 “Behold! a giant am I
Aloft here in my tower…” Every time I see - in reality, or on television - those gigantic wind turbines, I cannot stop Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s introductory words of The Windmill from popping into my head. “Behold! A giant am I!” When I was a child of primary school age – seemingly a hundred years ago - poetry was a thing, and we enjoyed it. And ‘The Windmill’ was one of my favourites. Of course, Longfellow’s windmill was unlike our modern wind turbine. The old one “ground …The maize, and the wheat, and the rye” into flour. Today’s ‘windmills’ are helping to save the planet. They are majestic and wonderful, and I can’t help but wonder why the proliferation of these mighty machines is not a topic on the front page of newspapers, or more frequently in the News. I don’t understand how politicians and others with influence are not singing the praises and promoting these giant turbines that are supplying us with so much renewable energy daily. The same goes for those acres and acres - actually some at 15,000 hectares (kms & kms) - of solar panels that can be seen in all parts of rural Australia. It’s difficult for a layperson to estimate the cost to governments and consumers of wind farms, and I have little understanding of subsidies concerning megawatts – or whatever - produced. Farmers and others are trying to make money from ‘hosting’ wind farms, but it is sometimes unclear how long it takes to make a profit. Likewise solar farms. They seem owned by a variety of companies. It’s a growing industry, but who owns or runs all these solar farms is a bit of a mystery. Nevertheless, wind and solar farms are part of what MIGHT save our ever-warming planet. Verse 4 of ‘The Windmill’ goes like this: I stand here in my place, With my foot on the rock below, And whichever way it may blow I meet it face to face, As a brave man meets his foe. What a great description. Not much publicity is given to today’s windmills. It would be nice if media outlets became more rousing in the praise of these and other methods of renewable power. IMHO The populace needs to be aware of these positive growth- industries – and be more informed. Can we please have some good, positive news about fixing the horror that is Climate Change? With so many other sombre and depressing reports, especially of Covid19 virus infections and so much boiling unrest about so-called Lockdowns, it would be nice to have a smidgeon of good news every day. As for poems such as “The Windmill”, I plan to write about those another day, as I ponder how poetry seems to have disappeared from primary schools. Meanwhile, good news, please. PS: As the need for good news increases, I have no words about the current horrible uncertainty created by the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan and the fear it is generating.
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