"As
we enter a new millennium, unlimited power appears to be
an inalienable right. After all, without it we would not
have water, lighting, heating, transportation of consumer
goods. Our communication system depends upon it. Out
entertainment requires it. Medical care demands it. This
dependency is a recent phenomenon in human culture. Yet,
we take power generation for granted and pay little
attention to how it is generated and distributed. Even
less do we consider how we are to sustain our
ever-growing need for more and more energy.
In earlier centuries, power came from above. We prayed to the heavens for good health and the strength to make use of the muscle power we possessed. Now power comes from below. We pay others to extract non-renewable resources and to generate electricity. The power plant has become a necessary mediator between out desires and their realization, much as the cathedral was the intermediary between god and man in the Middle Ages.
What are the consequences for future generations of obtaining most of our energy from non-renewable resources? What options do we have to meet the growing need for power worldwide? As I traveled around the American West and Hawaii, I visited generating plants fueled by uranium, oil or gas, coal, water, solar, wind and geothermal energy. The discrepancy is stark between the considerable funding for extracted resources such as coal, oil and gas or uranium and the minimal attention given to renewable resources.
With my camera, I wanted to make visible the power that has changed our world forever. If we believe that the technology we depend on should be available to future millennia, we need to consider well how we are to obtain the energy necessary to sustain it." -Joan Myers
