“I keep saying to you, some of us are trying to … help the U.S. adapt to a climate you knuckleheads can’t seem to understand is changing rapidly because of your profession. Compete in a world where U.S. is an equal partner in opportunity. Not perish as a result of some delinquency.” (Williamson, below)
“There is no climate crisis. You can walk across the street and not notice the accumulated temperature change that is ‘killing’ the planet. Adaptation to weather requires wealth and a LOT of affordable, reliable energy.” (Bradley, below)
I actively challenge and trade thoughts with the members of the Church of Climate. I find much gratifying support from third parties–but encounter angry, emotional critics who throw everything they can at me.
Enter one Tim Williamson, an “infrastructure, efficiency and renewable energy expert” in the Baltimore/DC area.…
Ed. note: This completes a two-part excerpt from Tom Bethell’s “inadvertent autobiography,” The Electric Windmill (1988: pp. 105–06). Part I was yesterday.
“I asked the gentleman from Vermont why the [wind turbine] blades were whirring around so smoothly in such still air. ‘It’s not working off the wind,’ he said. ‘It’s plugged into the power outlet.’ It wasn’t demonstrating the production of electricity. Electricity was demonstrating it.”
“Somehow, at that moment, the sun went in. And the rock music stopped. But the windmill went on turning….”
… someone named Bob Zdenck appeared eventually and told me how the fair was put together.
“First, we wrote a proposal for funding from the National Science Foundation, the National Center for Appropriate Technology, Housing and Urban Development, Department of Labor, Department of Energy, Department of Commerce, and the Community Services Administration,” he said.…
Ed. note: This two-part excerpt from the late Tom Bethell’s “inadvertent autobiography,” The Electric Windmill (Regnery Gateway: 1988, pp. 105–06), is a humorous look-back at the Carter-era. Part II is tomorrow.
“This was the Small-is-Beautiful crowd. Slanting solar collectors were dotted about. I kept a wary eye open for Amory Lovins or Barry Commoner….”
Curious about the overnight appearance of wigwams and other quaint structures, I parked my car near the Mall. A whirling windmill was also to be seen on the grassy sward, not too far from the Lincoln Memorial. Were the Indians in town, putting on one of their periodic Media Events?
Worth a look at least. On closer inspection it seemed to be a fair of some kind. Semi-naked youths were strolling about and lounging in the grass.…