My boots grip into hard rock. Basin Mountain summit. The wind rushes over my head. I reach out to stop my hat from flying over the cliff.

“Imagine how much power we could generate if we had even just one windmill up here,” ponders my socialist sister Sarah. A student of the environment, in search of a Masters Degree in Environmental Education, she tends to fixate on sustainable energy and the elimination of fossil fuel consumption.

“F**kin’ metal towers would wreck the entire scene. Forever wild, baby,” grunts the wizened mountain man chowing on a PB&J sandwich, uninvited to the conversation, but joining it nonetheless.

The debate over wind power in the Adirondacks is not new; its complexity and corresponding debates reveal nuances of environmentalism and Park politics.

The Forever Wild Clause of the New York State constitution makes development within the Adirondack State Park a formidable challenge (Adirondack Council). Nonetheless, per the Adirondack Explorer, “locals are finding ways to go green despite the extra layer of zoning protections on public and private lands in the park” (Craig). 

The Adirondack Park Agency’s (APA) guidelines for structures over 40 feet, such as cell towers, have not been updated since 2002 and are intensely restrictive of mountain-top structures (Craig). So my sister’s dream of a palisade of power on the ridges isn’t likely to come true any time soon.

That is an oversimplification of my sister’s complex opinion. Her point is that we must find a way to both protect the immediate wilderness, wildlife, and spiritual nature experiences while also recognizing the long-term benefits that could be achieved through the construction and use of windmills. Windmills would prevent fossil-fuel combustion and help limit global climate change – as well as reduce power costs for local communities in the long term.

Some residents of the Park, such as Luke Dailey of the Concerned Citizens for Rural Preservation group, argue that wind power would “have many negative health, environmental and economic impacts” (Dailey). Other residents, such as Forest Gaillan, argue that windmills “would forever scar the landscape and beautiful views of the Adirondacks” (Gaillan).

That windmills would change the aesthetic value and appeal of the wilderness is effectively universally accepted – both my sister and Bill McKibben ( proponents of windmills in the park) acknowledge the reduction of natural beauty they would cause. However, while for some the potential change reflects a reason to avoid the mills, for others it supports windmill construction. In a 2005 article, McKibben writes: the Adirondacks “​​led me to fall in love with the world outdoors. Which is precisely why I hope those wind turbines rise on the skyline, and as soon as possible” (McKibben). He expands on the idea, saying that wind power is one way to limit the global climate catastrophe; protecting the environment and people at-large is more important than the visual appeal of this one specific slice of wilderness. While one might have to sacrifice some precise beauty, the protection of the wider outdoors and planet is more important.

I understand the worries and arguments of anti-windmillers. I understand the worry about the impact on the wilderness experience, the fear of birds being trapped in the blades, the nerves about renewable energy changing local economies.

But I also know that the leaves changed later this fall. That each fall seems to get warmer and warmer – noticeably. I know that Thanksgiving skiing is a question this year – it never used to be. I’ve read climate science, heard the predicted impacts of climate change, and feel the effects myself. And the effects of global climate change are so much bigger than when I’ll be able to ski. Whole nations may flood, refugee crises may overwhelm international relations. People will continue to starve – but at far greater scales.

Given that, I am willing to have my Adirondack vista interrupted by a large, spinning fan, generating power without releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

While I recognize that I’m not a park resident, and my role as a stakeholder is less-than-obvious, in a globalized world facing global climate change, we’re all universal stakeholders.

Literature Cited:

“Constitutional Amendment Process.” Adirondack Council, 2021, www.adirondackcouncil.org/page/new-york-state-constitutional-amendment-process-153.html. Accessed 28 Oct. 2021.

Craig, Gwendolyn. “Climate goals meet green energy in the Adirondacks.” Adirondack Explorer, September/October ed., 2020.

Dailey, Luke. “Wind, solar farms would scar the Adirondacks.” National Wind Watch, 30 Nov. 2018, www.wind-watch.org/news/2018/11/30/wind-solar-farms-would-scar-the-adirondacks/. Accessed 28 Oct. 2021.

Gaillan, Forrest. “Wind turbines will ruin the Adirondacks.” National Wind Watch, 12 Jan. 2017, www.wind-watch.org/news/2017/01/12/wind-turbines-will-ruin-the-adirondacks/. Accessed 28 Oct. 2021.