Powerlines from the Sacramento River dams. (Tomasito photo)Power Cables
There are two immense dams very near our apartment: Shasta Dam, which is a colossal structure and Keswick Dam--much smaller than Shasta, but very large.
These dams have changed the ecology of the Sacramento River in ways so fundamentally destructive that it is difficult to understand why they were built--except that the work was done in the days when Americans actually believed that they were godlike in their power to change nature for the better--to serve the needs of man as it were--more efficiently than nature could do it.
These huge blocks of concrete will, no doubt, be here as ruins for many, many, many human generations--if indeed humans continue to thrive on this planet which becomes more doubtful day by day.
The purposes for which the dams were made--the generation of electric power, flood control and, perhaps, recreation--are all becoming obsolete, while their destruction of habitat and general upset of nature are becoming more apparent all the time.
These dams have changed the ecology of the Sacramento River in ways so fundamentally destructive that it is difficult to understand why they were built--except that the work was done in the days when Americans actually believed that they were godlike in their power to change nature for the better--to serve the needs of man as it were--more efficiently than nature could do it.
These huge blocks of concrete will, no doubt, be here as ruins for many, many, many human generations--if indeed humans continue to thrive on this planet which becomes more doubtful day by day.
The purposes for which the dams were made--the generation of electric power, flood control and, perhaps, recreation--are all becoming obsolete, while their destruction of habitat and general upset of nature are becoming more apparent all the time.
Tomasito, 2008
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