I was appalled at the "good man " who didnt want to pay more for his garage. If you can afford to garage a car in Manhattan, you can damn well afford to pay the tax. We are cutting to the chase on energy and global warming, which is to say that even good citizens will put their personal convenience ahead of their community and the global environment. This means that some groups and leaders will remain convinced that we can't give any more bad news about global warming and that we can't ask for any sacrifices, no matter how trivial. In turn these groups will soft-pedal their demands for the really tough measures needed to mitigate climate change. And in turn this will mean going along with politicians and policies that are little better than Business as Usual. And this in turn will mean that we will act only when the s--t hits the proverbial plan and we are forced into defensive and protective measures rather than those that could minimize the eventual impact. I find all this very discouraging and depressing. We need to look hard for leaders who will lay the truth out for all to see, and hope that enough people will finally understand what the stakes are. But I dont see these leaders yet.

There he goes again! Cape Wind surely won't "directly reduce the burning of fossil fuel"; if the ill-advised industrial wind plant IS ever built its power will simply be added to the grid. There's no real guarantee that any coal stations will be magically shutdown if CW goes on line.

Also, once again, Komanoff plays the "Nantucket Sound "viewshed" enjoyed by wealthy Cape Cod landowners" card. Ha! There are countless working-class opponents of Cape Wind, people whose livelihoods will be destroyed or endangered by the project: navigators, fishing families, fliers; as well as middle and low-income folks who value Nantucket Sounds beauty as it is.

As for "appropriated ownership", THAT is exactly what Cape Wind is trying todo with the public space that is Horseshoe Shoals. Cape Wind is all about privatization of the Commons. They profit, we get stuck with the liabilities.

Cape Wind: the right project in the WRONG place!
 

Do tell us more about the "working class ... fliers" whose "livelihoods will be destroyed or endangered by the project".

The true meaning of life is to plant trees, under whose shade you do not expect to sit.

Ed Abbey said:

As for "appropriated ownership", THAT is exactly what Cape Wind is trying todo with the public space that is Horseshoe Shoals. Cape Wind is all about privatization of the Commons. They profit, we get stuck with the liabilities.

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I say that if you want to talk about appropriated ownership, let's talk about how cars have appropriated ownership of the public commons, how public streets that used to be used for walkers and bicyclists and horse-drawn vehicles and cars are now used almost exclusively by cars, that in this country alone kill tens of thousands and injure a million more EVERY YEAR.  Let's talk about how coal burning has appropriated the use of my lungs for its pollution.  Let's talk about how nuclear power has appropriated my genes and the genes of future generations for its damage, and how it has appropriated the air and water of the whole world for its routine radioactive releases.  Let's talk about how carbon emissions have appropriated the future of thousands of species, and possibly those of humans, too.  Let's talk about the fact that all freshwater fish in the northeast contains mercury, a result of burning coal for power, and the fact that I did not choose to have mercury as an ingredient in all the fish I eat.  Let's talk about all the autistic children being born, and the fact that autistism has been linked to exposure to heavy metals, such as mercury in the fish you eat, the mercury that gets spread around when the coal that contains it is burned.

At a time when the cancer rate in this country is approaching 40%, when the rate of children born with neurological problems is increasing, when the earth has a fever, when most people drink water laced with pharmaceuticals and toxins, when we are drowning in our poisons, I cannot understand resistance to those choices which can lead to a better future.