Macska Moksha Press

On August 6^th, 1964, one of the world’s oldest living trees was tragically cut down.

The event is instructive for what it demonstrates about how Western culture and science view more-than-human life. The scandal that erupted eventually contributed to the establishment of Great Basin National Park, which, though that gives the area some protections, doesn’t make up for the irreplaceable loss. People would probably like to think that something like this couldn’t happen again—I would like to think that it couldn’t—but I’m honestly not sure that’s the case. Let’s get into it.

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It was not called the Old Forest without reason, for it was indeed ancient, a survivor of vast forgotten woods; and in it there lived yet, ageing no quicker than the hills, the fathers of the fathers of trees, remembering times when they were lords. The countless years had filled them with pride and rooted wisdom, and with malice.
—The Fellowship of the Ring, “In the House of Tom Bombadil”

The tone of The Lord of the Rings [LotR] famously contrasts with The Hobbit. Whereas The Hobbit is essentially a light and amusing children’s book, LotR is darker and more serious. J.R.R. Tolkien was aware of this and in the first few chapters of The Fellowship of the Ring he gradually bridges the gap, leading the reader through stylistic and thematic transitions, with Frodo, Sam, Merry and Pippin’s first adventure outside the Shire—their trek through the Old Forest—falling somewhere between the whimsy of The Hobbit and the weightiness of The Return of the King. (If you have only seen Peter Jackson’s LotR movies and never read the books, the Old Forest will be new to you, as Jackson left it out.)

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I recently saw someone online wax poetic about how solar panels are so benign because they don’t leak oil or emit air pollution or make noise like machinery running on fossil fuels. “They just sit there,” he said, doing their thing. While I agree that we must reduce fossil fuel use for the good of the planet, I must point out that solar panels are not benign.

Like any technological product manufactured by industrial processes from raw materials extracted from the earth, solar panels have an ecological footprint that negatively impacts the more-than-human world.

Currently, the subject of these impacts is most often ignored or when it’s not, is usually hand-waved away. After all, the carbon-centric narrative goes, with the climate crisis being such an existential threat, we must do anything we can to “decarbonize” and that means scaling up solar, wind, etc., as fast as possible. As regular readers will know, I have long advocated for cutting overall energy use and consumption rather than trying to sustain current levels with alternate means. To emphasize: my critique of “green” or “clean” energy is from an environmental perspective, and be assured I’m far from a climate denier.

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[See also part I of this series, “Trees Royal and Divine”]

The Hobbit, published in 1937, was the world’s introduction to J. R. R. Tolkien’s Middle Earth legendarium and is still typically recommended as the best book to start with. Only one forest is featured in the book but it plays a major role: Mirkwood. Gandalf calls it “the greatest of the forests of the Northern World.”

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Mention “renewable energy infrastructure” and most people will probably picture solar and wind farms out in the country. What’s usually not envisioned is how the power from these often remote sites is brought to the cities and towns where it’s used. Obviously that part is essential, and it’s accomplished with high-voltage transmission lines, usually aerial (rather than buried). “High-voltage” is anything from 115 kilovolts (kV) up. For long distances, 354 kV and 500 kV lines are common.

Currently (no pun intended) the US has 200,000-240,000 miles of high-voltage transmission lines. In order to decarbonize or electrify the nation’s energy supply, many miles of new transmission lines would be needed. How many? The most commonly mentioned estimate is to double the present amount by 2035. However, according to a well-known and oft-cited Princeton study, two to five times as much will be required by 2050 to reach net-zero, which translates to a million or more new miles of lines.

Transmission lines are not benign structures. They have their own environmental impacts, both on-site and off-, that are not trivial. Besides the lines and towers themselves, there are also transformers, substations and other related infrastructure including roads.

On-site impacts include:

• Habitat loss (locally)
• Habitat fragmentation (regionally)
• Bird injury and death

Off-site impacts result from the manufacturing of the components themselves, and include everything from raw material extraction to component manufacturing to transportation.

This is a follow-up in spirit to last week’s post, “Meet Venezuela’s National Tree,” which was intended to help (re)humanize a nation that has been much maligned in the media. Iran has gotten a worse rap and for longer. US Americans have held negative attitudes against Iran for close to five decades, when 52 US Americans were taken hostage at the embassy in Tehran in 1979. I was only ten years old but I clearly remember the ugly vitriol that erupted at the time. (“Bomb Iran,” a parody of the Beach Boys’ “Barbara Ann,” was actually on the radio.) The hate never really fully went away. I’ve since learned the sordid history of US meddling in Iran’s affairs, which puts the 1979 incident into context, and makes me skeptical of current narratives from establishment politicians and press about what’s happening there and how the US should respond.

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