Renewables

I gaze out of the oval window next to me. The entire cabin is sleeping though it is just 9 in the morning. DC to Seattle is a long flight, and I recognize a number of faces from the international flight from Dubai last night. They must be exhausted, I think.

Outside, it is crystal clear, a rare sight for late November. Not a single cloud in sight. I look down at the countryside. We are flying at 34000 feet, but I can see the farms and roads clearly. Straight lines, geometrical shapes - squares and rectangles mostly - and the occasional turnabout. I keep staring outside for almost half an hour - the shapes and symmetry appealing to my compulsive sense. Then I notice something - the scene has hardly changed in half an hour. The same plots, agricultural fields, one or two houses per farm - as far as the eye can see. I feel sad for a moment. I muse at how we have taken Mother Earth and drawn lines on her to demarcate areas - yours and mine, his and hers. It doesn't seem fair. But it is just human nature I suppose - to feel power, greed, the need to organize, improve efficiency and learn. I can't make up my mind whether we are better off today or a thousand years ago.

I look down again and see several tiny-looking windmills dotting some of the farms. I am told these are over 200 ft tall, but from up here, they look teeny, blades idly doing their work. I feel better - at least we are using something that is available freely, is clean, renewable, and we don't have to draw lines around to demarcate our shares. Or is it that we just cannot draw lines around wind? I'm certain we would have, if we could!