Ava Twohig

10th Grade Humanities

Energy Justice Monologue
The Lesson of Our Mother

Many acknowledge that our lands are dying, that the air has become polluted by the thirst for
riches, and that every time we drill from her we draw blood. The idea of pollution and the rush to find
“cleaner” alternatives has led to many controversial topics surrounding the question “How can we save
our planet, and at what cost?” The Hesperus solar project is a proposed project located on approximately
1,900 acres in La Plata County. This project includes around 1,600 acres of private property and 320
state-owned acres situated on the old Fort Lewis College campus. Solar Industry claims that the
development of this project will lead to “clean, low-cost energy, generate new jobs, and provide
significant local tax contributions and environmental benefits for the surrounding community.” However,
Durango Herald exposed a new view of the project. If the development of this project went through there
is a high chance of displacement and confusion for our wildlife, all generated power would be transmitted
to areas beyond southwest Colorado, and this will lead to the destruction of her beautiful vegetation and
will change the rural residential area into an industrial zone.

The land of our mother has held many stories. It tells the story of individuals who were here
before us, the wildlife’s past, present, and future, as well as the story of how Mother came to be. As Robin
Kimmerer says “That is the fundamental nature of gifts: they move and their value increases with their
passage.”

The passage through generations, through storms and fires, through years of destruction and
creation. Our mother has seen it all and over time her worth has increased.

The first principle to create a balance of human and environmental health is Longtermism. To
prioritize improving the long-term future of our environment and humanity. Looking at what has worked
and what hasn’t. How will the development work as the years come and go? And how much more can our
fading earth take?

This leads towards the idea of how we can protect her sacred lands that individuals have learned
to call home. To keep the universal agreement that the use of resources should not become a threat to
individual rights of life, liberty, or property of non-users. To acknowledge that even if our individual
emissions cause no harm to others, these emissions cross other people’s boundaries. To come to an
epiphany that an individual action will not lead to the death of mother but will lead to the result of joint
human emissions.

As they say, mother knows best, and as we have developed as a society she has shown us our
flaws. She is teaching us a lesson by leaving us in a predicament between energy and economic needs, or
long lives filled with beautiful streams and singing birds. She is teaching us how to find new ways to
satisfy our needs and wants while keeping her and her many children angelic.
 Work Cited

Fine, Ariana. “Primergy Submits Proposals for 155 MW Hesperus Solar Project in Colorado.”
Solar Industry, 11 Nov. 2022,
solarindustrymag.com/primergy-submits-proposals-for-155-mw-hesperus-solar-project-in
-colorado.

Kimmerer, Robin Wall. Braiding Sweetgrass. Langara College, 2022.

​Spear, Barry. “Support Wildlife, Oppose Solar Facility with No Local Benefit.” Durango Herald,
15 Jan. 2023,
www.durangoherald.com/articles/support-wildlife-oppose-solar-facility-with-no-local-be
nefit/.