Protecting whales means busting fossil-fueled myths about wind energy — Right-wing disinformation is the real threat!
||| FROM GREENPEACE |||
Greenpeace offices and activists around the world have worked to protect whales and the oceans they call home for decades. The threats to whales and all marine life have evolved and multiplied — ranging from commercial whaling and plastic pollution to fossil-fueled climate impacts such as ocean acidification, and even developing dangers like deep sea mining — over time and distance. All the while, the Greenpeace network and our allies, with the worldwide aid of supporters and volunteers, have steadfastly defended these amazing creatures and their ecosystems.
Recently a new insidious threat to whales — and all biodiversity — has our attention: Disinformation.
In response to a tragic spate of whale deaths along the East Coast, anti-science media such as FOX News, long beholden to fossil fuel corporations, has amplified the baseless claims made — with no supporting evidence — by a small group of local mayors that offshore wind farming is somehow to blame.
As noted by the marine mammal experts with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), there is zero evidence of a connection between the whale deaths and wind farming. Nevertheless, fear-mongering calls for a moratorium on wind power projects in the region benefit Big Oil’s fight against a just transition to renewable energy, while only pretending to care about local whale populations.
The perils of spreading misleading, false information may seem less immediate than a whaler’s harpoon. But climate disinformation moves us further away from the real solutions to the climate crisis that all living creatures so desperately need.
To debunk the dangerous disinformation distracting from the true dangers facing whale populations in this region of the Atlantic Ocean, we’ve consulted two-longtime oceans experts: Greenpeace USA’s Oceans Campaigns Director John Hocevar and Greenpeace USA’s Senior Oceans Campaigner Arlo Hemphill.
Let’s set the record straight:
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Lin – Might be nice to link this piece to the prior one?
Brilliant idea, Ken. You sure you don’t want a job at theOrcasonian?
Ken Wood for assistant editor!
P.S. EVERYONE knows that wind energy causes warts.