Every power generation method produces some environmental impact. In order to produce power, we have destroyed salmon runs and flooded prime big game habitat, as well as farmland. We have removed mountains and covered the landscape with windmills, panels and reactors. Advocates of each type of power generation just pretend the negative consequences don't exist. The salmon can spawn in some other stream, radioactivity is nothing to worry about, elk can winter elsewhere, geese can learn to dodge windmills, desert creatures appreciate the shade from solar panels.
The truth is, there are so many of us and we have such a hunger for energy, we have to be a little creative to provide ourselves with said energy. Either that, or we need to reduce our requirements for heating and cooling our homes, our workplaces, or our stores. Maybe we have to decide it is wasteful to light up cities for entertainment or spray water in the air in the desert just to see it splash. We don't have to build 4500 sq ft houses just to say, "Look at me!". If we choose to keep living the way we are, there will always be some consequences. GD
