By Christy Clark

I've been trying hard to change my act. I turn off my computer at night, do the laundry in cold water, and have changed the light bulbs in my house.

I know that cutting my household electricity use will be a miniscule contribution to the fight against global warming. But when I'm basking in the weird blue glow of my lamp and admiring the gray tint in my once-white T-shirt, I remind myself that my contribution counts for something, however small.

While I'm reducing my energy use, though, I'm not likely to eliminate my need for it altogether. Even the alien-glow lights need to get their power from somewhere. So will all the new people who add to our population every year.

So where should that power come from?

It can come from coal or natural-gas-fired plants that pump out mega greenhouse gases for every megawatt of electricity they produce. Or, as the environmental movement has argued for years, it can come from "green" sources like wind, solar or micro-hydro projects.

Some of those are finally underway in B.C.

Ironically, they're running into opposition from one of the same groups that used to promote them, namely the Western Canada Wilderness Committee (WCWC).

Take the green power project being built near Squamish on Ashlu Creek, for example. It diverts some of the creek's water through a tunnel and turbines, then returns it back into the creek.

And it'll produce enough energy to power 23,000 homes for a year, without producing any greenhouse gases. That's all good.

The problem is that building the Ashlu Creek project means pouring some concrete. Then, connecting it to the B.C. Hydro electricity grid will mean cutting down some trees. That's where things get contentious.

And WCWC has expressed shock that some of these green-power projects would require major development.

Say what? British Columbians have significant electricity needs. Did anyone think they could be met without also building a few significant projects?

Californians discovered this awful truth a decade ago. New power projects got quashed before they even got started because, although their impact on the environment was small, it was not non-existent.

With few new sources of power, Californians endured a frightening electricity shortage. Panic set in when the brown-outs started.

After that, environmental concerns went out the window as they fired up diesel generators across the state to keep the lights on.

They learned the hard way that there is no such thing as a perfect solution. You can't build a power project, however small, without changing something in the natural environment.

As long as we want to live in warm houses, watch TV and work on computers, we'll need to get electricity from somewhere. And we'll have to accept that, while none of the choices will be perfect, some will be better than others.

christy@christyclark.ca