Dunal Musing no.637: Where has all the Amber gone?

Dunal Musing no.637: Where has all the Amber gone?

Dunal Musing no.637:
Where has all the Amber gone?

Silly question? Not at all: there used to be mountains of amber littering the beaches of those northern European countries lining the North Sea. So, where did the amber go? The answer: people living there over the millennia burned it for kindling and fuel. The problem for those folks was that the winds blowing off the North Sea were (are) so strong and continuous that trees, which would have been used for fuel, could not root. In the same area, today, the Germans and the Danes are generating a substantial part of their electrical energy needs through wind power. The same geographical phenomenon exists in the northwest region of Upstate New York where the winds coming off Lake Erie forbid anything but clover grass from growing. It's no surprise that the best clover honey in the world comes from there.

What got me thinking about amber was a recent news headline that indicated that friends and foes of nuclear energy were coming together, implying that going back to nuclear generated power was a friendly, if not a cogent option. Reflecting on the headline, “Rethinking Nuclear Energy,” I recalled that at one time amber was an important energy resource. The problem is that amber is a non-sustainable resource; elevated to the status of expensive gem stone, the way a piece of coal might become a precious object for some future generation.

Another thought occurred to me: the word for amber in classical Greece, was “Elektron," the Latin electrum. (So, what color was Elektra's hair?). Today, few non-Greeks are so named, however, the northern European name, Bernstein (burning stone i.e., amber), is in common usage

The Greeks had learned that if they rubbed amber with fur, they could initiate a static spark. Over time, in Europe it became part of a magician's routine. William Gilbert, in 1600, used the word electricus to refer to these magnetic properties. Later, Francis Bacon and Sir Thomas Browne formally introduced the word in the middle of the 17th century to the English-speaking world. It defined any property that produced the same spark as amber as electricity, which is bringing us closer to the point of this essay.

The aforementioned "nuclear" article struck me on how "the times are a changin"... again. As I advance in age, I have experienced a concomitant change in my weltanscauung. I’m certainly a lot more conservative than I was few years ago. Today, I am for everything that America wants and needs. If America has turned its collective back on environmentally safe forms of energy production such as wind and solar power and think that conservation is foolish and unnecessary, well, I'm with them 100%. If America wants nuclear powered cars and nuclear refueling stations on highways and on city streets: they have my vote.

I only have one small suggestion. If they are going to build more nuclear plants in America, I would think that a perfect place to put them would be spaced along the beltway around Washington: like pearls on an imperial necklace. After all, think about it for a moment, most of the power in the world already emanates from there anyway.

The sun seems to have risen, once again. I should probably plan for these events, but in today's world 'certainty' has become as uncertain as the polar ice caps. It's hard to plan. Do I build a house upon a beach, or on high beyond the ocean's reach? Enough, this expiation is over, my four-year-old is awake and demanding his morning coffee.

Szia