Graphic Illustration

To the Editor:

I appreciate the illustration of the appearance of wind turbines off our coast. However, another illustration is just as important – the appearance of LBI after several feet of sea level rise.

Luckily, there is an illustration of this, courtesy of NOAA. Go to coast.noaa.gov/slr/#/layer/slr and you will be able to zoom onto LBI and use a sliding scale to see the effects of different levels of sea level rise. Then you can ask yourself, “Would I rather be seeing windmills on the horizon or the bayside of our island home completely inundated?”

Of course this wind farm by itself will have minimal impact on climate change. But there are many things we do individually that have little effect by themselves. Think of an individual recycling aluminum or plastic, someone buying an electric car, or even your single vote in an election.

It will take many wind farms and other changes to limit the impact of elevated CO2 levels. Consider your tolerance of this wind farm as your vote for climate stability, then keep pushing for others to take their own steps.

As to moving the turbines farther out, this is no solution because that more distant area will be eventually populated by more turbines. In fact, offshore turbines will have to be built up and down all of our coasts, so the argument that tourists will take their rental dollars elsewhere to avoid seeing wind farms is also strained.

If we are creative and put our minds to it, maybe we can take down the turbines in 30 years when alternative technologies are in place to limit climate change. Then we can have our pristine horizon back again.

But if we don’t do everything we can right now, we’ll never be able to fix that other illustration and reverse the inundation of LBI that will forever prevent our children and grandchildren from enjoying this wonderful island.

Frederick Jones

Barnegat Light