Editor:

As your Nov. 21 editorial ("Protect Tsakiyuwit, Deny Terra-Gen's Wind Farm") states, "due to Terra-Gen's ownership's other investments, its proceeds could well be used to fund other power sources that will continue to pollute the environment."

This reality undercuts the Terra-Gen's entire project. The wind farm will worsen, and hasten climate breakdown.

It is imperative, of course, that we act on a local level to reduce our carbon footprint. However, world-scale toxic activities, such as pipelines, oil extraction, fracking and deforestation, can only be restrained by political action. Our military generates more greenhouse gas than any other entity, with the exception of 34 entire countries. Yet Congress approves, even increases, its budget almost without dissent. The interests involved here are deeply entrenched and changing them will involve economic upheaval. Only the people can do it.

We're not used to large-scale political action any more. Nonetheless, we have to find our voice, as we did in the supervisors' chamber last week, to abate the approaching world climate catastrophe.

Ellen Taylor, Petrolia

Editor:

I am rarely surprised when mega-corporations like Terra-Gen try to bend public opinion with lies but the company's recent slander against the Wiyot people is both surprising and repugnant. I'm talking about (property owner) Lane Russ' recent demand that the Wiyot people prove that they once inhabited the Bear River Ridge. What he's really saying is, "What right do the Wiyot people have to stop this (Humboldt wind) project?"

This attempted character assassination won't work. Read:

• "An American Genocide," Oct. 27, 2016.

• The Quest for Qual-a-Wa Loo, (Holmes Book Company, 1964).

• The History of Humboldt County by Leigh Irvine (1914).

• The History of Humboldt County, California by Wallace Elliott.

• University of California Archaeological Survey #54 (1961).

• California Indian Country, the Land and the People by Dolan Eargle Jr.

• Atlas of the North American Indian by Carl Waldman

Terra-Gen has already admitted (in the DEIR) to discovering Native American artifacts at numerous sites along Bear River Ridge. History proves that the Wiyot people have every right to stop this Humboldt wind project and save their cultural heritage!

On Oct. 14, Gov. Gavin Newsom said, "The indigenous peoples of California persevered through our state's shameful history, including the genocidal "war of extermination" directed by California's first governor. Recognizing the enduring trauma of this violence and oppression, I took the initial and necessary step earlier this year to formally apologize to California Native Americans — a step I encourage other leaders to take in good faith alongside California. We are also creating a Truth and Healing Council to continue on this journey of reckoning with our past and healing together."

We are in a defining moment in our county's history. Will we sit silently on the sidelines while industrialists run roughshod over sacred lands? I agree with the governor. We need to stop this genocide.

Rick Pelren, Fortuna

Editor:

I am in favor of the Terra-Gen windmill project. The only way to lessen the severity of the impacts of climate change is to utilize renewable energy, such as solar and wind, and transition away from fossil fuels.

There are those who claim that we can do this with solar energy. People with knowledge and experience with solar energy don't agree. Solar, while important, costs significantly more and, if utility scale, requires square miles, not acres, of land. Please check on-line comments by Jay Peltz.

The impacts associated with the Terra-Gen project are outweighed by the impact our climate crisis is having on people and ecosystems around the world, right now.

For instance:

• In parts of Pakistan the temperature has risen 4 degrees Celsius. The resulting droughts, loss of agricultural productivity and health impacts have been devastating.

• Island nations in the central tropical Pacific Ocean are in danger of being completely overrun and destroyed by the ocean due to sea level rise. (Sea level rise in our own country is impacting the food sources and land of the Inuit people of Alaska.)

• The abundant marine life in the northern Pacific Ocean is threatened as a result of the shrinking of an ice sheet just north of Japan. This sheet historically has supplied substantial nutrients to the ocean and its sea life. (See a Nov. 12 article on this in the Washington Post.)

Greenhouse gas emissions produced locally for our electricity, such as from PG&E's natural gas plant and the biomass energy used by RCEA, contribute to our planet's global atmosphere, impacting Pakistan, the island nations, the Inuits, the Pacific Ocean marine life and much more. We should be supporting efforts to reduce our local contributions to these gases. The Terra-Gen project does this.

Nancy Ihara, Manila

Editor:

The latest report on world climate is now even more dire. We have only 10 to 15 years. We must move quickly to wean ourselves from fossil fuels. No time for NIMBYism. The Terra-Gen project to install wind turbine machines is needed. Solar panels are fine as well as conservation but alone cannot meet our energy needs. The concerns about the danger to birds and bats pale in relation to the wholesale loss of species to climate change.

Yes, Terra-Gen is a profit-making company that also invests in fossil fuels; but it, like other energy companies, sees clearly the "writing on the wall." It must start investing in wind and solar if it is to survive.

And, of course, it will be necessary to hook into the existing power grid. That is how our power is distributed.

Some don't like the fact that these turbines will mar the pristine view. A couple of recent cross-country trips revealed thousands of these turbines, as well as large fields of solar panels. A trip along the Danube in Germany saw the same. The view was fine and gratifying. Now it is our turn. As the apt saying goes: Think globally, act locally.

Edward Webb, McKinleyville

Write a Letter!

Please make your letter no more than 300 words and include your full name, place of residence and phone number (we won't print your number). Send it to [email protected]. The deadline to have a letter considered for the upcoming edition is 10 a.m. Monday.