GREEN ENERGY

Balsa Wood Logging for Wind Turbine Blades is a Nasty Scene

Environmental degradation and human rights abuses abound

Balsa tree (Ochroma pyramidale). Photo by Alejandro Bayer Tamayo from Armenia, Colombia, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

I get why the “green” energy narrative appeals to people. We do indeed need to de-carbonize our societies. We should leave fossil fuels in the ground. So people are relieved when presented with the idea that coal, oil and gas can be replaced by ostensibly “clean” alternatives like solar, wind, hydro and geothermal power, and battery storage.[1] For example, since electric vehicles lack tailpipe emissions, they must be a silver bullet.

However, the narrow focus on greenhouse gases paints an incomplete picture of the impacts of all of the above modes of energy production. Carbon is not even the only bad thing about burning fossil fuels, and as I wrote recently: “Emissions are SO not the only problem with cars.”

Crucially, when we look at “green” energy, we find many serious issues, among them:

• Habitat destruction for siting wind farms, solar arrays, transmission lines, reservoirs, etc.
• Child slave labor and other unjust practices implicated in critical material sourcing
• We can now add coups for green energy to wars for oil, as seen in Bolivia.