Our future is green

“Imagine there’s no countries, It isn’t hard to do, Nothing to kill or die for, And no religion too, Imagine all the people, Living life in peace.” John Lennon

Hearing John Lennon’s timeless lyrics remind us of the prospect of nuclear war in the hands of Kim Jong Un and Trump. The outcome is easy to imagine. Additional sanctions for Qatar, triggered by Trump’s tweets taking credit for the Saudi move against Qatar, may be explained by Trump’s offer to export Liquefied Natural Gas to Poland. Stabbing Putin in the back is hard to imagine. Dictators are unpredictable.

Learning from the past

The Mound Builders, Hohokams, Anasazis, and other Native American cultures built earth mounds until the 1700s. Their homes were solar powered, built with sun-dried adobe for natural cooling and heating. Passive solar heating and cooling provided comfort throughout the year.

American deforestation started when the conquistadores showed up. “There is one God and one King of Castile, who is lord of this country. Come at once and render him obedience or we shall kill you, and put you into slavery,” was the sales pitch. Then they cut the trees.

Green Energy

Solar and geothermal energy are emission free, green energy sources for Arkansas; there is no wind. Natural forests are our best hope to deal with extreme floods, droughts, and extreme weather. Have you been to the Berryville Carroll Electric Cooperative Solar Laboratory? They have four solar systems and solar experts waiting for you. Cooperatives understand the benefits of distributed generation.

Keep Arkansas Green

Learn as much as you can to protect your future. Please, Google “Arkansas wood energy sector 2017” and look for Pine Bluff Highland wood pellets, Zilkha wood pellets, and the Clark County Bio Sun wood fiber mill. Bio Sun is the new name of the Chinese Sun Paper fluff wood mill, a much larger version of the 2015 project, with water and sewer paid by your taxes.

Last week, the Highland Plant Manager said in a report, “Highland must harvest lumber under the guidelines of the Sustainable Forestry Initiative, which prohibits clear-cutting and the cutting of endangered hardwoods. Thus, a property owner wishing to clear-cut some acreage to create pastureland could not sell the lumber to Highland. Instead, the timber must be part of a plan for the trees on the property to be periodically thinned.” This is a false statement. SFI allows vast clear cuts, biodiverse forests to be turned into barren single-species plantations, logging that harms water quality and jeopardizes already imperiled fish and wildlife, and ignores indigenous concerns.

Imagine the amount of energy required to ship Arkansas forests to the UK as wood pellets, and burning them at the Drax power station. The air and water pollution involved in this process, and the massive quantities of particulate matter from incomplete combustion at Drax, are mutually assured destruction. Arkansans will die from deforestation and massive pollution, and Brits from inhaling particulate matter.

The smart alternative is to use solar and wind power in the UK, and pay Arkansas forest owners a long-term increasing monthly fee for all the services of the forests. If you really care, you can save 40-acres of forest for $35,000 in Clark County.

On September 12, 2016, Gov. Hutchinson quietly wrote letters to EU President Jean-Claude Juncker, on behalf of Highland pellets, claiming wood pellets shipped to the UK Drax coal-powered power station “reduce greenhouse gas emissions up to 90%.” Hutchinson and Juncker know wood pellets increase greenhouse emissions and trees are not renewable resources. Like fracking, wood pellets are false energy solutions.

Selling Arkansas is not economic development, it is a lethal strategy to create poor quality jobs and give China the best we have: our forests, rivers, clean air and water. Hutchinson wants a second term as Governor of Arkansas. He will not mention the 40-ton trucks making hundreds of deliveries to the mills per day or the lost tourist revenues, the main source of income of Arkansas.

Dr. Luis Contreras