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Noel Darlow
over 8 years ago

Unfortunately all the carriage returns seem to have been stripped out of that post...?

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Noel Darlow
over 8 years ago

Some things are just so massively, shamefully wrong it takes your breath away.Given the catastrophic impacts of climate change, objecting to onshore wind is one. It is astonishing to see a supposedly environmental charity attempting to oppose urgently-needed action to address the problem.What are the arguments against wind?Most common is the complaint about spoiled views. These might be dressed up in glowing prose about the character of a wild area, or the need to have a spiritual connection with wilderness (which I can go along with, up to a point) but what they're actually talking about are spoiled views.Given the scale and severity of climate impacts - some of them lasting millions of years - that is a *spectacularly* trivial response to make and we do not need to waste any time on it (although no doubt we will have to in future, again and again).So what are the actual, concrete environmental impacts which we need to consider?The big risk for any kind of development in the Scottish uplands is disruption to the peatland's hydrological systems. If a large volume of peat dries out, this portion of the bog will be lost and its carbon released to the atmosphere.The details will depend on a specific plan and the specific terrain in that locale but it is possible to build a wind farm with relatively minor and temporary ecological impacts.Excavations for turbine foundations and the construction of access roads will certainly cause some damage but these impact a very small percentage of the total volume of peat in the area as a whole.Complaints are often made about the possibility of turbine foundations being left behind after the wind farm is decommissioned but that is only a visual impact. Big lumps of rock in a post-glacial landscape strewn with big lumps of rock don't cause any concrete, environmental harm.Access roads again are a temporary visual impact (provided they don't drastically alter the peatland hydrology). In time - ie centuries - they will be recolonised by vegetation and no-one will know they were ever there.Modern airships provide an interesting alternative method of transport to remote areas but I'm not sure how the numbers work out for a large enough fleet capable of churning out new wind farms at the rate we need. They could at least be used for some projects.Bird life will be affected by wind turbines. Some species actually benefit from the cover provided from raptors but other, soaring birds will see an increased mortality and a reduction in the local population.However, a reduction in the numbers of some bird species in some areas cannot possibly compare to a global mass extinction which could result in the loss of over a quarter of the Earth's species. To allow that to happen would be an unthinkable act of vandalism.It should also be noted that UK peatlands themselves are threatened by climate change and therefore trying to save peatlands by objecting to wind farms makes no sense. It's a bit like letting the house burn down because you don't want the fire brigade to come and trample all over your lawn.The warming pulse which we have unleashed will last for over a hundred thousand years. From a human perspective, the biggest impact happens on the front of that curve with global food production taking a big hit and some truly horrific consequences of famine, mass migration, and armed conflict.Running a close second for anyone who feels anything about the natural world, will be the global loss of species. Many coral reefs may already be lost, for example.We know from the fossil record that, following a mass extinction, it takes many millions of years for biodiversity to be restored (Kirchner & Weil 2000). In other words, for all of the rest of human history those who come after us will be condemned to live in a relatively denuded world stripped of much of the rich diversity which we know today - and there won't be a thing they can do about it. It takes a very long time for rich, complex ecosystems to evolve.Once you truly understand the scale of the threat posed by climate change, then you will understand that there is no reasonable environmental argument which can be made against wind turbines. Pretty much anything you can think of will be a minor, short-term impact in comparison easily trumped by climate impacts which are many orders of magnitude more destructive and enduring.We have to cut our emissions hard and fast and we will have to make some small sacrifices in order to save as much of the natural world as we can - and to save as many people as we can. This is a real, pressing emergency. We don't have time to waste on facile arguments about spoiled views or environmental impacts viewed out of context.

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