The Vision, Not the View

When we moved back to New England five, almost six, years ago, we had to refresh our knowledge on the local political topics. One that was – and still is – getting a lot of press is an offshore wind farm in Nantucket Sound, off Cape Cod. The project is called Cape Wind.

There are small wind power projects around the area – a town a bit north of us has one and is installing a second. There’s one along the highway into the city that looks really cool at night when they light it with colored lights. They are well-designed, sleek windmills, and I think rather interesting to look at.

The windmills of Cape Wind will be in a shoally area miles from shore, and they will generate 75% of the electricity needed by the Cape and Islands (Nantucket, Martha’s Vineyard, Elizabeth Islands, including Cuttyhunk) – among many, many other benefits. They have had favorable evaluations from numerous environmental groups, aviation groups, and the Army Corp of Engineers. They have funding to build – and a decommissioning plan for years in the future. It’s not a perfect project (is there such a thing), but it’s pretty darn good, and we have to start somewhere. I think this is a good place to start.

But they are still stuck and can’t go anywhere. Mostly because of political maneuvering around regulations and permitting by people who think their views are going to be “ruined.” A senator from an Irish-American dynasty who typically champions the environment and a losing presidential candidate among them. Ahem. Tensions remain high around the issue, especially on the outer Cape and on Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard. Sadly, like many issues, this has become a somewhat divisive one - a rift you can see daily represented on the backs of cars zooming up and down the highway to Cape Cod.

In the summer of 2004 we were extremely fortunate to take the kids on a trip to Ireland. We have friends there – friends we met while we lived in the south – and we had a great time. While in County Clare we stayed in a cottage overlooking the Atlantic and the Aran Islands. It was stunning.

There are windmills on the Arans, and along the coast of County Galway. It didn’t ruin the view at all. If anything, the rhythmic nature of the turning arms contributed to the calmness of the scene. Really. I wondered what the hell all the fuss was about back here.

When we arrived home, I decided to try to do something and drafted a letter to the Irish-American senator mentioned above. But I didn’t send it. I don’t know why, really. I had plenty of excuses – months old baby, going back to work, all that. The letter sat.

Over the next year, I met a person who was and is very active in supporting Cape Wind. He has been the interim rector at our church – Father B.

Watching Father B come into our fairly conservative old New England congregation and turn so many opinions around was inspiring. Even the crotchety old sexton now has a Cape Wind Yes! sticker on the back of his van. While competently performing all his other duties as a parish priest, he was able to convey eloquently how he feels that supporting this renewable energy source was a part of his spirituality and completely meshed with his religious views. I can’t begin to summarize all that here, but trust me, it was inspiring.

I took out that draft of a letter and started a little online research to revise it. It was then I found articles written by Father B that use the title I use above – that this is about “the vision, not the view.”

What a perfect way to summarize, I think.

I finished that letter (a darn good one, I think) to the senator and mailed it off. Of course, I haven’t heard anything back. I didn’t expect to. But I was and am glad to be a voice in supporting what I think is right. I also wrote a personal note to Father B saying how much his efforts impressed me and I was glad he was with our church. Nice guy, that Father B.

The botton line is that we need projects like Cape Wind, and we need them now. And we need more Father Bs and more yous and more mes to support them.

In an interesting twist, Father B is due to leave our parish in March. We are coming close to finding a new permanent rector and there’s another parish that needs him….on Nantucket.


(Also, if you get a chance, check out the article on Samso, Denmark in the February, 2007 issue of Outside magazine. The carbon-negative talk gets a little overdone, I think, but reading about the economic implications of the turbines was fascinating. People living off the revenue generated by a single windmill – that is, requiring no other income! Can I put one in my backyard?)