Green Options

Just a few days into my six-day stay on the Greek island of Paros this summer, I was amazed that I hadn’t yet seen a single wind turbine or solar array. The wind blew constantly, and I literally didn’t see a cloud in the sky the whole time I was there. I was mystified that this tiny island, and those surrounding it, weren’t (as far as I could tell) taking advantage of the abundant clear energy sources available to them. A conversation with Greenpeace International’s executive director Gerd Leipold confirmed my suspicions: not only were the Greek islands not taking advantage of these resources, but there was an organized resistance to proposals to bring wind turbines to them. Leipold told me also that another coal-fired power plant was in the works to produce electricity.

The Travel section of today’s New York Times delves into this issue a bit more deeply, and notes that Greece’s total wind power development, about 800 megawatts, is well behind other European countries. Furthermore, electricity production comes largely from burning brown coal, or lignite, which, according to the Department of Energy, is the lowest grade of coal; it also creates more CO2 emissions than other forms of coal burning. Writer Joanna Kakissis notes that Greeks have good reasons to be alarmed at this reliance on lignite as a primary power source:

Editor’s note: While I highlighted the group sessions and activities in my coverage of the Symi Symposium in Paros, Greece, last month, I also had the great pleasure of meeting a number of people engaged in important and interesting work on environmental protection and restoration. One of those individuals was Gerd Leipold, the executive director of Greenpeace International. Gerd and I were originally going to do a

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