“They survived whaling, but Right Whales won’t survive Wind Energy”: That’s the premise behind the claim that these North Atlantic whales face “imminent extinction” with a significant factor, according to environmental activist Michael Shellenberger, being wind farm activity.
For years, the government has insisted that the increase in whale deaths off the East Coast has no relationship to the wind industry's high-decibel pile driving and boat activity. But now, a new documentary, "Thrown To The Wind," based on new research, will challenge that. pic.twitter.com/Iu7mxH0BaI
— Michael Shellenberger (@shellenberger) August 12, 2023
Ahead of the release of a new documentary, Shellenberger said: “Scientists, journalists, and the wind industry are behind the imminent extinction of the North Atlantic Right Whales. They should be ashamed of themselves.”
Population numbers of the Atlantic Right Whale have fallen to 340 in a trend that sees numbers declining because of environmental stressors which lead to death and unsuccessful calving, the Save the Right Whales group claims.
The film, according to Shellenberger, documents surprisingly loud, high-decibel sonar emitted by wind industry vessels when measured with state-of-the-art hydrophones. And it shows that the wind industry’s increased boat traffic is correlated directly with specific whale deaths.
“There appear to be at least two distinct mechanisms by which wind industry activities are killing whales. The first is through boat traffic in areas where that hasn’t historically been traffic. And the second is through high-decibel sonar mapping that can disorient whales, separate mothers from their calves, and send them into harm’s way, either into boat traffic or poorer feeding grounds,” Shellenberger claims.
“Whatever the case, “Thrown To The Wind” blows the lid off a major scientific scandal and will have an exponentially larger effect than past warnings.”
Shellenberger says the green movement catapulted into public moral consciousness with a campaign to “save the whales” in the 1970s. What started as a nature and habitat preserving movement has morphed into the movement of today, characterised by corporate capture, massive funding, and climate alarmism, he says.
“The global campaign to stop the whaling industry was a stunning success. Whale species that teetered on the precipice of extinction, such as the humpback, bounced back. In 1982, 25 countries signed an international treaty to ban commercial whaling. More than three times that number now adhere to the ban, and the three countries that still practice commercial whaling do so in ignominy.
“But today, whales are once again under threat. Only this time, it isn’t whale hunters who are killing them. Instead, it’s the favored industry of the environmental movement itself: wind energy,” the campaigner wrote.
Shellenberger highlighted a NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) report which stated that Industrial wind projects “could have population-level effects on an already endangered and stressed species.”
Industrial wind projects “could have population-level effects on an already endangered and stressed species,” warned a top US government (NOAA) scientist last year.
"Population-level effects" include extinction. pic.twitter.com/46W5l49hMq
— Michael Shellenberger (@shellenberger) August 12, 2023
Population-level effects include extinction, the writer and campaigner explained.
On August 12th a dead whale which washed up on the shore in New Jersey marked “the 60th known whale death on the East Coast of America since Dec 1, 2022. The North Atlantic right whales are headed for extinction. Their population has dropped to 340,” he wrote.
Cindy Zipf, executive director of the Long Branch-based nonprofit Clean Ocean Action (COA) said that the only thing that changed during this rise in whale deaths and strandings was an increase in offshore wind exploration. This was a process that involves highly explosive and continuous high decibel pile driving.
Shellenberger reports that “Government agencies and NGOs claim that the whale deaths have nothing to do with the dozens of ships surveying the waters off New England and New Jersey in preparation for wind turbine construction, blasting the sea floor with sounds as loud as high-powered weapons, 24 hours a day. But the government hasn’t actually undertaken the studies necessary to show whether or not that’s the case.”
They’re lying, Shellenberger claims.
“But now, a new documentary, “Thrown To The Wind,” by Director and Producer Jonah Markowitz, proves that the US government officials have been lying,” he says.
Many of the environmentalist organisations accept millions in donations from the wind industry. A report from the non-profit Save Right Whales Coalition, highlighted this conflict of interest, where those providing considerable funding to conservation organisations, are also profiting from habitat disturbing industrial activities.
For example the report shows that The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, a granting organization, took up to $1 million from wind energy companies Avangrid and Shell, and then distributed it to other environmental groups.
“The film documents surprisingly loud, high-decibel sonar emitted by wind industry vessels when measured with state-of-the-art hydrophones. And it shows that the wind industry’s increased boat traffic is correlated directly with specific whale deaths,” the producers claims.
“Given the evidence presented in “Thrown To The Wind,” it’s clear that the American people and our representatives cannot trust NOAA and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), the two government agencies that have betrayed the public’s trust, repeatedly, for years, in service to powerful industrial interests,” Shellenberger wrote.
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