Wind Turbine Week for Ellen
Posted by admin on 19 Nov 2009 at 08:41 am | Tagged as: Uncategorized
Hello, everyone – Next week is Wind Turbine Week for me. I am due to spend the full week of November 22-28 just west of Long Point, staying 24/7 in the home of someone who lives near a large wind farm.
Both wind power, and local input into decisions with local impact, are very important to me.
I am one of the original members of WindShare, the co-op that installed the wind turbine at the C.N.E.
My enthusiasm for wind energy is tempered by my concern that people’s objections to turbine installations must be respectfully addressed.
A small group of people who live in the area west of Long Point firmly believe the turbines there are damaging their health. They have requested that someone from outside the community spend a minimum of a week there, full-time. I’ve volunteered.
Whether or not I find that the turbines affect me in any way while I am there, I am hoping to explore how the problem of local objections to them can be addressed. Residents in various areas of Ontario are objecting to wind farm installations. I fear we can’t maximize benefits from this technology without community co-operation.
Here and now, I send many thanks to the people who have invited me. I will be blogging on this page about my experiences. Best from Ellen
Standing under a single wind turbine for 10 minutes on a sunny afternoon does not give you the right to form an opinion.
Talk to the people who are suffering. Talk to the people who have had to abandon their homes. Talk to the people who live with dozens of monstrous turbines surrounding their homes 24/7/365.
Go to http://windconcernsontario.org and spend some time reading.
Thanks, Moe, for your url recommendation, which heartens me, as I was already aware of it. Talking to people directly affected is exactly what I hope to be doing this coming week – I am grateful for the invitation to spend that long as an invited guest in a wind farm area. Best from Ellen
Good of Ellen to put herself on the line like this, whether she can directly discern the physical effects herself or not.
See throughout webpage http://www.greenparty.ca/blogs/1819/2009-10-20/wind-energy and further earlier pages http://www.greenparty.ca/blogs/930/2009-08-28/told-you-so and http://www.greenparty.ca/node/2208
for some of my own lengthy contribution in consideration of this controversy. Questions of scale and local appropriateness are at the heart, far underappreciated as “Greens” clamour for too rapid often ill-considered action. There are alternatives. Be wary of pushy financiers being behind too speedy depleoyments, in this and other fields. Consideration of complexity is what must be at the heart of authentic green politics, as it is at the inspirational and intellectual heart of ecology, including the human. Consideration of complexity requires more time than the pushy would admit. This is at root a cultural problem. Even if Ellen can give but a week, it is a hopeful start.
“When someone says, “it hurts”, you just stop, step back, and reconsider. Pressing on anyway is akin to rape, a metaphor widely understood as applying to too much human activity on the earth.”
Ellen since, you are part of the original Windshare co-operative that put in the 750kW turbine at exhibition place, do you have any statistics as to people who have developed headaches and other symptoms since the installation of that turbine?
Also do you know of people living in the Frenchman’s bay area in Pickering near the OPG-7 prototype wind turbine, who have developed headaches and other symptoms?
I am curious as no one seems to be upset with these urban wind turbines, maybe they should be installed in cities instead of the rural areas?
Hello, Shin, and thank you for your comment. You raise an interesting issue. The last time I learned detailed info, there was concern that turbines not be installed close to homes in cities, because there was already so much possible noise, from e.g. traffic, airports, and more. Maybe the significance of whatever additional sound comes from turbines needs to be examined. There’s a new study in progress – it’s not clear to me when the results will be reported.
http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/ewh-semt/consult/_2013/wind_turbine-eoliennes/research_recherche-eng.php
In 3.2.2 in the above link, you will see that as many people as possible who live very close to turbines will be interviewed. This should provide information of relevance to your recommendation. And there’s a reference list at the end of the link.