Love of Big 244

Is Bigger Better?

Megaphilia is the love of large things. While I love God’s Creations, I must admit some BIG things are really cool.

Charlie Hoffs is a writer for the Union of Concerned Scientists and introduced me to the term, megaphilia, via her article. This started me wondering if I too am attracted to big things.

I have had the good fortune of seeing massive Bull Moose and Elk. The moose is the largest of the deer family and a stunning animal to encounter in its native habitat.

My work, gratefully, gave me many chances to see whales, and once a herd of elephants moving single file across the African Savanah.

I once saw a big old yellow polar bear. His footprints looked huge from 500 feet. I was happy to be out of reach in the helicopter.

I hope everyone has had a chance to see some of these animals in the wild, or will in the future, they are not only big and majestic but amazingly graceful.

My first close view of Denali in the Alaskan Range was rather humbling. I was flying in the winter. All was white and a thin haze obscured my vision. As I flew along and consulted my sectional, I realized I should see “The Great One”, but it was not there.  I scanned left, then right, and back. Everything was white. “This mountain cannot be so big, or I would see it!”, I told myself. Then I leaned forward, twisted my head, and peered up. There was the peak. The mountain literally filled my whole windscreen.

Nature’s big things are inspiring to me but the writer for the Union of Concerned Scientists, Charlie Hoffs, introduced me to something just as massive and impressive, the man-made Max Bogl Wind AG Turbines which deliver electricity to homes and businesses in Germany. These mega turbines reach 808 feet high, two times the height of the Statue of Liberty.

The bases for these wind turbines are hollow and made to hold  40 meters of water. These water storage bases are nicknamed, “water batteries”, because the water stored in the base is used to drive a water driven hydro-turbines when backup electric power is needed. In the USA we call this pumped hydro.

According to our Department of Energy, DOE, a typical large sized wind turbine contains 8,000 parts from which the USA has 500 facilities manufacturing various parts. The mammoth Max Bogl wind turbines use GE electric generators.

I encourage you to search “Union of Concerned Scientists Wind Turbines”. The UCS has loads of articles on science and how science is making strides to provide us with clean energy and ways to sequester carbon. Charlie Hoffs has written articles on how wind turbines are made, installed on land and ocean, rare earth elements, recycling the blades, and creating a circular sustainable economy further enhancing an already great way to produce energy.

My love of Big Green Power comes from knowing God’s Creatures are best protected by our new clean sources of power.

My all-time favorite “Big Thing” is the Big Lake, Lake Superior, or as called by the Ojibwe, Gitchi-Gami. I do not think there is another body of water more revered by so many people.

Lake Superior is protected by American and Canadian environmental laws. It will be decades before the lake restores itself from past abuse, but we should be proud that Americans and Canadians hold the lakes health as a high priority and have joined together to protect it.

But climate change remains a threat. Lake Superior is one of the fastest warming lakes in the world so its whole ecosystem is at risk.

When you see a giant wind turbine and recognize not only the clean fossil free energy it produces, keep in mind wind turbines are helping our Big Lake, and lots of other lakes, stay cold, clear, and clean.

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