-pit mines are destructive to the landscape and pose a significant threat to the wilderness and waters. On the other hand, the resources they provide are integral to climate change mitigation.

Read more: https://thehill.com/opinion/energy-enosystem/595009-the-collision-of-wilderness-protection-and-avoiding-climate

This impulse took a long time to happen.

Some of the larger conservation associations seem to favor the destruction of nature, arguing that it should serve a higher purpose.

Wind Energy and Birds

Properly placed wind power can help protect birds from climate change.

By National Audubon Society
July 21, 2020

Audubon strongly advocates properly placed and operated wind power to effectively avoid, minimize and mitigate impacts on birds, other wildlife and where they are needed now and in the future. . To that end, we support the development of wind energy to achieve 100% clean electricity.

Wind energy is an important source of renewable, carbon-free energy that is important to replace and reduce emissions from fossil fuels such as coal, oil and natural gas that cause our planet’s warming. ta.

All forms of energy – including wind energy – have an impact on birds. Audubon’s role is to ensure that important species and highly protected areas for bird species are protected as much as possible and in accordance with federal law. We participate in advocating federal, state, and local energy planning processes as well as individual utility-scale projects. Audubon also considers federal permission policies for species protected by the Endangered Species Act, the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.

Read more: https://www.audubon.org/news/wind-power-and-birds

The bird society’s qualified support for these birders is particularly revolting, given the amount of online footage we’ve all seen of birds being knocked from the sky by wind turbines, or otherwise mutilated. incinerated by solar concentrators.

Opposition seems to come from local groups, rather than well-known international groups.

Large green organizations like the Audubon Association may joke that they are downplaying the situation, fooling themselves and their members into believing that substantial destruction of the wilderness is needed to preserve the rest.

Local organizations whose members have dedicated their lives to protecting a particular area of ​​vegetation or wetlands don’t philosophize when someone comes and threatens their land. They took action and implemented a well-rehearsed plan of defense, even as a new threat came from their fellows.

Honestly, I hope the local groups win this battle. There’s no good reason to destroy large swathes of wilderness for the sake of the green energy fantasy, even if you think CO2 is a problem.

There are much better alternatives to renewable energy.

Carbon-free nuclear power is not a threat to the wilderness. Nuclear plants have a small footprint compared to renewables, acres instead of square miles.

Worst case scenario, even if there’s another melee, look at the consequences for the wilderness in places where there have been melees. The areas around Chernobyl and Fukushima are now unparalleled animal habitats, places most humans wouldn’t dare to disturb. What normal national park has that level of protection?

Chernobyl Horse
Przewalski’s horses live freely in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. By Xopc (talk) (Upload) – (Original Text: Xopc (talk) (Upload) I am the author of this photo.URL: linkCC BY-SA 2.5, link.

Compare what happened at Chernobyl and Fukushima, with a gruesome sight of solar panels and wind turbines perched on concrete, stretched as far as the eye can see, with almost no vegetation. or animals in sight. Humans have created the desert out of silicon sheets, glass and concrete. Because that’s what it takes to try to meet global energy needs using renewables.

In fact, you don’t have to imagine – it happened in China. However, even with man-made renewable energy deserts like the photo below, China still generates most of its energy from coal.

Solar panel
Discoloration solar panel. Source BBCFair use, low resolution images to identify objects.

How much more green space will need to be destroyed for China to be 100% renewable? For the world to be 100% renewable?

I’m no fan of nuclear meltdowns, and I don’t mock the real harm that meltdowns have on people and nature. But even the worst harm done by the nuclear industry to nature, does not come close to what would happen if the world seriously tried to attack Net Zero using renewable energy. .

In my view, the renewable energy revolution is happening now, at least in the West.

Just wholesale destruction of most of the entire wilderness could have provided enormous mineral resources and land in need of renewable energy. Local conservation groups ultimately decided to refuse to destroy anything they cared about, even as demolition agents claimed they wanted to save the world with green energy.



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