Thrown to the Wind

During the years between 1993 and 1999 I worked the sea, delivering sail boats from the California coast to destinations along the various Pacific costliness in North, Central, and South America; also the Caribbean, and Florida Keys; also to the Hawaiian Islands.

Now that I have been retired for more than twenty years, I have been concerned about all marine organisms and the impact of the greatly increased traffic of motor vessels; sonic surveys to improve nautical charts; oil platforms including piles being hammered through the ocean floor; human-caused acidification and temperature increases; trash dumping; factory fishing fleets; and other horrors. All of these are known with near certainty by oceanographers and marine biologists to be slaughtering sea life, from whales to coral reef to plankton.

My worry lead me to read the latest science literature, and to this film. What this film reports is not what marine biologists have reported.

The film insists the government agencies are saying the exact opposite of what government agencies *HAVE* been reporting: whale deaths have been increasing in the past, and are now decreasing while offshore wind turbines increase in number. The film forgot to mention these facts.

Looking at the published data, including the real data in this film, shows no correlation at all: the film even sowed graphs of whale deaths decreasing as offshore wind turbines increasing--- they show these charts many times, and while the graphs are on the screen showing no correlation, they told the audience the exact opposite of what they were showing.

After watching this film, I felt insulted: the producer expect viewers to be too dim of wit to actually look at the data they showed and think about the data.

The film does not include experts in the fields of marine biology: I assume doing so would have ended the film project before it was started.

Michael Shellenburger is known for his fossil fuel supporting propaganda, and this is no exception. The oil and gas industry would love you to believe that whales are hurt by wind turbines - and there is no evidence that they are.

OTOH there is a huge amount of evidence that exploration and drilling for oil and gas hurts whales. A clear explanation is given by the Sierra Club (Google it).

The BP Deepwater Horizon spill is estimated to have killed 17% of ALL Gulf of Mexico whales. Seismic blasting in the exploration process disrupts whale feeding, breeding, and communication. High-energy seismic noise can also physically injure whales, causing permanent hearing loss. Increased vessel traffic during exploration and drilling also harms whales, both by raising underwater noise and by increasing the risk of vessel strikes, which can cause serious injury or death. And oil spills can disrupt whale behavioral patterns, and injure or kill whales, depending on the size and location of the spill. Source: NRDC (Google it).

So if you love whales, ignore this dross and look at the real villain: fossil fuels.

I hope the industry propaganda provided by the other reviewer here does not discourage you from watching this important documentary.

It is a documentary that showcases the evil that can be committed by those who swear they are acting in the best interests of humanity. Those who promise they are doing good while causing harm.

This documentary sheds light on the havoc being caused by off-shore wind turbines on whale populations. It provides comprehensive evidence to substantiate its claims, and directs viewers to sources where they can verify the information themselves.

Of course, it is a documentary that is intended to inform AND entertain its viewers. It delivers in terms of entertainment value by tugging at your heart strings in an occasional sensationalist manner.

And it is not difficult for this film to succeed in that regard. When you see the devastation we are inflicting while the pushers of wind technology insist their primary or only goal is to help the environment, it becomes clear that far too many people in the public sphere speak of good intentions while intentionally committing acts of evil in the name of profit.

I hope you get value out of this documentary.