Terra-Gone 

Editor:

The rejected Terra-Gen Wind Farm was the only project capable of coming online quickly enough to help mitigate Humboldt County's green house gas emissions as we do not have years to design and approve another project of that size quickly ("Supes Deny Controversial Wind Project," Dec. 19). Wiyot sacred land is preserved but as was commented at the meeting, "All the land is sacred."

All of Humboldt County was Indian land, there is no land where ancestors' bones are not buried. By that criteria, forget about any mitigating power sources anywhere in the county, solar, wind or other.

Also, China not only emits twice the greenhouse gasses of the United States, they are building thousands of new coal power plants. They are also building 300 new coal plants in other countries along the silk road and elsewhere. That said, India is the fastest growing green house gas emitter in the world, with emissions rising 5 percent over just the last year. Brazil is emphasizing economic development by cutting down the Amazon at a breathtaking rate and no sign of ceasing.

We can preserve sacred land, though you'll shortly burn to a crisp on that land and the formerly productive rivers will not have fish in a few short years.

I suggest activists go to China, if they'll let you in, and protest the thousands of coal plants they are building domestically and in other countries in their aggressive bid to expand political influence. Perhaps they'll give you a choice of sharing a cell with one of the thousands of Hong Kong protesters, perhaps you'll get lucky and be assigned a cell in a Uighur "re-education" camp instead. We lost the war. Just make sure you have plenty of sunscreen.

John Dillon, Eureka

Editor:

I listened to our community voice feelings on the Terra-Gen project with a deep sense of sadness. Over time, as issues come and go, our community has gotten to know each other very well. We can all speak eloquently on our forests and wildlife. We know to insist that local labor be included in projects. We have learned the feelings and respect the peoples who have come here before us.

But as I listened to the reasons given for opposing a wind project, I could only see the same forces in play as what happens internationally. Sadly, even Humboldt has failed to respond to the threat of climate change, which far surpasses anything that we as individuals, cultures and a species have ever seen before.

For 11 years I was an observer in the international UNFCCC climate negotiations. I witnessed the disappointment of Copenhagen and the elation of the Paris Agreement, when the world finally acknowledged that every single party needs to set aside their own reasons for opposition, give something up and painfully contribute their share for the greater good of the whole.

Communities all over the world, from teeming cities in Asia, to rural villages in Africa, to Indigenous cultures in island nations, rainforests and far arctic regions already suffer climate impacts. Yet even they agreed to contribute what they could through their national pledges.

No project will ever be perfect. But replacing fossil fuels at scale is the most urgent action we can take. I saw this as Humboldt's chance for our diverse communities to collectively cede a bit on the particular aspect they care about, and feel pride in making a contribution, for the good of themselves, their families and the rest of the planet.

I'm sorry, Greta.

Andrea Tuttle, Arcata

Editor:

To combat the terrifying acceleration of global warming Greta Thunberg begged us, "Do something now!" 

Humboldt County just turned down a wind power project the effects of which would have equaled taking more than 80,000 gasoline-burning cars off the road.

Gordon Inkeles, Bayside

Editor:

I once thought it strange that the roadblock to Terra-Gen would be the Wiyot Tribe. They steadfastly refused any compromise to allow wind turbines on land they now say is sacred. Revenge is sweet. They learned from the Europeans who decimated them a century and half ago: don't give an inch, take no prisoners.

It'll be a pyrrhic victory. Within a few decades, Tuluwat Island, recently deeded back to the Wiyots as it should have been, will be underwater.

But I fault supervisors most. Perhaps plagued by guilt for what Europeans did long ago, supervisors voted to sacrifice our grandchildren's future to protect sacred arrowheads hidden somewhere on the Russ Ranch.

Young people the world over have been at the forefront of halting the climate crisis. With a different outlook here, most of the young who spoke at the supervisors' hearing opposed Terra-Gen. Even HSU students drank the Kool-Aid. They must know by now that those who are young now will suffer most from the climate crisis.

Decades, not even seven generations from now, after fire has scorched Bear River Ridge again and again so that it looks like Baja California, I wonder if those young folks by then turned old will remember the day they shouted down a solution to the climate crisis.

John Schaefer, Arcata