Few of us would go to lengths to prepare and preserve pickles that can’t be eaten, or acquire for transportation an automobile that has no chance of operating.
We prefer practical and versatile alternatives. We like baking bread that also smells good, and that makes good croutons even when stale, Bruschetta in a pinch, and, with the right mix of eggs, milk, honey and raisins, a passable bread pudding.
So, rather than contemplating hundreds of millions of tons of carbon discharged into the atmosphere to create an otherwise unserviceable concrete wall on the Mexico border, why not think again?
What if our border security structure consisted of two, five-mile-wide bands of photovoltaic collectors, one on either side of the border? The one on our side could produce enough power for most of the Southwest and portions of the west and mountain states, and the one on the Mexican side, on land leased to a private developer, could provide power for half of Mexico at below-market rates.
At the border itself, there could be the requisite 20-foot tall barbed wire, perhaps panels driven into the soil, security cameras and what all else. Habitat could be maintained beneath the panels for indigenous small creatures. Grasses perhaps, mowed after nesting season, at appropriate height. The panel arrays would have to be interrupted for inhabited areas and areas of spiritual importance to native peoples in the region.
At openings in the installation for travel, such as road crossings, welcome stations like a Freedom Gateway, or Independence Gateway, would have the usual border facilities, but also serve as energy and environmental education centers, with dashboards showing how the energy is being developed, distributed and used. They also would have quarters for the border security forces that would be needed in any case.
If I were that developer, I would call our company Suns of Friendship. I was amazed to learn recently that an area approximately 200 miles square, in a desert region, could produce all the electricity needed in the world.
Certainly, centralization is not the answer, but the sizing serves as reminder that millions of times our needed energy strikes the earth every day, and the expensive and dirty business of digging up petrified 300 -million-year-old plant material, relics of ancient solar-driven photosynthesis, to burn, is way out of date and no longer unnecessary.
Because the land lease would be inexpensive, and the border array revenue producing, with tax incentives in the mix, the direct cost to taxpayers could be little or nothing. A first for the country, and for the planet, literally.
Back to the pickles. We are in one, and need to slice them thin for a way-better sandwich.
Jonathan A. Wright, of Northampton, is the founder and senior adviser of Wright Builders.