Don't get me wrong. I'm 100% for
environmental causes. It's just that some of the more
radical elements of the
environmental movement is so blinded by their
love of the
Earth, they will idiotically
lash out at anything that threatens it,
real or
imaginary. In fact, they have even begun to include the
moon in their
circle of love. Behold:
Tidal Energy draws criticism
The Cornell Green Society has begun a campaign against a Cornell University Geological Sciences professor and his research into tidal energy. Quote: "What they call 'harnessing' the tides is actually depleting the energy of the moon's orbit." The Green campaign will be primarily focused on increasing campus awareness of the issue, by distributing "Save the Moon" signs to everyone passing by.
In a Green pamphlet, it calculates the moon's kinetic energy to be 6.579 X 10^28 J. If even 10% of the world's supply of electricity is supplied by tidal energy, then it would bring the moon to a full stop in 58.9 trillion years.
The professor candidly admits the claims to be technically true. In fact, he even said due to the inefficiency of prototype systems, the actual time required to bring the moon to a halt is only 57 billion years. He added, "Besides, the point is somewhat moot. The sun will burn out its supply of helium in a mere 11 billion years. In the meantime, tidal energy is a clean, safe source of energy, with moderate investment and low upkeep costs, and a very light impact on the environment.
Countered the Green spokesmen: "He is just trying to come up with flimsy excuses to justify handing over the future of our lunar gravitational resources - the resources of our children - to powerful, greedy, shortsighted corporate interests." This adds one more alternate energy source to the growing list of sources considered "no good" by Green societies all over America. Nuclear, hydroelectric, agricultural hydrocarbon and geothermal energy has all been regarded as environmentally unfriendly, leaving only wind and solar.
// begin sarcasm
They are still looking for the perpetual motion machine kept secret by evil oil companies.
// end sarcasm
This reminds me of a case where the construction of a children's hospital in California was stopped because it might endanger a rare butterfly. Sure, protect the Earth, but not to this degree.
BTW, that was a true story. No joke.