DIRTY UNDERHANDED TACTICS WIN THE WAR

I was very distressed the other night after our windmill meeting.  Unlike the other liaison meetings of past months. it seemed that there was an inordinate number of windmill supporters in the  house.  "How can that be", I thought to myself, "when I know some of them are too lazy to leave their homes".  My first clue was seeing the chairs stacked in neat rows as if someone was expecting a crowd.  Previously we grabbed our own chairs and set them about in random order.  And on prior occasions, I was one of the first people there, and this time, the hall was almost full even though there was twenty minutes to go until the meeting started.  It was as if they were giving away free beer.

When instead of the concerns that we usually deal with, people started giving props to the corporation that started it all, and I knew something was amiss when they all started clapping their hands for the turbine that was erected that day.

Today, I discovered that the secretary or glorified secretary that works for CREC, took it upon herself, and, company slave that she is, phoned as many supporters of the turbine construction project that she could before breaking a nail.  I guess I consider that stacking that deck. 

What it has probably done, is to alienate even more people on the island and further the toxicity of the social environment.  Way to go Trudy!

#19

It's up.  Number 19, the first in a series of 86 turbines on Wolfe Island was erected today.  It is 16 days behind schedule, thanks to the winds we've had in the past two weeks--the winds that I pray for each night just to screw up the project.  

The towering monolith is between 5th and 4th Line Road, and although it isn't as close to the road as it could be, it still towers above all.  And for those with an interest in all things mechanical, it is rather fascinating, but for those with concerns about health and the environment, it represents much, much more.  I am curious to investigate the health issues of islanders before, during and after the construction.  Certainly the construction process has taken its toll on the health of those closest to the current sites.  I wonder if people whose eyes have been burning lately realize it is probably because of aggregate dust.  Or those who have a persistent cough or lung congestion; have they linked it to the air they breathe or do they mistakenly believe it is a lingering fall cold?

In our small community, many people are afraid to admit they have concerns about the turbines, afraid it will cause social problems with their friends and neighbors.  They are afraid of creating "Toxic Neighbors".  So they keep quiet, they put up, and they don't attend or speak out at meetings where they might be in the minority.  They let others take the brunt of being troublemakers and radicals, or people who just want to cause trouble.  It's frustrating, and I've been to such a meeting tonight.

It has made me realize that so many people are uneducated, ignorant, close-minded, and just plain mean.  They fail to see, or are unable to see the big picture, thinking only of themselves and the $7,500 per year they will receive for prostituting their land.  I have lost a lot of respect for some of my fellow islanders tonight, and I bloody well despise some of the other ones.  Do they feel the same way about me?  Maybe, but I don't care, because that's how toxic neighborhoods work.

There is a Toyota commercial that sums up the way I feel about the environment, and frankly I don't understand why others are unable to see it this way too:

"The best way to have an impact on the environment is to have no impact at all".