To the editor:

As I drive around some of the high-rent areas of the island, I see huge single-family homes, with perfectly kept lawns and hedges. It would be reasonable to assume that their energy consumption per capita is somewhat above average. Most of them sport a little cardboard sign indicating opposition to offshore wind power.

These signs make me wonder how the owners feel about mining for coal by mountaintop removal, where entire mountains and their ecosystems are completely destroyed to get at the coal underneath.

I wonder how they feel about the seafloor in the Gulf of Mexico, smothered in crude oil when the Deepwater Horizon well blew out, or the coast of Alaska, greased by the Exxon Valdez.

I’d like to ask how they justify tar sands extraction in Canada. Should “Keep It Wild” apply to Alberta as well?

It seems they want plenty of electricity for their floodlights and central air and all, but don’t want to have to see how it’s produced. Perhaps they should think about it a bit more deeply, and take some responsibility for the consequences of their consumption.

Clay Commons

22 Bayside Ave.

Portsmouth