The Big Green Energy Mountain: A Song

The Big Green Energy Mountain

In the year that oil had reached its peak a New Age lad came biking
He rode right in with a progressive grin and a hubris that was striking
"I'm heading for a land that's far away from the greenhouse gas cloud mountin’;
and if you’re all wise, you’ll subsidize the Big Green Energy Mountain."

On the Big Green Energy Mountain, the sun shines day and night.
The solar cells that run the wells provide abundant heat and light.
And you can site them miles away ‘cause the power lines have no loss.
The windmills all drive, spinning nine to five,
the birds are all happy just to be alive,
On the Big Green Energy Mountain

On the Big Green Energy Mountain, the cars burn alcohol.
And to make these stocks of ethanol takes no farm land at all.
The trucks all run on water and surplus cooking oil.
Their engines respond to biodiesel spawned
from the algae that’s grown in a big koi pond,
On the Big Green Energy Mountain

On the Big Green Energy Mountain, the cordwood has no soot;
the forests can be clear cut miles around without a tree uproot.
The dams don’t block the canyons and the fish can swim right through.
The geothermal brings many shallow hot springs
the stoves use methane that the compost pile brings
On the Big Green Energy Mountain

Well I’ve been all around that verdant hill and now I must say frankly
For energy safe and clean and true, I’ll take Vermont Yankee
I’m tired of being taxed by political hacks
For boondoggle schemes that belie all facts
On the Big Green Energy Mountain

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 Dana Krueger (with apologies to Harry McClintock http://www.stlyrics.com/lyrics/obrotherwhereartthou/inthebigrockcandymountains.htm

Land Use For Renewables

The Comprehensive Energy Plan for Vermont (CEP) says that Vermont will use 90% renewables by 2050.  My husband and I are doing a report on the land-use implications of this 90% renewable path for Vermont.  An early report on land-use is at the Ethan Allen Institute site right now. The 90 Percent Solution. You can expect a longer report later in the year.

Back to the Song

My friend Dana Krueger wrote this song, and I decided to run it on the day of the NRC meeting.  Plant opponents may be better at intimidation, but we have better songs!

The original Big Rock Candy Mountain song is below, just for fun.

A Song for the Outage: These Plants Are Your Plants

These Plants Are Your Plants

Finally, a sing-along! Gail H. Marcus, former president of the American Nuclear Society (among other achievements and honors) wrote These Plants Are Your Plants. She posted the lyrics on her blog, Nuke Power Talk. She has written other songs, too, like Neutron Doodle.

Marcus was inspired to write nuclear songs by the way the depression-era hydro projects were encouraged by songs. The best song was Roll on Columbia by Woody Guthrie: "Your power is turning our darkness to dawn."

These Plants are Your Plants

(sung to the tune of "This Land is Your Land," by Woodie Guthrie)

Lyrics by Gail H. Marcus

Copyright Gail. H. Marcus

These plants are your plants

These plants are my plants

From their cooling towers

To their nuclear islands

From the U.S. Heartland

To its coastal waters

These plants were made for you and me.

As I was walking

That ribbon of highway

I saw before me

A smogless skyway

And sparkling waters

Were flowing my way

These plants are good for you and me.

The children were laughing

And people were singing

At all the wonders

The power was bringing

The lights were shining

And the bells were ringing

These atoms split for you and me.

And at the plant sites

The workers labored

To use the atom

To help their neighbors

With clean safe power

To fuel all nations

These plants bring joy to you and me.

These plants are your plants

These plants are my plants

From their cooling towers

To their nuclear islands

From Europe's vineyard

To Asia's water

These plants were made for you and me.

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The Original

Warning: The verses about the hydro projects and the river locks (for navigation) are terrific. However, some of the Guthrie lyrics are very distasteful. The "wild Indian warriors"? Ouch. We forget how prejudice was part of standard speech, back in the Good Old Days.

Songs for the Outage: Save a Millirem, and Don't Stand So Close

Songs for the Outage

Vermont Yankee is in the middle of the much-discussed refueling outage: Would they or wouldn't they load fuel? Nobody knew for sure.

Vermont Yankee is loading fuel. They are doing it. Hundreds of people are working hundreds of hours. Sometimes it feels like each individual person is working hundreds of hours. I decided to honor everyone working the outage at Vermont Yankee with Songs for An Outage.

Fifty Ways to Save a Millirem

The first song: Fifty Ways to Save a Millirem, was on my blog before, on the post, Vernon, New Hampshire? (That post suggested that Vernon secede from Vermont.) Here's the song again.

Don't Stand So Close

Here's another song, Don't Stand So Close, this time by the Rad Police (as opposed to The Police). I can't make out some of the lyrics, so if someone can hear them more clearly, please send the lyrics as a comment to this blog.



Have a great Refueling, Vermont Yankee!

Nuclear Song Videos: Spiritual and Rap

Having posted a serious video yesterday about Vermont Yankee, I thought I would post some short videos today.

Spiritual first:

Thanks to the twitter stream of @NukeRoadie for leading me to this video: Nuclear Power Song by Environment Man. A very familiar tune.

"Chernobyl my fears relieved...How precious did that dome appear..."

Rap Later:

As one You Tube leads on to another. Nuclear Power Rap. I believe this is by tmntlegacy?

"Nuclear is the future. Stop gassing man, you're gassing because you're a coward"

More Music

Previous blog posts featured another Nuclear Power Rap and the rollicking Ways to Save a Millirem.

Some non-musical links

• My recent video about Vermont Yankee has also been posted at The Energy Collective.
• Howard Shaffer has a post on Old Tactics and New Approaches in the Vermont Yankee battle: this post is at ANS Nuclear Cafe.
• I have a post about the Shumlin Fish Story at True North Reports: Shumlin's fish story is not good for his lawsuit story.
• At Vermont Tiger, John McClaughry asks What About the Milk? Comparing radiation dosage from Shumlin's Fish to the dosage in ordinary milk (from the naturally radioactive potassium in the milk).