I appreciated the front page story about Irene Gilbert and her struggle against impactful electric power lines (“A 300-mile power line was supposed to serve the public. Now it may serve a data center,” Oct. 31).It brought out the complex and difficult issues confronting us regarding our growing demand for electricity and the significant environmental impacts that result from so-called “clean” energy infrastructure, including transmission lines.

As a long-term environmentalist, I deeply sympathize with Gilbert’s concerns. I have to wonder: Does the vision for a “clean” energy system really entail covering the landscape with huge expanses of solar panels, wind turbines, battery storage facilities and transmission lines? That sounds awful to me, as these have their own set of significant negative impacts on land, wildlife, landscapes and humans, in addition to their embedded carbon footprint.

These technologies will not bail us out of climate change; instead, they trade one set of impacts for another. We need to address root causes. We consume too much energy. Wasteful and frivolous use of energy, including by data centers, is everywhere. Until we have the courage to face and seriously deal with this uncomfortable fact, we will struggle to find a truly clean and sustainable lifestyle – and we will continue to have to make gut-wrenching choices between destructive impacts.

David Garen, Portland

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