Saving The Whales.
The Fight Against Offshore Wind Farms.
Earth’s last great wilderness is under threat from industrial development
“the public have been whipped up into an anxious frenzy about imminent world implosion if we don’t tackle climate change right now - even if that means harnessing bunkum and turning the crisis into a circus, complete with clowns and jugglers of truth”
As nine European countries sign a declaration to turn the North Sea into a huge industrial wind farm zone, they have effectively committed to wiping out wildlife on a monstrous scale; a mass, indiscriminate, destruction of life forms that have survived for millennia.
A shocking opinion? Yes, but also a real possibility - and one thing is very certain, this is nothing to do with ‘green’ energy, ‘net zero’ or climate change. This is everything to do with greed and folly, a lethal combination.
Whale Deaths And Wind Farms - An Obvious Connection
I’ve reported many times about the extent of the damage that is already being done, as seas around Britain are filled with huge wind turbines, causing the death of birds, mammals and other marine life, affecting fragile ecosystems in ways that many scientists admit they don’t yet understand. Regardless of the uncertainty and the delicate balance of life in our oceans, governments are actively adopting a gung-ho approach to offshore developments, without due care and diligence, urged on by dubious companies that might be more interested in generating money than saving the planet.
It is already catastrophic. Cetaceans (whales, dolphins, porpoises) are a very visible casualty of the offshore wind farms, washing up dead and dying on beaches, their extraordinary sonar navigation systems apparently affected by manmade noise emanating from marine activity, including construction and operation of giant offshore turbines. There are those who seek to convince you that there’s no connection between the whale deaths and wind farm operations. But that is to ignore the obvious correlation. The same people will reluctantly acknowledge the deaths of birds and bats, only because we have the physical proof of smashed carcasses scattered around the bases of land-based turbines. Even then they will contest the figures, as if excusing the massacre as an inevitable by-product of their noble cause.
With upwards of a thousand cetaceans washing up dead on UK beaches each year, there’s little doubt that something has gone very wrong in our seas. The real figure could be much higher, many carcasses probably never reach the coast, they are scavenged, or decompose enough to sink to the sea floor.
Now, with plans to turn the whole North Sea into a colossal wind farm, politicians and decision makers are showing complete contempt for marine life and the environment. This is unforgiveable.
There are, of course, other causes for cetacean strandings, pollution is a key factor, and human encroachment in the marine environment takes many forms. The unique folly of wind power is that, in its present form, it is nonsensical. A lack of storage capacity for generated electricity renders the current state of wind power redundant and dead in the water. While many environmentalists think the notion of wind farms makes no sense at all, others have bought into the dream and are mesmerised by an absurd fantasy that might hasten the end of days for many of our most treasured species.
Acknowledging The Correlation
The European public may have been successfully hoodwinked, or at least their opposition ignored and swept aside, but in the US where the industry is still in its infancy, more people acknowledge a correlation between offshore wind surveys and whale deaths. And they are horrified, rightly so. Whether they are strong enough to win the battle against the wind industry remains to be seen - but they are refusing to be hustled by developers and government.
Opposition is building steadily in the United States against planned wind farms off the North East coast, where exploratory testing offshore has already impacted on marine life. Many there believe that the spate of cetacean strandings seen in recent months is a direct result of seismic testing ahead of construction work. They note what has happened in Europe. The wind industry, of course, denies a connection - but to any rational mind it is obvious.
The biggest problem we have is in convincing the wider population that these companies - and governments - are not acting in the public interest. The line that has been peddled and sold to a largely gullible public is that wind energy benefits the planet, that it will result in cheaper energy and that it is in some way a good thing. It is not true.
Wind energy, as it is being implemented, is highly damaging to the environment, results in intermittent and expensive energy, and is mostly beneficial to those involved and invested in the industry.
Public Inherently Trusting
Developers and investors will tell you it’s all okay, that they will ‘mitigate’ for the wildlife, they may try to explain that ‘birds avoid the turbine blades’, they will come up with any and every excuse to continue with the desecration, to fulfill their ambitions. Never forget these are the same people who would have told you that there were too many Passenger pigeons, plenty of Great Auks, that red squirrels were a ‘pest’, that whales taste good and that orangutans will find other places to live if we cut down their forests - because for these people the bottom line is always about the money. Quite how they have managed to take large swathes of the population along with them on their journey of destruction, via fantasy, is hard to understand; many people are inherently trusting, others are indifferent to the plight of wildlife and our planet. Yet more have been whipped up into an anxious frenzy about imminent world implosion if we don’t tackle climate change right now - even if that means harnessing bunkum and turning the crisis into a circus, complete with clowns and jugglers of truth.
Aesthetic Damage
We must never underestimate the aesthetic damage done either, infinite horizons are of immense importance to the human soul and mind. In this increasingly digital, virtual world, we run the risk of irreparable harm to our spiritual wellbeing if the oceans, the last wilderness on earth, become a junkyard for clumsy human industrial experiments.
Time To Stop The Madness
Is there time to stop the madness? I’m beginning to have doubts. Have we come too far down the road of destruction already? I don’t know. But while governments are determined to pursue something so irresponsible, we are on a knife edge. That they cover their tracks with greenwash shows that they intend to continue to hoodwink the public for as long as they can, before the whole sorry illusion collapses. Once that happens, the damage will have been done; the perpetrators will run away with their money, the fools will be left standing on the shore of a broken dream that turned into a nightmare - and the animals will be gone, forever.
I love this world with a passion, I treasure the life on this planet with a passion.
Please know that those bent on developing our last wilderness, the ocean, may not share that passion. Those people seek to benefit themselves with total disregard for the wildlife that stands in their way. In their lifetimes they will reap short term financial rewards, while the damage they are doing will last forever. Offshore wind farms are disastrous for this planet, and utter folly.
N.B. I have no agenda other than a genuine love for this amazing planet.
I am not paid by anyone to write this.
I’m not a ‘shill’ for the nuclear industry, nor the fishing industry, nor any government or political party.
I’m an independent citizen of this incredible planet, with a strong desire to leave a world as wonderful for future generations as it has been for me.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any other agency, organisation, employer or company.
All information is provided on an as-is basis. It is the reader’s responsibility to verify their own facts.
