Essay by Eric Worrall
“We can’t destroy biodiversity to save the planet.” – local greens teaming up with hardline conservatives to block new wind farms.
The anti-windfarm ‘odd couple’ joining forces to fight the renewable energy projects Australia’s already failing to build
Four Corners / By Angus Grigg, Mary Fallon and Maddy King
Posted Mon 10 Jun 2024 at 5:23amMonday 10 Jun 2024 at 5:23am, updated Mon 10 Jun 2024 at 11:22pm
Deep in coal country, a lifelong environmentalist and one-time Greens candidate is feeling the applause.
It’s Thursday night at a Gladstone pub and Steven Nowakowski has won over sceptical locals.
His message is a simple one; he believes a wave of new windfarm developments threatens to smash hilltops and turn koala habitat into “industrial zones”.
The green movement, he says, are in “la-la land” over windfarms, a comment that draws nods and knowing smiles from the audience.
But its only when one local suggests building a new coal-fired power station does the crowd erupt in spontaneous applause.
This is the front line of Australia’s latest climate war.
Nowakowski, a nature lover who says he’s been arrested fighting for forests, shares the stage with ultra-conservative federal MP Colin Boyce, a man who claims burning fossil fuels creates “plant food”.
“We’re an odd couple,” Nowakowski admits. “I shake my head in disbelief. I cannot believe that I’m in this situation.”
…
“We’re going down the wrong path,” he says. “We can’t destroy biodiversity to save the planet.”
…
Read more: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-06-10/renewable-energy-projects-wind-farm-face-opposition-four-corners/103951940
I applaud Steven Nowakowski’s courage breaking ranks with his friends, and standing up for what he believes – genuine measures to protect nature.
The colossal wilderness destruction wrought in the name of renewable energy was always going to be an issue.
Nobody who genuinely cares about the environment can see a devastated concrete construction zone which was once a protected wilderness, stretching as far as the eye can see, and say “see, we saved nature”.
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We have to destroy the environment in order to save it.
“So now it’s not about the
virusEnvironment at all. It’s about following orders, doing what you’re told.” – James Cole, 12 MonkeysSo our photographer likes this more:
Disclaimer: No koalas were harmed in creating this photograph.
Eucalyptus trees LOVE CO2 and Koalas LOVE Eucalyptus leaves so Koalas do love CO2.
Lots of Eucalyptus in CA, I wonder if Koalas would survive there?
Mines are a relatively small area compared to wind “farms”.
Mines will need to increase in number 10 fold or more (possibly 40 fold) to support the green movement
… and can be re-contoured and re-planted. Mine reclamation – Wikipedia
Grid-scale wind facilities are forever or until they fall down.
There is also the replacement (20 year ?) issue, and ultimately
the burial issue.
Some can become lakes.
Slight correction…
By the time they fall down the owners have gone bankrupt and skipped town and there’s no money for cleanup, or the blades get removed and sent to huge scrap yards where they last, well, forever.
Nice picture numpty. Where is it and what is it and what relevance does it have to the subject of this article?
It’s Hunter Valley, NSW.
When the coal has been mined the landscape will be restored to pristine countryside, unlike wind turbines which will be left in tatters
What they should do with it during the restoration process is sink carbon in it. Plant and harvest Poplar (7-10 year maturity cycle) and stack the trees in the pit. When its full then cover it over and in a few years or so (millennia or several) you have more coal
Of course you do need to keep the wood covered with water to prevent early decomposition
Renewable energy 🙂
nobody will ever dig up the massive concrete foundation – I watched a video on one being installed and was shocked at how large it was- and this was years ago when the turbine towers were smaller than the biggest now being built
Like this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHkWMQMECZ0
The size of a wind turbine foundation depends on the size of the turbine. As turbines get larger, so do their foundations. For example, a 1.5-MW wind turbine foundation might be 50 feet diameter, while a 6.1-MW turbine foundation might be 18.5 feet larger. Shallow foundations for larger turbines can have diameters of 25–30 meters. A 5-MW turbine foundation might be 80 feet in diameter and require 850–900 cubic yards of concrete
Yet, the enviros who think this is awesome- would battle a forester over a stand thinning- saying cutting the trees will blah, blah, blah, blah.
A vision of progress, wealth creation, and progress. Don’t forget, only wealthy nations can afford to deal with any environmental issue of whatever kind. Meddle with this at your peril.
User,
So you take this photo, then move your camera 10 km to N,S,E or W to take another image, move a further 10 km, repeat.
Point is, you can proceed to take thousands of photos that are not mines, just ordinary countryside. Getting harder though, with vast destructíon for windmill plantations that take up much greater land surface. Hard to see underground mines.
Mines are rare. You can fly over Australia for hours and never see one. To pretend that they are a harm that needs correction is simply exaggeration with a nasty motive.
When you read of the current rash of sexual abuses like rapes by children in their teens, keep in mind that peoples’ mothers were scared by minors, not by miners. Geoff S
Lq
Not only that but that very same coal mine would still be needed and thousands more just like lt to refine the Iron Oxide into Steel to make the Wind Turbine Masts and Nacelle Housings as well as to refine the Silica into pure Silicon to make Solar PV Panels
Where do you think the Coal comes from to refine the materials needed for Wind and Solar generation?
Then there’s a similar situation with the additional Cooper Mining needed for the generators copper wire turns
And the Quartz Mining needed to refine the Silicon for Solar Panels
One thing that always gets conveniently overlooked because out-of-sight-out-of-mind is the huge concrete bases required for every single windmill to support the structure. And if I’m not mistaken (too early to look it up) concrete manufacturing is considered one of the biggest industrial generators of CO2.
600 to 1000 yards of concrete per foundation
“ keep in mind that peoples’ mothers were scared by minors, not by miners.”
Excellent! Thanks for that.
So long as they don’t drink on the job…they are miners after all
no mines and we’re back to the Paleolithic- it’s that simple
I live in a formerly industrial area. Since the large scale closure of industry, and colour me surprised, the sites have been recolonised by nature. Go figure.
That land can be reclaimed when the mining operation is over, but you would rather see it carpeted with solar panels and windmills to “save the environment”.
With that river near by- they could have flooded the location and made a nice lake.
Where is the before picture?
Or, at least, the LARGER picture for perspective…
Janice,
I think that in a nutshell (not sure if pun is intended or not) is the problem with people like MUN and greenie activists in general. There is no perspective. They take everything out out of context or without perspective to blow minor issues up into major crises that only they can solve. Then they go on an emotional rampage when someone disagrees with them. How dare they??
A tiny dot compared to vast areas destroyed by wind farms.
It also provides something which has been absolutely indispensable for the development of human civilisation.
Wind turbine only TAKE and destroy.
What do you think a lithium or rare earth element mine looks like?
Don’t know what the mines look like but they’re run using child labor.
Very much so, since this will be completely remediated once all the coal is extracted.
Now do a Lithium mine…or a cobalt mine, or the orders of magnitude more metals mines (iron, copper, aluminum, etc.) that would be required to create all the wind turbines, transmission lines and imaginary batteries.
And will STILL need 100% backup from coal, oil or gas (or nuclear).
We have to destroy the environmentWe have to destroy the environmentWe have to destroy the environment
In California they’ve announced a plan to uproot hundreds of Joshua trees that are protected by law to install a solar farm.
Northern Mohave. And its thousands, not hundreds, of Joshua trees.
Where is The Nature Conservancy?
No need to worry about food for the birds, bats and insects. There will be far fewer to feed after the bird/bat/insect choppers do their job.
Rip up the evil cholla teddy bear cactus instead. Also known as the jumping cactus. Looks like a fluffy yellow teddy bear. Until you walk near. Wham. Jumping porcupine with barbed needles.
Plenty of cholla in Joshua tree national park.
“We’re going down the wrong path,” he says. “We can’t destroy biodiversity to save the planet.”
It’s the destruction of common sense, too. What are we talking about when we say ‘saving the planet’? A ball of minerals? It will be here more or less as it is for billions of years to come.
Out of the other side of their mouths they say we want to protect biodiversity. Certainly more CO2 will be a cushion to protect and expand biodiversity. Biodiversity has shrunk down drastically with lowest CO2 in earth’s history during this interglacial. The fossil fuel industry should be receiving our gratitude for saving the thin green skin that is the only part that needs our saving.
@ur momisugly Nowakowski: That’s nice, but, the planet does not need saving.
R.I.P. George Carlin. The comedy world needs many more like you today.
Nice encapsulation of the green dilemma. Their green solutions are not green.
Thanks Rud. I’ve emailed Steve asking to be put on his mailing list, if I can I’ll attend one of the public meetings get some more detail.
Good work, EW. He makes sense of nonsense.
In Victoria, they have the absolutely best site for building a new modern coal fired power station.
The old Hazelwood power station site..
Same with NSW.. Just put a new modern coal fired power station on the Liddell site.
Neither of these requires any sort of forest destruction, and both would provide solid, reliable electricity for probably 50+ years.
In both cases, distribution infrastructure is just a matter of re-connecting… so no new transmission lines through koala habitat forest areas…which solar industrial estates always need
Not only that, but wind is often TOTALLY USELESS.
Let’s look at the East coast NEM at this time..
NSW… 90% coal, gas, hydro
Qld… 84% coal , gas.. and some solar
Vic… 99% coal gas and hydro
…and the much praised “renewables” JOKE that is South Australia…
70% gas and 21% DIESEL !!!!
There are definitely koalas in my area.
The neighbours regularly has a pair in the trees in their backyard.
I had to stop and let one waddled slowly across the road only 2 days ago :-)..
…. signalling on-coming traffic to let them know there was a “traffic hazard”.
That’s good news they’re making a comeback, I used to see them all the time when I was a kid, but they got really rare for a while – big disease outbreak.
They have trouble finding Wallabies to fit
There’s an old saying that a good idea is not a good idea until the right person has had it.
Fingers crossed but not holding my breath.
Wind and solar are not the answer to anything. Stop building them and remove all of them from the grid.
I’m happy to have them on the grid providing they compete on equal terms with reliable power sources. It is the absolute first priority they have which makes them so destructive.
But that really renders the issue academic. Once you build sufficient dispatchable power generation there is absolutely no need for wind and solar in the grid.
Where you don’t have grid access, knock yourself out. But without idiotic government mandating of the “prioritization” of the worse-than-useless intermittent power wind and solar generate, no utility would give them a nickel for it.