Like my morals, they’ve been called scar on our horizon. But in reality, wind turbines are going to be a functional part of our perspective for the next generation to enjoy. I’m going to enjoy them, that’s for sure.
Some have called it a new technology, but they have been in use since a Greek engineer named Heron of Alexandria used them to grind wheat in the first century (which, incidentally, is the year my father-in-law was born).
The windmills looking down on us from the Hoosac Wind Project in Florida and Monroe are beautiful, functional and just pretty darn cool. It’s really nothing to be afraid of; they’re just windmills.
Some say they will kill birds like a 12-year-old boy with a BB gun. Birds getting sucked into a vortex created by windmills -- now that’s something I would like to see. It would be like throwing feathers into a fan. But trust me, the birds will be OK.
The wind turbines looking over our shoulders are a functional part of our current state of affairs. With fossil fuels declining, global warming and increased energy needs, the windmill is creating an economical alternative to, say, a coal-powered electric plant. You didn’t know I was this smart, did you? Well, I’m sexy too.
The wind turns the blades, which turn a generator that creates the power we need to charge our cell phones. It’s simple, clean and just plain attractive. Maybe it’s
The windmill is the power plant of the future and we are on the ground floor. It’s kind of like the time they announced the plan for creating a contemporary art museum in an abandoned factory. Look at Mass MoCA now.
People didn’t like change then and they don’t like it now. I don’t like change, but I had to or I would be eating a can of beans in a ratty apartment lit by a single light bulb, wife-free. The process of turning kinetic energy to mechanical energy is now a reality, kind of like diagonal parking on Main Street in North Adams. Whether you accept it or not, it’s a fact of our life.
The windmill has a romantic past. Men and women have chased windmills for centuries. As if I were Don Quixote de la Mancha, I have been watching their progress since the first cranes were erected. I know the spots where they can be viewed and I watch with the intrigued awareness of a sailor on shore leave. I wait with bated breath for them to be fully functional to watch their majestic beauty swoop over us like a giant bird. They are a clean form of energy production and they are more pleasing than the mining going on at the base of the state’s highest peak.
Enjoy the sights of our future. Wind farms have been cropping up all over the country and our hills are not immune. Embrace the technology as if it were a baby in a pink bassinet, because it’s here. That’s right, sports fans: The future is now overlooking us like a higher power spinning its splendor for us down below.
Relax and lighten up. It’s not lowering your property taxes and it’s not really in anyone’s backyard that I can see. Enjoy them as if they were giant pinwheels sold at a parade, spinning our cares away.
Chasing windmills? Sure, I’m guilty. I’m a dreamer lost in a world where people say dreams can’t come true. But the windmill is here to stay, and we might as well get used to them and not let them wreck our day. I’m in favor and I hope to see more of them.
Johnnie Carrier is a freelance writer who still chases the windmills in his mind.
Font Resize
