David MacKay

There is news today that David MacKay is to be named the the government's scientific advisor on climate change.
His book, "Sustainable energy - without the Hot air" is well worth a read, and can be downloaded from the internet.

Biochar

For anyone interested in Biochar, there was an article by David Adam, environmental correspondent, in The Guardian on Thursday.,

Tom Hutton

Some time after the Nant-y-Moch Protest Walk, I had a supportive email from Tom Hutton. Tom is a Freelance Writer and Photographer who lives in Mid Wales, and he has sent us some examples of his work, which will be shown on the Atistsagainstwindfarms website next week.
Until then, here is the first image that he sent, titled "Llyn Ogwen."

Did someone say wind turbines were popular in Germany?

BRANDENBURG CITIZENS PRESENT 18 ANTI-WINDFARM CANDIDATES TO THE ELECTIONS

Press release from the European Platform Against Windfarms

Date: 22 August 2009

Reacting against the decision of the State of Brandenburg to considerably increase the already vast areas covered by windfarms, a local Volksinitiative (Popular Initiative) petition was launched, which gathered 27,000 signatures against the State's decision.

Note : the State of Brandenburg is the "Land" around Berlin. Its capital is Potsdam, and Berlin itself constitutes another Land. Germany is a federal state comprising 16 "Länder".

The Brandenburg constitutional laws allow the people to present a list to the elections without forming a political party, so the Popular Initiative decided to carry their protest further. They are now presenting 18 candidates to the state elections, outside the party system.

They are neither "left" nor "right", and seek to remain what they are: an independent "political formation" whose platform is to oppose the further degradation of the countryside by windfarms, as well as the current water policy of their government.

They are not supported by any political party, and they are not looking for political alliances. They just don't want more windfarms, and would like their voice to be heard. The elections will take place on September 27th.

Increasingly, many politicians violate their own laws. Entire countries are handed over to powerful windpower lobbies who remodel the landscape as they see fit. Wildlife reserves and historical landmarks cease to be protected so as to accommodate private financial interests. In the circumstances, it is no surprise to see people voting against the traditional parties who have betrayed them.

We, the European Platform Against Windfarms, representing 360 associations from 19 European countries, give our full support to the Volksinitiative. We approve of their action and wish them a resounding success at the coming elections.

May reason prevail. We cannot allow the misguided policies of our present leaders to disfigure natural, monumental, and cultural Europe, turning it into an industrial wasteland from Lapland to Gibraltar. They won’t even respect World Heritage sites and monuments (such as Mont-Saint-Michel, Normandy, where we are organising an international protest march on September 26th). There appears to be no limits to the subsidised greed that has been unleashed.

It is high time to rethink Europe's windfarm policy.

EPAW

www.epaw.org

Tidal Power

There is an interesting article in today's Guardian, about plans to use tidal power to supply electricity for the island of Islay.

James Delingpole in The Telegraph

More here about last week's "Any Questions," in an article by James Delingpole, with some interesting comments, most especially from Jenny Keal, who is featured on the artistsagainstwind farms website along with her husband, David Bellamy. This painting of the Lliw Reservoir, Mynydd y Gwair is a pastel that Jenny completed following the 2005 "Paint it while its there" day, in South Wales.

Scroll down through the comments to find Jenny's contribution:
jennykeal on Aug 24th, 2009 at 5:27 pm,
which also includes the text of a letter that she sent to Jonathan Dimbleby at Any Answers
This is an excerpt from Jenny's letter:

"Neither James Delingpole nor Jonathon Porritt addressed the real problem of wind power in any depth because they were distracted into an argument about whether climate change is happening or not.

No one can say for sure if carbon is raising the temperature of the earth. There may be a consensus of scientists for or against but there is no proof either way and the governments of the world are taking action on what is pure speculation. Leaving that aside, the main problem with wind power is that it cannot displace conventionally generated energy, such as oil or gas, coal or nuclear, because it is unreliable. It does not matter how many times this is pointed out to the BBC you cannot get to grips with the fact that the wind does not blow all the time and therefore no conventional power station can be closed down as they are needed for backup. Are you, Jonathan Dimbleby, prepared to live your life with a situation where you can only use electricity in your house when the wind blows? It is pie in the sky to say that other forms of renewables can substitute for wind power when there is no wind because there is virtually no investment in wave or tidal energy research or development. All our eggs are being dropped into the bottomless basket case of wind energy."

Must listen!

In the picture: Ann West, (Vice Chairman of Country Guardian) taking part in the nationwide "Paint it while it's there" day in 2005, when artists and campaigners from all around Britain went out to sketch their threatened landscapes. You can hear Ann West and Robin Laird responding to D.J.Gent’s question:“Is the answer to an 80% reduction in carbon emissions blowing in the wind?” if you:
Listen to : "ANY ANSWERS”
The answers are towards the end of the clip – starting at about 22 minutes into the programme.
------------------------------------------
13:10–14:00
Any Questions?
21/08/2009
Listen to this on iplayer while it is still available
Jonathan Dimbleby chairs the topical debate from Middle Wallop, Hampshire.
The panellists are writer Kate Mosse, environmental campaigner Jonathon Porritt,
writer and broadcaster James Delingpole and lawyer Mark Stephens.
---------------------------------------------------
“ANY QUESTIONS” (starts about 34 minutes into the programme).
followed by “ANY ANSWERS” both available online now
Please send in your comments to “ANY ANSWERS” at:
any.answers@bbc.co.uk

CWIF

Caithness Windfarm Information Forum - CWIF -
is a website that I visit regularly. It is run run by a group of people concerned about the proliferation of windfarms in Scotland, particularly the Highlands and more particularly Caithness and Sutherland.

It has an important section on Accident Statistics and also one on Windfarm Sites, with helpful maps of sites in the area. Both sections are updated regularly.

warmwell

A reminder about a very useful website: don't forget to bookmark www.warmwell.com, if you want to keep abreast of latest news.

Found on the web - a Shetland artist's vision of the future

Just discovered today is Paul Bloomer's website, with his windfarm series, which is his response to the Shetland Wind farm proposals. His woodcuts are full of the foreboding that all of us who love the few remaining wild places left in the world feel when we hear the words "wind farm."

Read also his letter, which describes feelings and nightmares shared by so many of us.

Poppy

This is a portrait of Poppy, who - very sadly - had to be put to sleep today, aged 13 years and three months. She belonged to a friend of mine, and Poppy came along on several walks around wind farm sites.
Appropriately, Poppy herself was quite an Art Critic, and barked excitedly when she saw some of my animal paintings, especially ones with cats in them. One of her favourite TV programmes when she stayed with me was Frazier, which shows she had good taste. She was amazingly fit for her age, and could still scamper across the fields up until the last few days. She will be sadly missed.

More turbines proposed near Ilfracombe

BT are seeking the opinion of local councillors about a proposal to put a possible 3 turbines on land near Mullacott Cross, which is not far from Ilfracombe. These proposed turbines would be close to the Fullabrook Down Wind Power Station, adding even further to the desecration of the beautiful North Devon countryside. You can read more about this in the North Devon Gazette ( August 19th ) - the article is not yet online, but if you type Mullacott Cross into Google Maps you can see the approximate location.
This is a painting that I did following a walk along the cliffs near Lee Bay, which is on the North Devon coast not far from Mullacott Cross.

James Lovelock talks about Wind Farms and much more

On BBC iplayer - Stephen Sackur interviews my father, who is on great form as he demolishes the case for wind power and talks about the future of the planet.

Fred Pearce in The Guardian

Fred Pearce thinks we need more wind farms, but even he says building them on peat bogs isn't sensible....
Read his article titled "How a wind farm could emit more carbon than a coal power station" in The Guardian online (August 13)
As he says, "Scottish peat bogs hold three-quarters of all the carbon in British ecosystems – equivalent to around a century of emissions from fossil fuel burning."

The above painting, "Inner moorland alt caim" by Jon MacLeod was one of the first paintings shown on the Artists against wind farms website, when Anne Campbell and Jon McLeod sent us photos of their paintings, and their way of life as crofters on the Isle of Lewis.
The fight to save Lewis goes on, as this link to Hebrides News shows, and you can find out more by going to www.mtlewis.org.uk

And for a reminder about The Shetlands, go to www.sustainableshetland.org

Windpower in Vermont: Corporate colonialism and a wrecked landscape

Read this moving article (found on www.wind-watch.org) by writer and photographer Stephen Gorman. As he says in the article, Vermont was recently ranked by the National Geographic Society as 6th among the world’s most desirable destinations. He continues... "If those of us who live, work, and recreate here want to keep it this way, we need to speak out loudly against the powerful interests that threaten to destroy our home for absolutely no environmental or social benefit."

The article was published originally on Vermont Sports

Having read his article, I then found his website, www.stephengorman.com - a visual treat.

More about noise, from Australia

Ibis arriving to roost, another photograph sent to us by Marion Chapman of Australia, who is our Featured Artist. She and her husband helped re-establish the Bald Hills Wetland Reserve in the 1980's. Its success as a refuge for wildlife, primarily wetland birds; as an educational tool for young people and as an experience as a wild-place surpassed all expectations. It is now threatened by the Bald Hills Wind Farm. If constructed, turbines would be visible and audible from every part of the reserve.

Watch a video story which tells the inconvenient truth about wind farms noise, by Channel Nine's 'A Current Affair' television program (in Australia) Follow this Link to the video, showing interviews with Australians whose lives are being destroyed by wind turbine noise:

www.wind-watch.org

Don't forget, to keep up with all the latest news, go to www.wind-watch.org for news about the fight against wind turbines from all around the world.

There are also many videos about noise issues and other turbine problems - today's sample video features shadow flicker for example.

Thousands protest against Shetland Wind farm

A large proportion of islanders have come out against the proposal to put 150 turbines (145m high from tip to base). Read more on www.theherald.co.uk

Peat is a carbon sink - peat bogs have been called the "rain forests" of the northern latitudes. This turbine site is 11 miles long by 7 miles and would turn a wild and treasured landscape into an industrial power station. Visit the sustainableshetland.org website to understand better how crucial it is to win this battle.

Wind Farms- monstrously silly

The Books Interview - Euan Ferguson interviews James Lovelock about his own mortality, the future of the planet, and wind farms - in The Observer on Sunday August 9

Great news from Cornwall

Cornwall Council's east sub area planning committee has rejected an application for a 20 turbine wind farm... read more in the Western Morning News

Even Friends of the Earth came out against this wind farm!

Of course, this was just "round one", and the fight is not over yet, but well done so far to all the campaigners in Cornwall.

Denbrook near Dartmoor

Two good articles today, both focusing on the fight to save this beautiful view - not only for the people of North Tawton, but for people all over England who love Devon because of views like this.

The first article, by James Delingpole


The second article, on a similar theme, by Caroline Gammell

More about the Prairie chicken

Following on from Phil Epp's dramatic photograph showing turbines on the prairie landscape, read this article about the threat to the survival of the prairie chicken on www.wind-watch.org

For more about the enormous threat to the last vestiges of America's Tallgrass Prairie, go to
www.protecttheflinthills.org

More from Phil Epp (Kansas)

A recent photograph from Phil showing the visual effect of the large turbines on the prairie landscape.
See more of his photographs, and his paintings of blue skies, Flint Hill landscapes and wild mustangs, at www.philepp.com

Article in The Guardian

A wind farm is not the answer

The green movement's fixation with technology reveals that we are asking the wrong questions


read this article by Paul Kingsnorth, in the Guardian online, recently

EPAW Press Release

INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALIST TO BE EPAW'S SPOKESMAN IN SCANDINAVIA

Press release from the European Platform Against Windfarms (EPAW)
www.epaw.org

Our organisation, which regroups 358 member-associations, federations and other groups from 19 European countries, has the pleasure of announcing the nomination of Peter Skeel Hjorth as its spokesman for Scandinavia (Denmark, Norway and Sweden) plus Finland and the Baltic countries (Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia).


He will represent EPAW in these countries, sending or relaying press releases, and establishing a dialogue with governments, the media, and the public in general. He will further act as coordinator of EPAW members in that region of Europe.... read more

Fullabrook Down Wind Farm

Reg Gale, whose work is shown on the Artistsagainstwindfarms website told me on Sunday that some kind of cables connected with the wind farm were being laid (under the ground) across fields near Ashford. I went up to see for myself this morning, and there were indeed men still at work there.
I climbed a bank to video the view, and there will be a link to that shortly.
This is a photograph of the view across the fields though which some the cables have been laid. Braunton Burrows is ahead, slightly to the left, and Ash Wood is on the hill slightly to the right of centre. The turbines will be on the hills behind, and to the right of, Ash Wood. More about Fullabrook Down Wind Farm, including map of area...

Extent of Government Funded Lobbying Revealed

Iain Dales's blog today gives a link to a pdf from the TaxPayers Alliance which highlights the extent of government funded lobbying.

Environmental lobbying groups including the Sustainable Development Commission, and Friends of the Earth among others, received over £6.7 million.... Go to Page 30 of the pdf to read more. How much of this money that comes from the taxpayer is used to lobby in favour of wind power?

I would like to point out to anyone who does not know this that Country Guardian and Artists against Wind Farms are completely independent... we campaign at our own expense.

Leading Article in The Independent

Wind power - a cautionary word... read more in this leading article.

At present, people who have been forced to abandon their homes because of health problems associated with wind farm noise receive no compensation. As the article points out, if the government forces through the siting of wind farms without attention to the latest scientific research, it may lay the taxpayer open in the future to large compensation claims.

Second painting from Phil Epp

This is the second of two paintings that Phil Epp has sent us.

You can see more of his work on the artistsagainstwindfarms website as well as on his own website www.philepp.com

To learn more about the threat facing the Flint Hills in Kansas, go to Protect the Flint Hills:
here are just a few facts from their website:

Only 3% of the Tallgrass Prairie in North America remains

Industrial development fragments the fragile ecosystem and disrupts wildlife habitat

Developers want to construct 1,000 wind turbines taller than the Statue of Liberty on the high ridges of the Flint Hills