Pamela Groberman heads up an award-winning media and public relations firm pamelagroberman.com that is passionate about sustainability.

            

Tilting for windmills

by PAMELA GROBERMAN

I’m planning a sleigh ride on Grouse Mountain with my Valentine. What could be more romantic than snuggling under a muffled sky with only the whisper of skis on snow and the lights of the city below.

The sleigh used to be pulled by horses from Stanley Park, bells jingling, but now more prosaically it is powered by bio-fuels. Magnificent shire horses no longer ride the gondola to go to work.  Afterwards, as long as my love can convince me that organic cocoa beans have been grown under fair-trade practices, we’ll sip hot chocolate and warm our hands on recyclable containers.

But a more compelling reason to visit one of Vancouver’s top visitor attractions is to take a closer look at the site of the proposed wind turbine, which is already causing a stir. Grouse Mountain Resorts, according to its web site, aims to become carbon neutral, and the 65-metre tower will produce 20 percent of its electrical power and “inspire others to make a difference.”

The naysayers – including, dare I say it, my fellow environmentalists – say wind turbines desecrate the scenery and indiscriminately kill birds and bats with their whirling blades. The Peregrine Falcon would be threatened and seven species of bats endangered.

Wherever the truth lies, North Vancouver District Council has given its approval by a 4–3 margin and the wind turbine will be built this year at the summit. Like the statue of Christ the Redeemer that soars over Rio de Janeiro or the Great Buddha on Hong Kong’s Lan Tao Island, it will be visible for miles.

Don’t know about you, but I favour harnessing the wind and the tide – or, for that matter, hot air from Victoria and Parliament Hill – if it will reduce our reliance on fossil fuels. Germany, for example, the world’s largest user of wind power, with nearly 20,000 wind turbines installed, and more planned, produces 6 per cent of its power from wind. It exports wind energy systems, providing jobs for 70,000 citizens. Canada lags far behind, producing only 1 per cent of its power requirement from what naturally blows in from the sea.

Like Cervantes’ fabled character Don Quixote, are we tilting at windmills?

“Do you see over yonder, friend Sancho, 30 or 40 hulking giants? I intend to do battle with them and slay them. With their spoils we shall begin to be rich for this is a righteous war and the removal of so foul a brood from off the face of the earth is a service God will bless.”

“What giants?” asked Sancho Panza.

“Those you see over there,” replied his master, “with their long arms. Some of them have arms well nigh two leagues in length.”

“Take care, sir,” cried Sancho. “Those over there are not giants but windmills. Those things that seem to be their arms are sails which, when they are whirled around by the wind, turn the millstone.”

Blow, wind, blow.