Little makes sense in the so-called “green” movement these days. While claiming to “save the planet”, this generation of politicians is following an increasingly dubious and dangerous “global warming” ideology while literally wrecking the planet at the same time. Nothing is more short-sighted, long-term damaging, or environmentally hazardous in the “green” money-making-machine than industrial wind turbines. From harm to soil, water, birds, bats, insects, livestock, and humans, wind turbines are an expensive, environmentally hazardous, and unreliable source of energy if there ever was one.
And yet, British Columbia, Canada is not only moving forward with industrial wind but deliberately turning a blind eye to the increasingly harmful effects of ever-taller wind turbines. The government has announced nine new wind projects and all of them will be exempt from the environmental review that new energy projects have to undergo before being approved.
That process, known as the environmental assessment process, is a seven-step process meant to assess the “potential environmental, social, economic, health and cultural effects” and is conducted by the Environmental Assessment Office, which includes public consultation and a breakdown of the potential positive and negative impacts a project would have. In its release, the province says wind energy projects have been exempted from the process in order to “aid in the development of new sources of clean energy.”
CBC News, December 9, 2024
The hypocrisy is stunning. While the oil industry has rightly been forced to the highest environmental standards, one of Canada’s most beautiful and lush provinces is going to turn a blind eye to the environmental hazards of wind turbines being recognized now around the globe.1
Sadly, many First Nations groups — once considered stewards of creation — are beginning to ignore the impacts on the environment in favor of these green contracts (and often desperately needed funds for their communities). B.C.’s Energy and Climate Solutions Minister Adrian Dix, while announcing the environmental impact exemptions on Dec. 9, confirmed the nine new wind power projects would be co-owned by First Nations in 30-year production contracts with BC Hydro. Dix said the wind projects will involve up to $6 billion in private investment and produce the same amount of power as the publicly funded $16-billion Site C dam in northeast B.C., which flooded the Peace River Valley .
We need to get these projects up and running as quickly as possible… [to] advance through development to construction and completion more quickly and start delivering clean power to the grid sooner.
Adrian Nix, Minister of Energy and Climate Solutions, CBC News, December 9, 2024
The Pembina Institute, a so-called “green think tank,” praised “the low-carbon economy” initiatives of B.C. and their “rush to catch up on clean energy initiatives.”2 However, praising B.C. for essentially ignoring the impacts on the environment by “rushing” forward harmful industrial wind projects is utterly two-faced for an institute that recently praised Federal caps on Alberta’s oil production because it causes “pollution.”3 Either Pembina Institute cares for the environment or it doesn’t.
Rushing on Flawed Science
Never mind that the “rush” to ignore environmental impacts and build unreliable wind and solar projects is based on flawed “climate science” or false data for reasons exhaustively enumerated here. But now, according to a recent study published in Science Advances, MeSH — a sulfur compound previously relegated to obscurity due to its reactivity — is recognized as a key factor in climate cooling.
The discovery shows that emissions of MeSH, derived from marine biological activity, enhance the sulfate aerosol burden by up to 70% over the Southern Ocean. These aerosols scatter sunlight and cool the atmosphere, reducing the radiative bias of climate models in this region.
Charles Rotter, December 13, 2024; wattsupwiththat.com
In other words, the computer models that produced the “global warming emergency” — already questioned by top climatologists 4 — are skewed beyond recognition due to this new discovery.
This latest revelation underscores a glaring truth: the so-called “settled science” of climate prediction is about as settled as a house of cards in a windstorm… Perhaps it’s time to acknowledge that climate models, while valuable, are not omniscient. They’re as much about what we don’t know as what we do.. In this case, the ramifications are clear. The additional cooling effect attributed to MeSH may mean we’ve been overestimating certain warming scenarios.
Charles Rotter, Ibid.
In another study published this December by three PhD’s, they question the narrative that the “science is settled” on man-made global warming and highlight the errant data put forth by the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC):
We also have concerns about the IPCC’s handling of the ongoing sci-entific debate over the changes in solar activity (TSI) since 1850. The TSI estimate used by the computer model simulations that contributed to the IPCC analysis was guaranteed to show that global warming was “mostly human-caused.” However, we have identified at least 27 different estimates of the changes in TSI since 1850. Several of these estimates suggest that global warming is “mostly natural,” and several suggest that global warming is a mixture of natural and human-caused factors.
Willie Soon, PhD, Ronan Connolly, PhD, and Michael Connolly, PhD, “The Unreliability of Current Global Temperature and Solar Activity Estimates and Its Implications for the Attribution of Global Warming”, December 11, 2024
It’s this kind of level-headed discussion that is necessary to counter reckless politicians who ignore sound science and even employ outrageous hyperbole in order to forward their agenda — like UN Secretary-General António Guterres who claimed that “The era of global warming has ended; the era of global boiling has arrived.” Or former U.S. Vice President John Kerry:
It’s these kinds of unsubstantiated if not outright untruthful claims that have produced the kind of mentality that would enable British Columbia to completely ignore environmental impacts of industrial wind — if not waste billions.
…the apocalyptic language surrounding the climate has done a deep disservice to humanity. It has led to incredibly wasteful and ineffectual spending. The psychological costs have also been immense. Many people, particularly younger ones, live in fear that the end is nigh, too often leading to debilitating depression about the future. A look at the facts would demolish those apocalyptic anxieties.
—Steve Forbes, Forbes magazine, July 14, 2023
Unfortunately, B.C. isn’t getting the memo…
Watch
- eg. here and here and here[↩]
- CBC News, December 9, 2024[↩]
- cf. CTV News[↩]
- see Dr. Judith Curry’s critique here[↩]
Mark Mallett is a former award-winning reporter with CTV Edmonton and an independent researcher and author. His family homesteaded between Vermilion and Cold Lake, Alberta, and now resides in the Lakeland region. Mark is Editor in Chief of Wind Concerns.
What is happening in BC is beyond egregious! A catastrophe waiting to happen. From the last bogus election, putting the NDP back in power to fast tracking wind farms without EIAs, bribing FN to go along – I have no words! Moved out of BC years ago, wasn’t difficult to see the direction it was going, pity really.