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Snowtown Wind Farm, near my home in South Australia
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| Photo 2016/10/19
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I became interested in the
opposition to the wind power industry around 2003, at the time the first substantial wind farms were being built in Australia and I noticed that most of that opposition was ill-informed; perhaps it was later that it became dishonest, misleading and abusive.
While much of the opposition came from people who were genuinely (although usually needlessly) concerned about wind power developments, a great deal also came from people and organisations with financial links to the fossil fuel industry.
Obviously wind power in particular, and renewable energy in general, is a great threat to the fossil fuel industry.
Of course there is big money in the fossil fuel industry and where there is big money there is often great dishonesty, consider the tobacco industry.
The justification for the opposition included:
Those who oppose wind power often either do not care about
climate change or
ocean acidification, or deny that they are happening.
Wind farms reduce greenhouse emissions by displacing fossil fuelled power stations and
they save lives by reducing the air pollution from the burning of fossil fuels that kills millions of people each year.
So those who oppose a wind farm development are most likely prioritising their personal preferences over the welfare of the planet and of future generations.
There can be little doubt that quite a bit of opposition to wind power comes from those who see it as a threat to the profits that they are getting from the fossil fuel industry.
The
coal industry is facing terminal decline and this has caused panic among those who have invested millions of dollars in it.
I have argued elsewhere that
dishonestly opposing renewable energy is a crime against humanity.
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