Ken Salazar and Arnold Schwarzenegger formally approved Chevron’s Lucerne Valley Solar project and Tessera’s Imperial Solar Two project today.
The Sierra Club took no action to prevent the second — despite the site’s being intact habitat for the critically endangered flat-tailed horned lizard and an archaeological and cultural treasure, and despite local and regional Club activists pleading that the Club intervene — and actually facilitated the first, calling an intact swath of Joshua tree forest “degraded land,” and trumpeting their work as an advance for the planet.
There are so many good people working for the Sierra Club, and for NRDC and The Wilderness Society — two other groups working to facilitate some of these awful, destructive projects. I have friends on the staff of all three. Some of them truly believe their organizations are doing the right thing. Others are attempting to sway those groups with varying degrees of hopefulness.
But the Sierra Club as a whole has become a threat to the survival of our deserts. I am just so goddamned disappointed.
=v= Is your title a quote from the Club? If so, it is alarmingly dishonest. The Club (and those other two groups, for that matter) has a long history of saying YES to dubious enterprises. Surely they must recall that that’s exactly what prompted the founding of Earth First!
To claim that “saying NO” this is a rare exception is sheer greenwash.
Years ago, I realize that if the Club opposed something, they could usually be trusted, but when they support something, you need to take a closer look.
I just turned my computer on. MSN is my home page. Across the screen blared the words; “Green lights for big solar projects on Fed lands.” What a clever twist of words. I’m terrified in two ways with all this; It is another step towards the death of some 500 square miles of our deserts and all that lives there. And the wording of that news articles headline… “Fed Lands” It’s no longer public land. No longer, WE THE PEOPLE. It is property and bartering materials for politicians, corporations, and career oriented environmentalists who have forgotten, or never knew perhaps, what grassroots means. For those who never knew or cared to sleep on warm sand and awaken to the aroma, images, and life of a desert morning.
The desert has become a sacraficial lamb for our thirst for electricity. There is blood on our hands.
Yeah, I’m being harsh here. But the desert I love is being destroyed. I know that after 10 or 20 years of this kind of destruction the public will awaken and start screaming bloody murder about what has been done to the deserts in the name of “green”. Just because a place is called a desert does not mean that it is a wasteland, nor should one make it a wasteland just because they have the opportunity and excuse to do so.
For some time now I have been trying to convince those on my side of the fence that conservation is a way of The American People. But what can I say now? What will I tell my grandchildren someday? That we failed? That we did not look to the future? That our leaders had no vision, that they failed to see the value and options before them? That we didn’t stand up and march in the streets? That everything can be destroyed for a price? Destroy half of what is left and close the other half down to public access to mitigate the damage and all is well?
President Obama is telling us on one hand to get outdoors. Now he and his staff are destroying that outdoors which I love so much. President Obama, how many millions of acres of roof tops are there in this country? Why not put the panels there Sir? On those roof tops? Isn’t a roof top located on previously disturbed land?
But I don’t suspect that our President reads this blog…
Nor Mr. Salazar.
So here we are folks, they are not listening, so do we dare to LOUDLY, yet peacefully, raise a rebels flag to all this insanity?
I say, YES!
Jeez people, I’m what you might label an “evil off roader”. Yes, I drive on designated dirt roads in order to explore our deserts, I believe in multiple use and conservation. I crossed the line and worked with Senator Feinstein and The California Wilderness Coalition on what became the wilderness section of S2921. Made some suggestions to the energy section also. We will ALL lose major areas of our desert if this process is allowed to continue. Americans believe in sound conservation, lets make this a sound conservation issue BEFORE we have to learn the hard way that major damage is being done! It’s time we work together on a common cause: Our deserts!
The Sierra Club might consider changing its name to the Energy Club. This misinformed group of wannabe environmentalists can’t find an alternative energy proposal it won’t support. Yes, we all understand that we can no longer follow the oil chain for our energy needs, but that does not preclude making the best choice regarding location for alternative energy projects. Conversion of urban waste landscapes has not been done because it takes “viable” real estate off of the market. Energy conservation isn’t even a buzz word anymore. Our current administration seems to believe that every rural and wild landscape should be industrialized for energy production.
I, for one, will never give a dime to any organization that does not support true green energy. And that includes siting of facilities in such a manner that it does not cause destruction of sensitive habitats.
Same old song, different chorus.
Johanna Wald’s comments in today’s U-T are pretty disgusting:
http://preview.tinyurl.com/2eo26wy
On the other hand, Ileene is the one who got slammed in the comments by “enviros” and righty wingnuts alike, which is what the big enviros are afraid of.
-Larry