by C. H. Wells
But, seriously, folks, now that I’ve gotten that out of my system … https://millstonenews.com/2016/07/blot-on-the-landscape.html … and
… https://millstonenews.com/2016/07/enerdu-due.html … I’d like to tell you why I’m really against the Enerdu project:
I’d been to, and through, Almonte many times, having grown up in the Ottawa Valley, and having – on many a summer Sunday, when Dad was off work – taken a family trip, from Renfrew (where they also have a hydro plant) to Almonte, to enjoy a double scoop of Peterson’s ice cream [Chocolate!], with a stop at the Pakenham bridge.
I always remembered Almonte as the town with the three-cornered building and the “water steps” [Now under destruction.], and thought it was really “neat.” [Yes, it was that long ago!]
I’d been through, and to, the town as an adult, too, and always had a special fondness for it; but, practically-speaking, without a vehicle, and having a special need for organic foods, at the time it just didn’t make sense to consider living here. Small towns have fewer amenities, as well, and, through no fault of the retailers, their goods are generally more expensive.
But events conspired, in 2014, to leave me looking for a new place to live, and having, at the same time, a renewed desire to do some serious writing. [I’d always been a poet, ever since I was a child; worked as an editor/copy-editor/proofer for local and Ottawa newspaper/printing/publishing concerns; and have innumerable bits of things written and/or started, in anticipation of the day when I will eventually publish. Plus, of course, there’s that novel inside of me, just waiting to get out … (cough) …]
A friend and I took a day-trip to Almonte, from Perth, in August of 2014, where I fell in love. You’ll understand, if you’ve ever had the experience of having known someone for most of your life, and then one day, suddenly, seeing them in a whole new light and falling for them – madly. You end up wondering if they’ve always been there – exactly as they are – and you just never ‘saw’ them before, or whether they’ve changed in some inexplicable, ethereal way and you’re now seeing a genuinely new person.
Well, that’s what happened to me with Almonte. Suddenly, there she was, in all her beauty, beckoning to my poet’s soul. While here, we chanced upon a glorious big ol’ stone building with an ‘apartment for rent’ sign outside. “Surely not!” I thought, “Are the Fates telling me something?”
Investigation revealed that the apartment available was beyond my means at the time, but that two new units were currently being developed in the same building. I don’t think I ever seriously considered any other place I looked at after that. In November I called the owner to check on progress, and by December 1st I was here. And since my arrival, I have written more – and more often [Though sometimes, admittedly, from necessity rather than inspiration.] – than I have at any other time in my life.
So I’ll let you in on a little secret: < “There are Muses, here!!” >
… [Shhhh!] …
For Heaven’s sake, don’t tell anybody, or we’ll be overrun with writers, sculptors, dancers … Gad! Can you imagine?! Yes, there is not only something secret, here, but something sacred; and it’s hard to shake the feeling that that something sacred is something alive … conscious … palpable … and deeply supportive of creativity.
But what happens to Muses when you disturb the waters they play in? The rocks upon which they take their rest? They die. Just like the beasties blown out of the water by blasting, or slowly wiped out by irrevocable changes to their natural environment.
Now, lest you think me fully mad – instead of only slightly, and charmingly, so – allow me to give you a potential “scientific” explanation of Muse energies. Moving water – like our falls, here – creates negative ions. Contrary to what you might expect, “negative” ions are not bad for you, but, instead, make you feel good. They increase your sense of well-being, improve your concentration, reduce your allergies, and help out your serotonin levels. That’s why it feels like there’s something magical in the air of Downtown Almonte: There is!
Negative ions are also produced by plants [Feel good when you garden?]; they’re left in the air after a rainstorm [Ever felt ‘refreshed’?]; and are even produced by the burning of those lovely beeswax candles you place on the table between you when having a romantic candlelit dinner with your belovéd. [Thereby enhancing the mood! ;-)] No wonder, then, that a trip into the woods, to sit around a campfire by a babbling brook, is life-restoring – as long as the mosquitoes haven’t been allowed to proliferate in too great numbers [… (cough) Dragonflies! (cough) …]!
Too many positive ions, on the other hand, will actually make you nauseous, leave you feeling lethargic, moody, headachy, and just, generally, unwell. In nature, there’s a balance (though not quite even) between negative and positive ions, but, generally-speaking, and oversimplifying a tad, the more negative ions, the better we feel.
So, what creates positive ions – the ‘bad’ ones? Electromagnetic energy. Radiation. They also come off plastics in abundance. All that equipment in your home – your TV, your computer, your microwave, that clock on the nightstand right next to your head, and miles and miles of plastic-coated electrical wiring – is blasting you with positive ions. And so is the Enerdu plant.
And when its power is stepped up, it will produce even more positive ions, while at the same time, stopping or slowing the flow of even more water than before, that was meant to be moving along the river and over the falls in a natural rhythm, producing lovely negative ions as it goes. So, not only will there be a reduction, or at the very least, a disregulation in the production of negative ions in our downtown core, there will also be an increase in the production of positive ions. The negative effect of this hydroelectric plant on the positive benefits of the waters is more than just esthetic.
Anyone who remembers the fad, several years ago, that saw New Agers buying negative ionizers in abundance for their homes, offices, and even their cars [Toyota, springs to mind.], might be tempted to think this is bunk – pseudoscience. It isn’t. It’s quite legitimate, and the effects are quite real.
As well, the potential dangers from EMFs, ELFs and ULFs [electromagnetic fields] have not yet been determined, although a kind of “allergy” to electromagnetic energy, on the part of sensitive individuals, is no longer considered to be a psychosomatic, but a physiological condition. So there are individuals who will genuinely be very negatively affected by any increase in same.
Hydroelectric energy producers, of course, will tell you that there’s “no conclusive scientific evidence” that such energies cause health problems in humans or animals, but then, there’s “no conclusive scientific evidence” that they don’t, either. And didn’t RJ Reynolds & Co tell us the same thing – about cigarettes – for decades? As I recall, their research determined that “cigarettes don’t cause cancer.”
To date, the research that has been done on EMFs, ELFs and ULFs has been seriously flawed, not to mention that you need to know already, what kind of problem you’re looking for, before being able to determine whether these types of energy cause it. [EG: If you’re solely trying to find a link between electromagnetic fields and brain disorders, you may miss the link between them and childhood leukemia.] It’s entirely possible, if not probable, that there are effects we have not yet recognized. And the Enerdu plant is right in the heart of one of the most populous and most frequently-visited areas of town.
It’s also likely that we will see an increase in both noise and vibration levels, around the new plant [And we’ve only just begun to study the negative impact of these!], making some areas in its proximity, if nothing else, much less desirable real estate. For those of us who are ultrasensitive, they will more than likely be rendered unlivable.
Add to that the ‘slaughter’ of my beloved Muses, and you may understand better why, these days, each time I tread the bridges of Downtown Almonte, I’m either glaring in rage toward the offending construction, holding my stomach to quell the nausea, or hanging my head in soul-crushing despair. [Though I have, on occasion, been known to offer the project a cheery salute … .. with a single finger.]
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Part 2 of We Are Not A-Muse-d: A review of the arguments.
