How vested interests exploit rural communities about “wind turbine syndrome”
a community that is well-informed, consulted and empowered is much more likely to welcome the development of clean technology, and reject the offerings of anti-wind groups selling a narrative of fear and danger..
The theory of wind turbine syndrome was not sourced from empirical scientific investigation – it was borne of a heady mix of human nature and vested interests,
stew of sentiment and pseudoscience bubbles below the surface, and the link need only be completed by motivated and well-funded lobby groups with no desire to adhere to the bounds of scientific inquiry
Consultation is the key to curing wind turbine syndrome KETAN JOSHI ABC Environment3 FEB 2014 Joshi 7 MAY 2013 Wind turbine syndrome is a symptom of a community that feels it has lost control. It has very little to do with wind farms and ‘infrasound’. PRIME MINISTER TONY ABBOTT’S intention to open a fresh investigation into the vexed issue of ‘wind turbine syndrome’ hasn’t impressed many.
Mick Vagg, SeniorLecturer at Deakin University wrote that ‘there is no scientific justification for any further investigation of ‘wind turbine syndrome'”.
Meanwhile the anti-wind Waubra Foundationsupports the plan……. Continue reading
Distrust of nuclear power scientists is spreading
CBS San Francisco: “Widespread distrust” of scientists over Fukushima — Official: “People are worried, people want to know what’s going on” — UC Berkeley professor admits much of his funding is from gov’t: If you don’t trust us, who is it you want to trust? Says man-made cesium-137 is “natural background radiation” (VIDEO)http://enenews.com/cbs-san-francisco-widespread-distrust-of-scientists-over-fukushima-official-people-are-worried-people-want-to-know-whats-going-on-uc-berkeley-professor-adm
CBS San Francisco,, Jan. 31, 2014: Concerns about radioactive water now stretch from the activism hotbed of Berkeley to the peaceful sands of Monterey Bay. The town of Fairfax has even appealed to the United Nations for guidance on the matter. […] For an expert opinion, KPIX 5 visited Kai Vetter, a nuclear physics professor at UC Berkeley. […] there are fears about contaminated seafood […] not everyone is convinced by Vetter’s assurance that, for now, Fukushima presents no health threats on the West Coast. There is widespread distrust of scientists that some see as too closely related to the nuclear power industry. Vetter admits he receives much of his funding from the Department of Energy, but he insists he has no reason to misrepresent his findings.
Kai Vetter, nuclear physics professor at UC Berkeley
Professor Kai Vetter, UC Berkeley: “That’s a very good question. Trust is something very precious. I certainly live in California. I’m also concerned about my family, my neighbors and my friends. If you don’t want to trust us, who is it you want to trust?”
More from Vetter: “I mean we are living in a world which is radioactive […] We still see Cesium-137 back from the atmospheric tests in the 40s & 50s. We still see that. It’s, in a way, part of our natural background now.”
John Reed, Fairfax Town Council member: “People are worried, people want to know what’s going on […] I’m not eating mahi-mahi sushi, it’s good to be careful.”
CBS San Francisco, anchor: “Chances are you have heard the dire warnings about Fukushima radiation, they seem to be everywhere these days, 3 years after the disaster.”
CBS San Francisco, reporter: “For now, testing from Hawaii to California shows radiation levels to threaten human health or marine life.” Watch the CBS broadcast here
History of Aboriginal Land Rights in Australia
The story of Mabo, SMH January 31, 2014 Colleen Keane Before 1967, Aboriginal people in Australia – the first Australians – were not included in the national census. The referendum altered their status in the constitution, but afterwards it no longer contained any reference to indigenous people. The doctrine of terra nullius also meant that Aboriginal people were not recognised as traditional owners of their land. Continue reading
Global scandal of criminal gangs dumping radioactive trash
A tsunami in 2005 turned up hundreds of barrels along the shore, and the next year, the UN confirmed that the waste included “uranium radioactive waste, lead, cadmium, mercury, industrial, hospital, chemical, leather treatment and other toxic waste.”
The Mob Is Secretly Dumping Nuclear Waste Across Italy And Africa Gizmodo, KELSEY CAMPBELL-DOLLAGHAN 1 FEBRUARY 2014 Organised crime is famously good at exploiting time-sensitive industries like construction, fishing, and — of course — garbage removal. But revelations about millions of tons of toxic waste buried haphazardly and illegally by the mob are causing an uproar in southern Italy, where cancer rates are nearly 50 per cent higher than the average in certain areas…..
Campania is now known as “the Land of Fires,” for the garbage fires that regularly ignite. In his 2006 book about Naples’ organised crime, Gomorrah: A Personal Journey into the Violent International Empire of Naples’ Organised Crime System, Roberto Saviano describes the region as a place where “any space with an owner can become a dump site.” Continue reading
Shameful history of soldiers affected by Pacific nuclear test radiation
Other children of nuclear veterans have suffered chronic musculoskeletal disorders; deformity of the hands, feet, bladder and genitals; heart malformation; hearing defects; spina bifida, and a host of other illnesses. Many have decided not to have children, for fear of perpetuating genetic abnormalities.
Forgotten victims of Britain’s nuclear tests on Christmas Island
No compensation for British servicemen exposed to nuclear explosions around Australia and the Pacific in the 1950s and ’60sTelegraph UK By Jake Wallis Simons 02 Feb 2014When the bomb went off, Private John Hall had been given no protective clothing. Instead, he and his fellow RAF servicemen had been ordered to turn away from the mushroom cloud and put their hands in front of their faces.
He later said that as he did so, his hands “lit up like an X-ray”, and he saw his bones outlined through the flesh. Continue reading
New Zealand gets anti-nuclear exhibition
Anti-nuclear exhibition comes to Hastings Library Hastings District Council 3 February 2014 Scoop NZ The anti-nuclear exhibition “Everything You Treasure: a World Free from Nuclear Weapons” will open on Tuesday February 18, 5.30pm at the Hastings War Memorial Library.
The exhibition was jointly created by Soka Gakkai International and the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN).
Local organiser Jane Featherstone says the exhibition was created to show how nuclear weapons pose a threat to the things we value and treasure as individuals……
Everyone is welcome to attend the official opening of ‘Everything you Treasure’ at the Hastings War Memorial Library on Tuesday February 18 at 5.50pm.The exhibition is on until Tuesday March 11.http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/CU1402/S00033/anti-nuclear-exhibition-comes-to-hastings-library.htm
Community ownership of wind farms in Australia
Consultation is the key to curing wind turbine syndrome, KETAN JOSHI ABC Environment 3 Feb 14 “…….In Australia, community ownership is gaining traction. My employer, InfigenEnergy, is looking to enable community ownership of one of the wind turbines at the Flyer’s Creek development in NSW, through theCentral NSW Renewable Energy Cooperative (CENREC).
The Hepburn Wind Farm, a two-turbine community-owned wind farm in Victoria, has generated 27,809 megawatt-hours since commencement — enough to power an average Australian home for 4,209 years, and the proposed Fremantle Co-operative wind farm project in WA recently hit a $10,000 crowd-funding target to produce myth-busting videos on wind energy. The Coonooer Bridge Wind Farm development utilises a community benefit model that is the first of its kind, and has been welcomed by locals.
These initiatives are, simply, the circuit-breakers needed to lessen the influence of lobby groups working against the integration of renewable technology into our energy system, and empower communities. Abbott’s research will likely be ineffective in lessening the spread of wind energy health fears in communities.
The deployment of clean technology across Australia as a means of reducing our reliance on fossil fuels will be stewarded by tight-knit Australian communities. The companies that develop, operate and maintain large-scale generation assets fuelled by renewable resources can only benefit from community ownership and engagement.
It seems the only ones who will lose out from this shift will be those who professionally stoke anger and feed fear. The demand for their resource will run swiftly dry.http://www.abc.net.au/environment/articles/2014/02/03/3935067.htm
1 This month
of the week – Disrupting War & Militarism in Oceania. Active solidarity. Radical practice.
Antinuclear 