Environmentalism and The Age of Stupid

Ed Miliband was speaking at a screening of a new documentary entitled 'The Age of Stupid' asserting that opposition to wind farms should be 'faced down,' and such opposition considered socially taboo. Opposing Wind Farms should be socially taboo, says Ed Miliband - Guardian

OK so who is stupid?

It was Aldo Leopold who argued for a land ethic (much of Leopold's comments I think are overstated, but he had one good point). He said; "A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise." Aldo Leopold, The Land Ethic, A Sand County Almanac, OUP

It would seem that Ed Miliband has little respect for the beauty of the British countryside and the spiritual aspect that comes from appreciating the art of creation, unspoilt by human technology. Perhaps with his family's Bolshevik European roots he has a lack of comprehension and respect for how the natives think in Britain, and their right to determine how the land is used. It was after all the Soviet system that nearly destroyed the Aral Sea in the name of secular progress.

The RSPB has also called for a great increase in wind farms, together with more help to overcome local objections, in order to tackle climate change because of the perceived threat of global warming; Oh but we can spare sites where some birds are important. BBC - RSPB calls for more wind farms

Other environmentalists call for direct action against coal fired power stations, and for nuclear power stations to be built. The irony is that nuclear was considered the enemy when I was growing up, with pressure from CND etc., to ban it. How times change, but environmentalists have shown themselves to be a woolly headed lot in the past with lack of respect for other human beings, disagreements, changeable views and wishful thinking. Being woolly headed on its own is very English, but the lack of respect for the countryside and the views of the resident people is not.

Meanwhile Jonathan Porritt has called the UK population to be reduced to 30 million.
Timesonline - UK population must fall to 30m, says Porritt

Andrew Sibley

Wind farms and protecting the beauty of the countryside

OK. I admit it. I hate wind farms. Not that there is anything wrong with them in the right place, but they tend to get build in some of the country's most beautiful wilderness areas. And they are not small, some 140 metres tall covering whole hillsides of precious Moorland.

Perhaps winds farms may enhance an urban environment, but they do nothing for the natural environment. But why does it matter you may ask if we industrialise the countryside? It matters for reasons of beauty. Human beings have the need for beauty. I believe many urban social problems are caused in part by the ugly nature of the urban landscape. The countryside then is a place where people can go to to escape the ugliness of urban space, and it is worth preserving without human interference.

Aldo Leopold commented on a 'land ethic' in the Sand County Almanac that "A thing is right if it tends to preserve the stability, integrity, and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong if it tends otherwise."

Protecting the beauty of God's creation is important as a place for all people to enjoy, so that people in turn then value the countryside as a positive feedback.

But what is the Government promising? Only a 30 fold increase in onshore and offshore wind farms.

Vidal, J. Revealed: UK's blueprint for a green revolution, Guardian online June 21st 2008,

Blueprint for an industrial revolution

See also the Sunday Telegraph - Christopher Booker 22nd June 08

Wind power comes to my back yard

Windy Miller

As for the efficiency of wind farms I am reminded of Windy Miller of Camberwick Green fame whistling for the wind. That about sums up the contribution wind farms will make to the cutting of greenhouse gases. Government ministers might as well be whistling in the wind along with Windy Miller. Why? Because the wind doesn't always blow, or sometimes it blows too hard, and there needs to be coal fired power stations burning in the back ground as back up. Wind power only works at something like 30 % of maximum output over a year. If it weren’t for the subsidies they would not be built. So the beauty of the countryside is ruined for an industry built on subsidy.

I am not suggesting that cutting greenhouse gases is not important, but this big business solution is not the answer. Why not give those subsidies to ordinary householders to place solar panels on their roofs and generate their own electricity as a localised solution?

Andrew Sibley