Wendy Williams
Author & Environmental Journalist
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Wendy Williams |
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| THE WIND POWER DILEMMA Challenges, Obstacles and Promise No journalist in North America knows as much about the emerging wind industry as Wendy Williams, author of Cape Wind: Money, Celebrity, Class, Politics and the Battle for America’s Energy Future, described by the St. Petersburg Times as having “enough political intrigue to keep a John Grisham fan happy,” and by the New York Times Book Review as “a great summer beach read.” It was named one of the Year’s 10 Best Environmental Books by Booklist, and one of the Year’s Best Science and Technology books by Library Journal. Cape Wind is the story of the outlandish fight that occurred when one renewable energy developer set out to build a wind farm off the coast of Cape Cod, where the wealthy and politically powerful American elite have summered and sailed for nearly a century. The project has been blocked by outrageous backroom political maneuvering for eight years. It is a story of how our American democracy functions in the 21st century. "This issue doesn’t divide along political party lines. It divides along dinner party lines," Williams likes to say. Cape Wind is "a ripe subject" in today's world, agreed the Wall Street Journal, and no one knows the full story better than Ms. Williams, who watched the story unfold in person from its earliest days. But, Ms. Williams speaks about a lot more than just one troubled wind power project. Her study of the sociological and historical roots of the Cape Wind conflict took her across the Atlantic Ocean to Denmark to interview people who had lived with wind power for years, into coal mines in Pennsylvania, into the interior of modern wind turbines to learn how the power of the wind is translated into electrical power, and to sites around the nation where inventors and scientists are working to create America’s emerging energy future. As we enter the Obama Era, with its promise of new and clean energy solutions, she discusses the central role of public participation in our democracy, and explains to her audience that, as her book shows, without an outspoken and determined public commitment, the Clean Energy Era will never get off the ground. Wendy Williams multi-media lecture, The Wind Power Dilemma, both informs and entertains. It features two wind power commercials (from America and France), a clip of her appearance on The Daily Show with Jason Jones, and a power-point presentation showing how wind power works and how it will ultimately reduce the cost of electricity in the United States and our dependence on foreign oil and natural gas. http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=91140&title=jason-jones-180-nantucket Wendy Williams has covered the wind industry for more than eight years Her writing has appeared on the front pages of The Boston Globe, The Christian Science Monitor, and The Baltimore Sun. She has also written for The New York Times, Parade Magazine, Scientific American, Science, Audubon Magazine, Animals Magazine, Orion Magazine, National Wildlife, International Wildlife, and many other publications. As an independent op-ed writer, her opinion columns are published frequently in the Providence Journal, and are often picked up by other newspapers. She has also been published in Blogs, including The New Republic. Williams' television and radio appearances have been diverse, ranging from the nationally broadcast, among them the Diane Rehm, Dennis Miller, and Geraldo shows, to a myriad of local shows such as that of Boston’s Emily Rooney. Her appearance on “The Daily Show” shortly after her book was released brought the Cape Wind local story of wealth, privilege and the future of American democracy onto the national scene. Since then, Ms. Williams has spoken to more than 100 groups, ranging from the Harvard Business School Alumni Association to Brown University to the Massachusetts State House to libraries and law schools around the nation. She has received a number of awards, including several for investigative reporting, wildlife writing and feature journalism and has been a journalist-in-residence at Duke University and a fellow at the Marine Biological Institute, the Hastings Center for Medical Ethics, and the Center for Environmental Journalism at the University of Colorado. "very engaging and entertaining....managed to hold the attention of a roomful of budding lawyers." — Megan Higgins, Roger Williams Law School "the highlight of the conference....Wendy addressed our annual meeting in September 2008. She held the 100-plus energy professionals in rapt attention throughout her 30 minute speech except for when the meeting attendees were falling out of their chairs laughing." — Robert Kahn, Executive Director, NW & Intermountain Power Producers Coalition "Every time I hear Wendy speak, I learn something new -- not just about Cape Wind, but about politics in America. She embodies the best of this country's journalistic tradition, reminding us all why a free press is so critical to a free society." — Massachusetts State Representative Frank Smizik, Chairman, Joint Committee on Environment, Natural Resources and Agriculture "very inspiring" — Rev. Bob Murphy, Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Falmouth "I loved the way you framed the issue as being primarily about democracy rather then clean energy, I think that is a critical point that has been left out of this debate." — Winston Vaughan, Environment Massachusetts "a ripe subject, populated with the sort of people who would be among the first to count themselves as friends of the Earth but the last to accept an environmentally friendly energy source if it meant the slightest cloud on their ocean views." — The Wall Street Journal “Written in a pithy style, the book is a revelatory examination of the intersection of politics and class.” — Block Island Times "A great summer beach read about longtime summer beach communities, "Cape Wind" describes how the alliance managed to raise $4 million in one ballroom meeting at the Wianno Club, where the ‘grass-roots’ campaign against the ‘industrial complex’ of offshore ‘Cuisinarts’ was kicked off by Douglas Yearley, a copper mining executive whose company was fined for killing birds in an acid runoff mishap in 2000, among other infractions." — Robert Sullivan, New York Times Sunday Book Review "Cape Wind, a five-and-a-half-year tale of power and money run amok amid a cast of characters worthy of a soap opera, is a page-turner..." — Cape Cod Chronicle "A genuine page-turner....gleefully entertaining." — Boston Globe "enough political intrigue to keep a John Grisham fan happy...." — St. Petersburg Times |