#powerlined

[pwrlined]

My article "From Wire Evil To Power Line Poetics" is in latest issue of Energy Research and Social Science. Link in bio. #powerlines #notpowerlines #powerlined #renewableenergy

[pwrlined]

Been playing around with some of the YouTube editing options after a road trip from Segovia to Santander 

[pwrlined]

Kela and I touring the Clockshop Bowtie project alongside the LA River.  

[pwrlined]

Video: Power Line Fears

News media coverage in the 1980s and early 1990s fueled fears of a national cancer epidemic caused by power lines and generated a debate that still lingers today.

Beyond the fears (real and perceived) are the equally messy (and often unspoken) influence of aesthetic perceptions

[pwrlined]

Paul Fryer Lucifer (Morningstar)

[pwrlined]

When Adam Greenberg's family moved to Winfield Drive from the Bronx in 1967, it was to escape the urban landscape for one of natural beauty.

New power line route proposed in New Jersey. The argument from each side will seem familiar:

Utility: "the company is looking at routes {that} use existing JCP&L rights-of-way"

Residents: "It would be hard to imagine JCP&L being willing to pay for the esthetic loss of trees or the depressing sight of more power lines and poles in our backyards"

[pwrlined]

Beautiful and informative video about the National Grid in Great Britain. 

[pwrlined]

Re-visualizing a "Monster-Free" Garden Court

My heart swells today on news that the 198-foot towers in Chino Hills are coming down, and its especially fitting that the first tower to fall will be the one looming over Garden Court (heres my previous post on Garden Court) where resident Joanne Genis has been fighting with nothing less than an Erin Brockovich-like intelligence and determination since the first plans were announced. When I think of her watching the construction workers remove this tower that's loomed over her house in one way or another for almost a decade its almost as like watching an Olympic athlete watching as the stars and stripes are raised to the national anthem. I know, it sounds, cheesy, but this woman she fought like hell against this tower- and she (along with many others) deserve to celebrate. 

I can imagine helicopters hovering, blowing up dust, cables being lowered and secured into place, and a bit of the heartache felt by Chino Hills citizens beginning to lift away. 

The removal won't just alter the visible landscape of Chino HIlls. Some residents will notice the vacancy as they sweep their eyes across the landscape, but that vacancy will forever fill many citizens with pride. As I argued over a year ago, the emotional response to seeing these towers has been a key factor in the fight against them. 

In fact, when the decision by the CPUC was announced a veritable celebration broke out in Chino Hills- and they deserved a party. What was also interesting for me was the way that Commissioner Peevey described the change of heart that led him to change his approval for the 198-foot towers into a rejection. As this article by local reporter Canan Tasci suggests, it was not until Peevey actually travelled from San Francisco to Chino Hills. Tasci writes, "after physically seeing the towers residents call "monsters"" Peevey was able to conclude that, in this case, supporting "community values" was worth the "modest cost to ratepayers" required to remove the poles and bury the line. Peevey's decision looks fine in print, but what was hard for him (and the rest of us) to describe in words was the sick feeling in your stomach that you get when you looked at these towers. "Monstrous" approaches, but doesn't quite suffice. Maybe the best way to define the negative feelings associated with the presence of the towers is the examine the positive feelings that will certainly greet their absence.