"And winter's chill is on my heart..."

Go to the Artists Against Windfarms Facebook page to read more, and see a chilling foretaste of a possible future view from the top of the Burton Dassett Hills over the prospect of Broadview Energy's hugely destructive eye stealing proposals in Warwickshire's Shakespeare land, these words of Anne Bronte find a deep resonance. (Picture 75mm photo-montage)

"Ocean-driven changes to the UK ’s weather systems threaten failure of wind power generation in winter. "

This is one of the ways you can go if you want to see the Fullabrook Wind Power Station, which is being built this winter - across these fields and up onto the hills. That is, if you have skis, or can cope with paths so slippery that they are like ice rinks.


In the context of so many articles about the North Atlantic Oscillation written recently, ( such as this one, by Fred Pearce in the Daily Mail) here is a timely reminder of this paper that was published on the Country Guardian website several years ago:

http://www.countryguardian.net/Ocean.htm
by Prof.Em. Peter Cobbold


These sentences come from the Conclusion of Prof. Cobbold's paper:

"Governments have a responsibility to ensure that the nation’s electrical power supply is robust and secure. The safety of the UK’s population - especially the elderly, the infirm, those in fuel poverty, and the poorly prepared - should not be put at risk by commercially-driven stakeholders and implicit assumptions that the weather will not change."

I live in North Devon, only two or three miles from the site of the Fullabrook Down Wind Power Station, where the turbines will be erected soon. It has been bitterly cold here in North Devon over the last few days, especially on Christmas Day. If the weather is the same next year at this time, it will not be safe to walk along ancient Burland Lane, for fear of ice throw from the turbine blades.... if they are moving at all, that is, since we have had so little wind during the freezing weather. Let us hope there will be some other form of power still, such as that that comes -whatever the weather - courtesy of Hinckley Point nuclear power station.

Christine Lovelock

"A Wind Power Boonedoggle"

Just sent a link to this article from a friend in the USA. Remember T. Boone Pickens? Praised by Al Gore and Harry Reid, Senate Majority Leader because he promoted wind power?

Read Robert Bryce's article in the Wall Street Journal (online) to find out what T. Boone Pickens is doing now.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704368004576027310664695834.html

A quote from the article:

"...the free-market price for natural gas is about two-thirds of the subsidy given to wind. Yet wind energy still isn't competitive in the open market."

"Chris Huhne has a blueprint for a green, cold, dark Britain"

In this Sunday Telegraph article, Christopher Booker says that the government's new energy policy will lead to widespread power cuts and economic disaster.


If the government are worried now by unfavorable headlines about cold weather chaos, this will be nothing compared to the headlines in future winters, on freezing winter nights when all the thousands of new wind turbines stand still and silent.

A most magnificant rant

James Delingpole has written several good articles about wind farms...

I remember an early one he wrote titled "Why I hate Cornwall" (or something similar) in which he said that Cornwall, with its tiny little turbines (by modern standards) had tricked people into thinking that wind turbines were inoffensive intrusions in the landscape.

This article in The Telegraph is indeed magnificent, expressing the fury that so many of us feel about the direction in which the Coalition's energy policies are taking us. Much has been made politically about the numbers of people who voted Lib Dem and found themselves landed with the Tory-led Coalition.

How many people, I wonder, voted for anyone but Nick Clegg, after his remarks in favour of wind energy during the debates? And then, to their dismay, they ended up with him, and Chris Huhne, in charge of energy policy. (Not to mention the fact that now Ed - "anti-windfarm campaigners should be socially unacceptable" - Milliband is now in charge of the Labour Party)

There is a real frustration out there that none of the political parties (except UKIP, who have no MPs in Parliament) have a sensible energy policy. All of the main parties have policies that could ruin us all through high electricity bills, leave us in the cold when the power runs out, destroy our industrial competitiveness by imposing targets that no one else will bother to meet, as well as - most ironically - choosing the course that is least likely of all to reduce our carbon emissions.

James Delingpole writes: (quote):

"Huhne’s energy plans are absurd and destructive and wrong on so many levels it almost beggars belief that they are not regularly the butt of TV comedy sketches, outraged newspaper Op Eds and furious protests everywhere from the City to all those parts of the British countryside about to be ruined by Huhne’s 500 foot high bird choppers (aka Hoo Sticks)"

How right he is - and you do not have to be a climate sceptic either, to agree with him on this.

Christine Lovelock

"Giant wind turbines may soon be ruining a landscape near you!"

http://www.tfa.net/the_freedom_association/2010/12/giant-wind-turbines-may-soon-be-ruining-a-landscape-near-you.html

Dick and Jane Talk Wind Power

Watch this brilliant video on YouTube!

Here is the link to it as well:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGlHzU8Cggw

Jeremy Vine

You can listen again to this programme where the spotlight is on wind farms:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00wdfjv

Speaking on the programme: Professor Philip Scott (introducing the technology) Professor Tony Marmont in favour of wind farms and campaigner Bob Graham speaking against them.

"Wind turbines are hazardous to human health"

Read this report on www.windturbinesyndrome

How much longer will the wind power companies continue to minimise the noise problems caused by wind turbines? What remains particularly shocking is the fact that that in most cases there is no compensation made to those who lose the value of their homes.

In this article, mention is made of the fact that infrasound can disturb people living up to 5 kilometres away, as it can travel "greater distances than the sound you normally hear, (which is why elephants and whales use it to communicate.)" (quote)

How can Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, the Coalition Government, Labour, the Green party, in fact nearly all environmental groups - all of whom are supposed to care about the environment and that natural world - be so much in favour of offshore as well as onshore wind?

Some links about the effects of undersea noise on whales:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7003587/ns/technology_and_science-science/

http://www.whales-online.net/eng/2/2-3-3.html

Tax Payers Alliance Video

Do watch this very important video by the Tax Payers Alliance.

Another Australian artist

Earlier this week we mentioned a turbine fire in Australia, and illustrated the blog with a painting of a rare Australian crane called a Brolga, by Marion Chapman, the Australian artist who has a page on the artistsagainstwindfarms website.

Today we hear that that another artist in Australia, internationally famous wildlife artist Humphrey Price Jones, is also speaking out against wind turbines.

You can read more about this in an article in the Australian by Graham LLoyd, their environment editor. It can be found online at this link.



We don't (as yet) have contact with him but have found an online gallery in which you can see some examples of his work: here is the link.

Fullabrook Down Wind Power Station

I went up again today to see how work was progressing at the site of the sub-station. This is a short video that I made. It is more than six weeks since my last visit. I had hoped that the sub-station would be set back out of sight, but it does not look as if that will be the case.
Christine Lovelock

Turbine fire, Australia

The Brolga is a magnificent species of crane which throws grass into the air as it leaps, the whole group joining in this joyful dance. The menacing shadow is self explanatory. this painting is by Marion Chapman, the artist from Australia featured here.

There are few places where outbreaks of fire can be more dangerous than Australia, which is just another reason why they should think twice about industrial wind turbines in the countryside there.

A turbine caught fire recently at the Starfish Hill Wind Farm, near Cape Jervis in Victoria, and nothing could be done to put out the blaze. Read more about this here:

http://www.victorharbortimes.com.au/news/local/news/general/cant-fight-the-fire/1987235.aspx?storypage=0

Nimbys

If anyone followed the link posted recently regarding the famous cartoonist Lynda Barry, they will have come across this page:

http://www.ecb.org/engage/InMyBackyard.htm

Sometimes it seems amazing that proponents of wind turbines can still describe those who oppose them as "Nimbys", when turbines are sprouting all over the world, in everyone's backyard, as far as the countryside is concerned, anyway.

This is the website that Lynda Barry runs:

http://betterplan.squarespace.com/todays-special/tag/wind-farm-psc

If you go to it you can read about yet another family who have had to abandon their home...

"No Tiree Array"

Here is another photograph sent to us by campaigners against the Tiree Array
Go to the website to learn more:

http://www.no-tiree-array.org.uk/

More "Windfall" links

A link to an interview with Laura Israel, who made the "Windfall" film.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jbvaTWIDWQ

This is a link to a radio interview with Laura Israel and Lynda Barry, a cartoonist who has - like those of us who contribute to the artistsagainstwindfarms website - become involved in the fight against industrial wind turbines.
Do listen to this interview if you can, and read the comments below as well.

Here is another link:
http://marlysmagazine.blogspot.com/2010/02/wisconsin-wind-farms-and-lynda-barry.html

"Say No to the Starbold Wind Farm"

Here is a link to the website of the group fighting 5 x 400ft turbines in the Warwickshire countryside. These turbines would be visible from the Cotswolds as well, and the website has some excellent photos of the countryside that could be blighted if this proposal goes ahead.

We were sent the link by a campaigner, whose message included these words:

"Our nations iconic art is so firmly rooted in our unique pastoral landscape and to see it being ravaged by aggressive developers in what can only be described as a Wild West atmosphere is utterly depressing.
All power to your brush!"

Facebook

Artists against wind farms now have a Facebook page as well.

Kintyre

View from Sandaig of proposed Argyll Array.

We have been sent this image by a campaigner... this is an example of how the proposed "offshore" wind farm will look from the beach in the photo.

Here also is a link to a video about the proposal, on Youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/v/-NlSI2lLh9Q?hl=en&fs=1low

Fallago Rig Wind Farm in the beautiful Lammermuir Hills

After 2 public inquiries and strong local opposition, energy minister Jim Mather has announced the the 48 turbine wind farm will go ahead. You can read more in this article in the New Scotsman and also in this Express article, which highlights the fact that this is a loss not only for local campaigners but for all who love Scotland's magnificent landscapes.

Opposition group "Say No to Fallago" also has a Facebook page.

"The genius of Fenbeagle"

Go to James Delingpole's blog at this link for some brilliant art of a more humorous kind!

Diana Armfield RA

Sheep in the snow, Llwynhir, by Diana Armfield RA

Diana Armfield, who has kindly allowed us to show some of her work on the artistsagainstwindfarms website, at this page, has an Exhibition of Recent work in London which closes shortly. Images of the work in the Exhibition can be seen at this page on the Browse and Derby website.

The Crosses of Aiolos

More to follow on this book, but for now here is a link:

http://www.bookcase.co.uk/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=159&vmcchk=1&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=95

Windfall - trailer for film

More information at this link:
http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2010/09/09/windfall-documentary-explores-perils-of-wind-power/

Save our Forests

http://www.38degrees.org.uk/page/s/save-our-forests#petition

Please sign this petition if you care about the future of our forests.

John Muir, the founder of the National Parks movement, wrote:

"Thousands of tired, nerve-shaken over-civilised people are beginning to find that wilderness is a necessity and that mountain parks and reservations are useful not only as fountains of timber and irrigating rivers, but as fountains of life."

He could have been talking too about our forests and woodlands.

More from the Western Morning News

http://www.thisisdevon.co.uk/news/Wind-farm-sweetener-payments/article-2817307-detail/article.html

"Cash plan is not the answer"

From the Western Morning News:

http://www.thisisdevon.co.uk/news/Cash-plan-answer/article-2817056-detail/article.html

As this article points out, how we would react if juries were given cash incentives to come to the "right" verdict?

The Purple Emperor butterfly in danger...

Read the letter from Dr David Spooner, founder of Butterfly Conservation East Scotland, to Prince Charles, on EPAW, the European Platform against wind farms

"The Coalition is tackling Brown's deficit – it now needs to tackle his energy policies," says Charles Moore.

Read this well written article about the government's energy policies by Charles Moore in the Telegraph online.

As he says, so correctly: "The bills will rise, but the emissions will not fall. The country will not get cleaner, but its people will get poorer. "

Europe's Ill Wind now have a Facebook page:

Go to this link:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Europes-Ill-Wind/109784842419268

Fullabrook Down Wind Farm sub-station

This is a short clip taken from Knowlwater bridge, between Barnstaple and Braunton. The Fullabrook Down Wind Power Station cables have been laid on the hills, and now work starts on the sub-station, with the turbines believed to be coming sometime in the spring.

If you want to see what it was like here by the stream before the diggers moved in, , go to the Europe's Ill Wind website and click on the video link (you can see the bridge and fields beside it at about 2 minutes into the DVD)

For a map showing the locations of the turbines, go to this page on the Artists Against Wind Farms website.

Europe's Ill Wind

The DVD shown at the Conference on Tuesday is now online - with a little Artists Against Wind Farms input, both near the beginning and on the DVD cover.

To see the film, go to

www.europesillwind.org

(this site is still under construction, but the link to the short film is up and running)

"A hike up Rumford Whitecap before the onslaught of turbines"

Read the posting on Citizens' Task Force on Wind Power - Maine by Brad Blake (see link below) about a hike he took up some mountains in Maine. He has posted a series of photographs that must break the hearts of all those who love these mountains and know that they are soon to be vandalised.

http://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/a-hike-up-rumford-whitecap

"Wind Turbines and the Tissue of Lies"

Held on Tuesday October 5th - a Conference and DVD Launch at the Royal Overseas League (The Hall of India) in London, sponsored by the EFD Group in the European Parliament.

More to follow on this!

Save Berkeley Vale website

We were sent a link today to the Save Berkeley Vale website:

http://www.saveberkeleyvale.org.uk/

The planning application for 4 x 120 m turbines in the Berkeley Vale, Gloucestershire, has gone up on the Stroud District Council website - go to the campaign website to learn more about this proposal, and see montages showing what an impact these turbines would make on the area.

The group are holding an Exhibition in Stinchcombe Village Hall on Thursday September 30th (tonight) 6 - 9pm, Friday October 1st (6 - 9 pm) and Saturday October 2nd (2 - 6 pm).

"The Thanet Wind Farm will milk us of billions"

Read Christopher Booker's article (with the above title) in the Telegraph online:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/christopherbooker/8025148/The-Thanet-wind-farm-will-milk-us-of-billions.html

World's biggest offshore wind farm...

The scam spreads... EU Referendum Blog


Largest offshore wind farm opens off Thanet in Kent ...

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-kent-11395964

clowd website

Go to the clowd.org.uk website for UK Renewable Generation Statistics (based on data available from Ofgem)

Yorkshire

As photographer Don Brownlow found, after moving from North Devon to Northumberland, (see his page on the artistsagainstwindfarms website) you cannot escape wind turbines no matter where you move.
Friends who moved to Yorkshire recently (from a North Devon location within a mile of a turbine site) have sent details of a proposal for up to ten 125 metres high turbines at East Heslerton in the Yorkshire Wolds.

This is a link to the website being set up by protestors against this development:
http://heslertonwindfarm.com/index.html

"An ill wind blows for Denmark’s green energy revolution"

The excellent www.wind-watch.org website leads their News links with this important
article by Andrew Gilligan (in the Telegraph online.)

A little further up the road

Here is another short clip from a walk taken in March in the area where the Fullabrook Down Wind Power Station is to be built. This clip was made when I was a little closer to Patsford.

You can find Patsford at this page on the Artists against wind farms website. There is also a link above the map to multimap, you have to switch to their OS version to see the hamlet named.

Before the turbines arrive

This video, embedded below, is the first of several video clips from a walk I took last March, up on the hills between Barnstaple and Ilfracombe. These hills will soon be turned into the Fullabrook Down Wind Power Station, so this is a "before" video. I have not made many videos, and I apologise for the many wobbles and poor sound quality, but even so I hope it, and the next two that will follow, will give you some idea of what this area is like. As I keep commenting on each of the videos, this is one of the quietest areas of North Devon: the roads are silent and empty, as you can see.
On the day, I had taken a bus up to Muddiford and Milltown, and then walked up past Marwood School to Gipsy Corner. This first video was made as I walked on towards Middle Marwood and Patsford, and the tree lined valley that you can see is the one that leads towards Whitehall. I was walking on towards the hamlet of Patsford, which will be ringed from above by giant turbines.

Who said the Danes loved wind turbines?

From www.wind-watch.org:

"State-owned energy firm Dong Energy has given up building more wind farms on Danish land, following protests from residents complaining about the noise the turbines make. It had been Dong and the government’s plan that 500 large turbines be built on land over the coming 10 years, as part of a large-scale national energy plan..."

Go to this page on www.wind-watch.org to read more, in a story credited to the Copenhagen Post.

EPAW

A reminder today about the the EPAW (European Platform Against Windfarms) website: http://www.epaw.org/


Read about:
A protest concert in Sweden at historic Knutstorp Castle,

a demonstration in Denmark against forest destruction (to build a wind turbine test centre)

and more protests and demonstrations all around the world.

If you are fighting wind turbines, you are not alone. Got to the Epaw website whenever you can.

New sculpture by Phil Epp

Steppe herdsman by Phil Epp

Do make a point of going to Phil's website to see more photographs of this sculpture, and many more examples of his work, which is always stunning. Especially striking is the painting on the homepage at the moment, of Flint Hill mustangs below a vast Kansas sky.
the website address is:
www.philepp.com

"Is 14.51% efficiency a high enough price to make up for the permanent destruction of tranquillity and beauty? "

Don't forget to go to www.warmwell.com/windfarms.html for the latest news on windfarms.

Of special interest recently:

The August 25th posting, from which our headline quote is taken, giving efficiency figures for Old Park wind farm in Cumbria.

The August 20th posting concerning Mick Hulme, who has fought (with his own time and money) the proposal to put nine 393 ft high turbines in the Denbrook valley near Dartmoor. It includes a quote from artist Angela Kelly, Chairman of Country Guardian

Denbrook Appeal lost.

Looking across the Denbrook valley towards Dartmoor, early one May morning
The above painting is one that I did following my walk round Devon's wind farm sites in 2006.
I could only try to do justice to the beauty of that view: beauty which may now be desecrated.
(Christine Lovelock)

The appeal against a plan to put 9 giant turbines in a valley close to Dartmoor has been lost in the High Court. The fight has gone on for five years and included two Public Inquiries.
Is this the end of the battle? Will the tiny town of North Tawton (the setting for Jam and Jerusalem) now be dwarfed by these 110m (£90 feet) high monstrosities? Will the wonderful view of Dartmoor as seen when you walk down the Tarka Trail or the Two Moors Way towards Okehampton never be the same again?

Read more on the BBC website
or go to this website: www.denbrookvalley.co.uk/

Horrific injuries to sea mammals

Having just seen a horrific photograph of a dead seal, its head virtually shredded, I can't help asking, why aren't the environmentalists shouting about this in all the newspapers and Press?

If dead seals were washing up on the coast around a nuclear power station, Greenpeace and other groups such as Friends of the Earth would make sure this was headline news.... but in this case, although the cause isn't yet certain, there is a suggestion that it might be something to do with the construction for the Sheringham Shoal Wind farm...

Please go to this link at Godfrey Sayers blog and read more.

Note: this post was started on Friday, since then the topic has been picked up by The Sunday Times in

Exhibition this weekend

Snow on Tutshill, from Manning's Pit, Pilton, Barnstaple

Exhibition of Paintings by Christine Lovelock and Tim Saunders.
Two artists based in Pilton are showing their work in Pilton Church Hall this coming weekend (August 21st-22nd). Opening times 10 am - 5 pm, refreshments available in aid of Pilton Church and Pilton Church Hall.

This is not an Exhibition about wind farms but inevitably some of the paintings included by me (Christine) will be of local landscapes under threat of development. You will not see the Fullabrook Down wind turbines from this view above, but once you climb the hill in the painting above, they will almost certainly be visible once they are up.

Several campaigning friends have said they will be coming to the Exhibition - we all like to support one another in so many ways - and all are welcome, hopefully before the cakes run out!
Finally, a great thanks to Muriel Goodman (not only a great campaigner but also a bespoke picture framer) for framing all my canvases.

You can read more here: http://www.chrislovelock.co.uk/
and here: North Devon Gazette

Surely the least thing wind farms need is plenty of wind?

Photograph: Looking towards Dartmoor, across the site of the proposed Denbrook Wind Turbines, just outside North Tawton in Mid Devon.

As Fiona Macrae says (quote) in the Daily Mail, "It's not exactly rocket science – when building a wind farm, look for a site that is, well, quite windy. But more than half of Britain’s wind farms are operating at less than 25 per cent capacity. In England, the figure rises to 70 per cent of onshore developments, research shows."

And how many of our most beautiful landscapes, such as the one above, are being sacrificed for so little benefit?

Read more here:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1303688/More-half-Britains-wind-farms-built-wind.html

Another intermission image

Inner moorland alt caim, by Jon MacLeod

Anne Campbell and Jon MacLeod, two artists and crofters from the Isle of Lewis, were the first featured artists on the website.
To see their page again, go to this link: http://www.artistsagainstwindfarms.com/annecampbell.html

Stella Levy

Thanks to Stella Levy for sending us this photograph - "The Roll Up" for her page on the Artists against wind farms website. The photograph is from the project "A year in the Life of the South Molton Sheep Fair" and you can read more about it on her page at this link:
http://www.artistsagainstwindfarms.com/photographers/stella-levy/stella-levy-2010.html

Intermission Images

Beach, by Bernard Dunstan

During the next few weeks we will, when there is time, be posting regular reminders of some of the the work that you can see on the Artists Against Wind Farms website.

Fewer posts for the next few weeks

There will probably not be so many posts on this blog for the next three or four weeks, but normal service will then be resumed.

Wind power is not free

It was good to see a headline link to this page of Roger Helmer's website on the ConservativeHome blog today.

Roger Helmer is a Conservative MEP for the East Midlands , and the page linked to above shows him talking on video about the true costs of wind power. He says (quote) "Currently the annual subsidy per turbine is nearly £150,000, and that's paid by you, the consumer, and by British industry".

He also mentions that wind farm operators are even being paid extra to turn off their turbines at times... this reminds me that on last night's ITV programme about the Tour de France, the cyclists were filmed cycling past a wind farm in France. The turbines were large and dominated the Champagne landscape. It was noticeable that only some of them were turning. How often is this the case, for wind farms in general, I wonder?

Noise in the ocean

According to this article in the New Scientist, the oceans are becoming so noisy that some whales are having to "yell" - but some also may give up communicating altogether.

How much worse is it likely to be when all the planned offshore wind turbines are built? If it is true that whales have an important role in the carbon storage capacity of the ocean, then we have even more reason to think twice before going ahead with an expansion of offshore wind power.

Yet more bird deaths

What was it Chris Huhne said.... ?

Remember how you saw him in the Con with the Wind trailer, talking about the "myths put about by the opponents of wind energy".
"Is it going to mash up all the birds?" he asks, then he replies to his own question emphatically - "No, it's not going to mash up all the birds".

Yet here is another article about birds killed by turbines. The previous story we linked to involved the death of a red kite that had been "adopted" by school children, these bird deaths also have a connection with a school, in fact, distressingly for the children, the birds were killed by the school's turbine:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/energy/7870929/Primary-school-forced-to-turn-off-wind-turbine-after-bird-deaths.html

No wind means no power

Do you remember how Eigg was hailed as Britain's first "green island"? The island of Eigg was to give us a foretaste of our own "Green" future - something akin to what Chris Huhne, the Energy Secretary for the Coalition Government, seems to see as the way forward for Britain, perhaps?

Well, on the island they experiencing a foretaste of all our futures, and having to use old-fashioned diesel generators to keep the power on, because there is not enough wind. You can read more about it in this Telegraph article by John Bingham.

How many more of those "myths about wind power" will turn out to be true?

And, oh yes, despite what those who support wind power will tell you, there are days when there is hardly wind anywhere in Britain, or even across Europe, and they usually occur in the winter when it is very cold and we need power to heat ourselves, or in the heat of summer, when we need air conditioning.

New Scientist

Interesting article about CO2 and climate change in the New Scientist

Red Kite killed by turbine

Remember Con with the Wind, an excellent trailer for a new documentary looking at the myths, facts and lies surrounding big business interests in the Wind Farm Goldrush?

In the beginning, you can see Chris Huhne talking about what he sees as the myths put about by the opponents of wind energy. "Is it going to mash up all the birds?" he asks, then he replies to his own question emphatically - "No, it's not going to mash up all the birds".


Unfortunately, this doesn't appeared to have helped a rare red kite in Scotland recently, as you can read in this Scotsman article:
http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/scotland/Rare-red-kite-found-dead.6383830.jp

"Con with the Wind"

Watch the trailer for this film, on You Tube!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RifT33-pHaE

On iplayer now

In the photo; Ann West, sketching in Mid-Wales

Adrian Masters and Felicity Evans take a fresh look at politics through the Dragon's Eye, examining claims that Westminster politicians will again have the final say over big wind and nuclear projects in Wales.

Ann West, Chairman of the Cambrian Mountain Society (http://www.cambrian-mountains.co.uk/),
appeared on this programme last night with Wyck Lohmann, to present the case against industrial
wind farms despoiling our beautiful countryside.

You can listen again here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00srkyb/Dragons_Eye_17_06_2010/

You can also see the protest walk at Nant y Moch organised by the Cambrian Mountains Society on this page of the artistsagainstwindfarms website:
http://www.artistsagainstwindfarms.com/walks-2009/nant-y-moch/nant-y-moch-june.html

Save the Border Hills Walk

The ‘Save the Borders Walk’ last Saturday was a great success and 300 people attended to support the campaign. Many members of the press attended the event and there was some excellent coverage in the regional and national press, as well on the TV and radio.



An online e-petition is now up and running, at:


http://epetitions.scottish.parliament.uk/view_petition.asp?PetitionID=394

Good for Iain Dale

Great posting on Iain Dales's Blog:

Tear down these windmills Mr Huhne
http://iaindale.blogspot.com/2010/06/tear-down-these-windmills-mr-huhne.html

Telephone numbers

Telephone numbers for queries about the Walk posted below are:

01361 890350 / 01361 890670

Come to this walk if you can, on June 12th, in the Scottish Borders

Sent to us by the organisers of this walk - please give them your support:

Invitation to join the ‘Save the Border Hills’ Walk

For many years now, Lammermuir residents and local Councils have campaigned furiously against North British Windpower’s (NBW) proposed Fallago Rig Wind Farm in the Scottish Borders. All objections to the proposed plans have been ignored by the Scottish Government and this must change.

Please come and join our ‘Save the Border Hills’ Walk taking place on 12th June 2010 at Penshiel, Cranshaws, Duns. The event will be signposted from Cranshaws, Longformacus and Gifford. All welcome, including dogs on leads. Please arrive by 9.30am. Full route will be approx. 9 miles (option to do smaller distance available if you wish). Free T-shirts, half-way snacks and complimentary burger and drinks at the finish. Your presence and support would be greatly appreciated. This uniquely beautiful part of Scotland is already saturated with these monstrous industrial structures. We don’t need any more. Together we can make the Government sit-up and take notice of our cause.

From wind farm to wind factory: Say NO to more wind turbines in the Scottish Borders.

Queries/questions:
jontyallymac@aol.com

Steppe Herdsman by Phil Epp

Phil Epp from the Kansas Flint Hills has sent us photos of his recently completed bronze sculpture - more pictures will be on www.artistsagainstwindfarms.com shortly.

Whales

Well, the LibCon Coalition may be supporting offshore wind which could be bad for whales, but it is good to see that David Cameron is prepared to stand up to the EU over whaling:

Read more here

Question Time tonight

Question Time tonight comes from Brecon in Wales, and on the panel will be LibDem MP Roger Williams. In 2007 he led a protest against a proposed wind farm in North Radnorshire.
This quote is copied from www.wind-watch.org, you can read the whole article (from the Brecon & Radnor Express) at this link:

"A local politician led a group of about 100 people to demonstrate their objection to a proposed wind farm in north Radnorshire at the weekend.

Roger Williams, MP for Brecon and Radnorshire, was joined by crowds carrying placards against the construction of a wind farm on Pentre Tump, near Llanfihangel Nant Melan on Sunday November 25."

The LibCon Coalition has much to be said in its favour - except for its energy policies. Both David Cameron and Nick Clegg are at odds with many of their MPs over the issue of wind power. Roger Williams is not alone, many other MPs have come out against wind farms (as can be seen if you trawl through the archive of this blog). Local MPs understand the reality of wind power, because they meet the people whose lives are threatened or disrupted by it. Bearing in mind the Coalition Energy policies, are they all to be muzzled, or will they be allowed to speak up in favour of a more sensible energy future for Great Britain?

Interestingly, the ConservativeHome blog notes that new MP Chris Heaton-Harris spoke out against onshore wind farms in his constituency in his maiden speech, while three other new MPs spoke in favour of nuclear power.

More from the Western Morning News

http://www.thisisdevon.co.uk/news/Massive-solar-farms-planned/article-2166168-detail/article.html

Great Torrington Devon

These sheep are in a field very close to the site of the proposed three Higher Darracott wind turbines, close to the hill-top town of Great Torrington, in North Devon.

We have not heard much about them for several years, but a recent article on the Western Morning News website has worrying news.

Berlin Demonstration

Read the report,and see the videos and photos of the Berlin demonstration against windfarms of May 15, 2010 at this link:


http://www.epaw.org/events.php?article=de1

Why Max Hastings fears the lights will go out

A must-read article in the Daily Mail:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-1280318/MAX-HASTINGS-Why-I-fear-lights-Britain.html?#ixzz0odQ8ZAeN

The Scotsman

Good for the Scotsman, telling its readers what their country will look like if the madness continues, and how much the devastation will cost them.

In a part of last Sunday's Countryfile, John Craven went to Orkney and the excerpt about this illustrated another horror - wave power didn't seem so benign either, as fishermen and an artist there pointed out. You can still see this on bbciplayer. Prepare yourself for something that looks nearly as horrific as wind turbines - imagine going in search of peace and tranquility to the loneliest and wildest parts of the world, only to be faced by seas covered with these monstrosities.

Why is that "political Greens" - driven by their anti-nuclear stance above their love for the natural world - will always choose renewables first, no matter how much environmental degradation they cause? Or how much it will cost - remembering electricity costs fall hardest on the poor.

Mark Lynas on the LibDem energy policy

http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/the-staggers/2010/03/lib-dems-lynas-nuclear-energy

Back to Victorian times - shivering in the cold?

There is much to be cheerful about in the fact that we have a new government - but their environmental and energy policies are a disaster.

At a time when we are in desperate financial straights, the new Coalition Government has chosen policies that will hurt the poorest in our society through increased costs for heating and electricity, while doing very little to reduce CO2 emissions. It is quite possible (see this New Scientist article for example) that our winters will become more severe in the near future: are we all going to shiver in the dark?

To learn more, read this excellent analysis by the Tax Payers Alliance.

Demonstration in Germany

For anyone who can make it (sorry for the late notice) there is a public demonstration on the 15th of May, meeting at the Brandenberg Gate in the centre of Berlin at 2 p.m.

There are already 25,000 wind turbines in Germany and an additional 25,000 new generation wind turbines are likely to be installed.

The people of Germany need help in their protest!

If you can, join them in Berlin so that together we can show our discontent with this tyranny against man and nature.

If you cannot come to Berlin, please send them a short letter of support.

Messages of support, and reports about experiences of fighting against and living with wind turbines have already been published on the new website: www.windwahn.de

They call for a global movement against the destruction of man and nature by the wind industry and its profiteers.

www.wind-watch.org

There is a very good video on wind-watch at the moment called "Industrial Wind Energy Information."

This video, created by Bill Welty of Ogle County, Illinois, is a compilation of video clips from residents of Mars Hill, Maine; Meyersdale, Pennsylvania; Tug Hill, New York; and Ellis County, Kansas, as well as other videos that available at www.wind-watch.org/videos.

Topics in the video include Wind Company Tactics, Visual Concerns, Property Values, Damage and Liability, Health Concerns, Noise Pollution, Flickering Shadows, Wildlife Impacts, Money, and Destruction of Scenery.

Full resolution DVDs can be purchased from Bill Welty for $5 each, more details on the wind-watch website.

The Leader's Debate

Artists against windfarms is non-political, and we have been joined by artists from all political persuasions.

Campaigners in Devon, for example, have been supported strongly in the fight against the industrialisation of Devon by local MPs Nick Harvey ( LibDem) and Geoffrey Cox (Conservative) as well as Nigel Farage (while UKIP Leader).

It is in fact hardly surprising that many politicians - from all parties - come out against wind turbines when they happen to be in their own constituencies, whatever the party leaderships may think about the matter.

The Wind Turbine topic was raised briefly during the Leader's Debate on the BBC last night, and here is an amusing comment regarding this by Damian Thompson on the Telegraph Leader's Debate LiveBlog:

It begins: "I can’t believe that Nick Clegg was stupid enough to launch into a hymn of praise to wind turbines."

To read more go to the Blog and scroll down to the 9.19 entry.

German protest

If you speak German, have a look at this video on RTL Regional. There are obviously some people in Germany who do not like wind turbines!

http://www.rtlregional.de/player.php?id=10544&tag=langenhorn&seite=0

A web-page translation by Babel Fish gives an idea of what this is about (simply paste in the RTL web-page address)

World wide demonstrations against wind power

Go to this page on the EPAW website to learn more.

Save the whales so that they can save us?

No one knows what the spread of offshore wind farms will do to the whale population worldwide. Off-shore wind power to many people means out of sight, out of mind - only a few people (like Christopher Booker for example) seem to care enough to point out its expensive drawbacks.

This article in the New Scientist should make us all think again about whales, and their importance to the oceans, and the ocean's carbon cycle.

There are several links on this blog to research and articles warning about the effects of underwater noise on whales, dolphins, and even fish. Whatever happened to the precautionary principle?

You can find them here.

Wind farm noise

Jane and Julian Davis have been driven out of their home by the noise of wind turbines on land half a mile from their home in Lincolnshire.

They have now launched a High Court writ claiming for compensation of £380,000 from the turbine owners, the landowners and the builders. You can read more about this in the Daily Mail here.

BBC4 "Beautiful Minds" tonight at 9pm

Clovers Cottage, Bowerchalke, as it was in the 1960's and early 1970's, when it was the world's only thatched space laboratory.

The "Beautiful Minds" series on BBC4 tonight (at 9pm) focuses this week on my father James Lovelock and should prove interesting.

As mentioned in this article, when he left his job at the MRC and set up as an independent scientist, he worked in our house in Bowerchalke, and nearly all our family helped with the taking of measurements . This cottage in our garden was used as a laboratory for several years.

Posted by Christine Lovelock

Terry Wogan on swine flu and other scares

Quote from the article:

"Although I won't be around to see it, I believe that in 50 years' time, a bigger penny will drop, and our descendants will look at each other in disbelief and say, "All those windmills! What were they thinking of?"

Read the article in The Telegraph online

Beauty

"We all care about beauty - why don't politicians?" Why has beauty become the word that no one dares mention?

Read this article in The Guardian by Simon Jenkins, and wonder why those in charge of us no longer seem to value something so precious to all of us, something that lifts our spirits and makes life worth living - whether it is a primrose, a soaring bird, a work of art, or a landscape.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/apr/08/beauty-politicians-election

www.wind-watch.org

A reminder:

www.wind-watch.org is worth a daily visit...


Remember how the public have been encouraged to cycle around these "wind farms" as if they are real farms and country parks rather than industrial power stations...

From today's wind-watch.org news links...

http://www.wind-watch.org/news/2010/03/23/scots-wind-farm-shut-over-safety-fears-after-150ft-turbine-blade-falls-off/

The Climate Change Act

Another must-read article by Christopher Booker in The Sunday Telegraph today, spells out the fact that Ed Miliband's legislation will cost us hundreds of billions over the next 40 years, while doing nothing to reduce the world's overall carbon footprint.

Happy Easter to all wind warriors

Afterglow, by Bernard Dunstan RA

You can see more of his work on the artistsagainstwindfarms website at this page.

E Bay

To anyone who missed the comment on a recent posting (about Costing the Earth) a reminder that there is a sculpture on EBay highlighting the damage wind farms do to birds. Do look - only 7 hours to go!

http://tinyurl.com/thewindenergy

More from James Lovelock

This is a painting my father did in the 1960's, of the view just outside our house (and his laboratory). The hill is Marleycombe Down, the village Bowerchalke, I am the girl, and the man in the tractor is Bob Deverill, who lived down in one of the cottages at Knowle Farm. We used to take atmospheric turbidity measurements a few yards from this spot (old fashioned science!)

He talks about England as it used to be, and renewables (a mixture of ideology and business) in these clips from the Today Programme:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_8594000/8594561.stm

"Fudging data is a sin against science"

Having been a part of the family business back in the 1970's (helping with measurements and data processing) I can definitely endorse this article by Leo Hickman in the Guardian today

The excitement of science is about discovery, not about looking to confirm an expected view, and that is one of the strongest messages that I picked up from my father from my earliest childhood.

Posted by Christine Lovelock

Costing the earth

To be fair to the BBC, Costing the Earth on Radio Four today was interesting and even-handed, pointing out some of the pitfalls of microgeneration. After listening to it, you would certainly think twice before shelling out £30,00 or more on a wind turbine....

Listen again here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00rdxm5/Costing_the_Earth_Turbines_in_the_Back_Garden/

Orkney Wind Power

From the Biased BBC blog, (well worth reading), this quote concerning a BBC programme on wind power in Orkney.

"It's one long commercial for the joys of "renewables", an ode to the importance of us all buckling down and accepting these bird-chopping, landscape-defacing monstrosities. Notice that the one thing missing from the article is the "s" word, the elephant in the room: subsidy."

To read the rest, go to:

http://biased-bbc.blogspot.com/2010/03/pie-in-sky.html

Nuclear and wind

The EUReferundum blog has a posting today that spells out so clearly what an impossible position our politicians have put us in, if we care about the future of our country and its energy supplies, which are crucial to this.

The two main parties both advocate nuclear and wind, and the third seems to be pro-wind and anti-nuclear. They have all swallowed the wind spin, and want to spend, spend, spend (despite the fact that we are badly in debt) in order to meet the pointless EU targets that Tony Blair signed Britain up to before he left office.

On this issue, the only party that is worth voting for is UKIP, and yet to do so risks giving the Election to Labour, the party that signed us up to these European targets, and gave our freedom away by refusing to give us a Referendum on the Lisbon Treaty.

EUReferendum have some other good postings on wind and nuclear as well...

http://eureferendum.blogspot.com/2010/03/bloweth-wind.html

includes mention of the RSPB, who support many wind farm applications (but how can you believe that they are unbiased after reading Christopher Booker's article in which he points out that that "The RSPB receives £10 from the wind-farm builder Scottish & Southern Energy for every customer signing up for electricity under its “RSPB Energy” scheme. "

http://eureferendum.blogspot.com/2010/03/addition-to-vocabulary.html...

about small nuclear reactors, suitable for towns, exceptionally safe, and able to deal with peak load requirements as well as base load.

Stewart Brand in The New Scientist

Environmentalist Stewart Brand and The Whole Earth Catalog once advocated wind turbines, now, talking to Liz Else in the New Scientist he advocates nuclear power. Below is a short quote from the article, to read more click on this link to The New Scientist article.

"To get a gigawatt capacity of electricity takes 250 square miles of wind farm. Holy smokes! And the wind farm is not on all the time so you're buying French nuclear energy or burning a hell of a lot of natural gas to make up the gap."

Treasured landscapes sacrificed for little gain.

"The first detailed study of Britain’s onshore wind farms suggests some treasured landscapes may have been blighted for only small gains in green energy. "

Thanks to a campaigner from Scotland for sending us the link to the article in The Sunday Times from which the above quote was taken:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article7069938.ece

The article also links to this one:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/leading_article/article7069806.ece

They confirm what we have been saying all along.

Whether it is Oswaldtwistle Moor, Fullabrook Down, Nant y Moch, the Isle of Lewis, the Kansas Flint Hills, or the Bald Hills Wetland Reserve in Australia, our precious landscapes are being destroyed so that politicians can look as if they are doing something and developers can get rich. Any "Green" who supports this scam should think again. Stop the subsidies, say no to EU and other meaningless targets, and save our landscapes!

Something to cheer the "socially unacceptable" during Cheltenham week

This might be a little tongue in cheek but it was amusing to read in the Telegraph that not only only was racehorse Kauto Star recognised (in a recent survey) by more people than Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg, but in the recognition stakes, his arch rival Denman polled ahead of Ed Miliband...

Nick Clegg and Ed Miliband - who said people who protest against wind turbines should be deemed "socially unacceptable" - are both big fans of wind power. Horses on the other hand nearly always have the sense to see at once that wind turbines are indeed monstrous intrusions on our landscapes.

Eagles and wind turbines

Thanks to Christopher Booker for highlighting this issue in the Sunday Telegraph.

As he says in the article, "The RSPB receives £10 from the wind-farm builder Scottish & Southern Energy for every customer signing up for electricity under its “RSPB Energy” scheme."

Read more here

James Lovelock

Thanks to my father for spelling out yet again what it is we should we should be doing.

Charles Clover in an article on the Sunday Times online writes as follows (the quote below is from his article):

"How should we be spending our money to prevent possible disaster? In Britain, says Lovelock, we need sea walls and more nuclear power. Heretical stuff, when you consider the vast amount that Europe plans to spend on wind turbines.

Fullabrook Down Wind Power Station

This photo was taken on Saturday from Burland Lane on the Fullabrook Down hills. You can see that some work on the wind farm has started, and the lines of raised earth and posts mark a turbine position. Dartmoor was visible in the distance (unfortunately not as visible in the photograph which was taken facing into the sun).
It was a most beautiful day, and - with the contractors gone for the moment - the hills were peaceful and silent, save for the sound of birdsong, and the bleating of lambs and ewes in the distance. I took a bus out to Milltown and then walked for several hours along the small roads that link hamlets such as Patsford and Whitehall. There was so little traffic that until I came back to the outskirts of Barnstaple I was passed by no more than two cars. This is indeed one of the quietest areas of North Devon, and its rare tranquility should have been treasured, not marked down for destruction.

You can see photographs from more walks around the area here.

More on Wind Turbine Noise

The Brewing Tempest over Wind - Robert Bryce, Wall Street Journal

Denmark, and the Emperor's Turbine Blades

If only Hans Christian Anderson were alive today, he would retell his story, but this time the spin would be in the turning of the blades.

There is a lot to like about Denmark, but its environmental record is not the way it has been spun by the wind industry.
Read this Copenhagen Post article to learn more

Biased BBC today

"The Environment Agency - which, from its support of windfarms should actually be known as the Environment-wrecking agency - has a new fantasy"...read more on the Biased BBC blog

Christopher Booker keeps reminding us that the lights are going out

As the General Election comes closer, anyone who understands how crucial energy policy is to our future as a nation must despair of all the three main parties.

Christopher Booker spells it out clearly in The Sunday Telegraph.

A must-read article!

And by the way, he focuses on the two main parties, but from a truly environmental point of view, the Liberal Democrats would probably be the worst option of all, being the most pro-European, anti nuclear party of the three.