Yes, I’m a dreamer and I hope one day you’ll be one too! Sound familiar? Maybe not exactly the words of John Lennon, but surely close enough to give him credit.
Those of us who have worked hard to press the case against building the coal-fired plant at Virginia City may be dreamers, but we’re not the only ones! And no, we won’t give up on our quest to help preserve not just our neighborhoods, but our planet as well. Despite the obvious disappointment that Dominion Power has been given the go-ahead, there is good news to report: More and more people are waking up to the fact that we simply cannot continue assaulting Mother Nature without catastrophic results – globally.
In a July 1 article in the Kingsport Times News, a recent U.N. report provides some interesting facts and perspective. Yvo de Boer, the U.N.’s top climate change official, believes the “green energy gold rush” is attracting legions of prospectors worldwide, and that this points toward a new global-warming treaty to take place by 2009. This treaty would lead to a “cut (in) industrial emissions of carbon dioxide and other atmospheric heat-trapping gases.”
Further, the article stated that last year $50 billion in new investments went toward wind energy, a more than 40 percent increase since two years ago. Solar power faired even better at a 90 percent increase to $28 billion.
The U.N. Undersecretary-General Achim Steiner made the powerful statement that “With world temperatures and fossil fuel prices climbing higher, it is increasingly obvious … that the transition to a low-carbon society is both a global imperative and an inevitability.”
My translation of this is that by the time this coal-fired dinosaur is on its feet it will be deemed a moot anachronism which will be on the “dangerous species” list and thus, be torn down by the demand of the people, like Christians taking down a pagan idol and making it extinct.
Because of the pressure exerted by those of us who have contested the building of this coal-fired plant, a moratorium on beasts of this kind has begun; the mercury level has been reduced from 72 [pounds per year] to four and sulfur dioxide has been cut by half. In addition to that, soon new carbon laws will go into effect.
My good friend and a trusted leader, Diana Withen, put it this way: “Most importantly we have met, organized and challenged the most powerful corporation in Virginia and we still stand together to fight another day.”
I end with the softer words of John Lennon: So, yes, “we may be dreamers, but we’re not the only ones. Maybe one day you will join us and the world will live as one.” First comes the dream and then we make it so.
Pamela Gilmer
Coeburn, Va.
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