The effect and non-effect of Ontario wind
turbines is a topical discussion. I have just read a book, The Righteous Mind by Jonathon Haidt (Pantheon 2012), which provides
significant thought on how humans react with something new and what drives people
who are resistant to change. Haidt basically comments that if somebody
doesn’t like change or the appearance of wind turbines, they will invent
victims to justify their assumptions.
In Ontario, the anti-wind turbine syndrome is
mainly a creation of the Conservative Party in an effort to minimize any
environmental and economic effects initiated by the Liberal Party, in
particular the Green Energy Act of 2009. It is used as a political wedge
issue to create FUD - fear, uncertainty and doubt. The unsubstantiated
issues of public health and economics are secondary to the political challenge
of defeating the opposition by any means.
There are over 250,000 large wind turbines
around the world producing environmentally friendly electricity with little
social or economic comment. Even in Ontario the most effected people,
with operating wind turbines on their property, do not complain. If the
anti-wind activist statements were true, most of Europe would be dead by
now. The wind turbine syndrome is essentially an Ontario illness.
The well-funded anti-wind activists talk of
supposed harms without scientific or technical evidence that stand
jurisprudence. It is an issue searching for a problem with reasoning in
support of emotional reactions for the judgements they have already made.
Most people make first judgements quickly and then search for reasons to
support them.
Many of the supposed harms from wind turbines
are fabricated myths with preposterous victim claims. The anti-wind zealots are
not searching for veracity, but are reasoning in support of their emotional
reactions using distorted scientific studies, social media and Google to
find support. This confirmatory mindset is a one-sided method to rationalize
a particular point of view in support of their decision. This extreme
partisanship can be addictive, forming a consensual hallucination.
There are multiple ills attributed to wind
turbines with headaches, nausea, and sleep loss being most prevalent. These
problems are common with modern living of which around 20 to 50 percent of the
population complain whether or not they live near wind turbines. The
symptoms are real but the causes are general.
This situation is political opinion that is not
based on real facts. Well-funded lobby groups have the skills and
resources to distort reality making it difficult for the medical community to
overcome. Most of the anti-wind evidence is based on personal
stories without medical certification or judicial review. Also myths
and mischief Information are provided by vested interests.
Front organizations such as Wind Concerns
Ontario and Ontario Wind Resistance spread misleading stories and faux facts
about wind turbines that scares people in the manner of a flu or small pox
epidemic. Other social scares have been created for cell phone, WIFI,
wireless phone towers, high-voltage power lines, fluoridated water and
vaccinations to which the same illnesses such as headaches and sleep
deprivation are attributed. The medical community has not been able to
find any linkage causing human adverse health. Studies have shown that
attributed symptoms continue as long as the sufferer believes they are exposed
to the source even when the source no longer exists. This is known as
psychogenic illnesses, otherwise known as the nocebo effect - belief that
something causes real harm- and is the opposite to a placebo.
Some Ontario residents are suffering genuine
health symptoms but the source of these symptoms should not be attributed to
wind turbines. Possibly these illnesses are caused by the extreme hype of
the anti-wind organizations that spread misinformation and bully citizens at
public meetings. It is the misinformation from vested interests that causes
harm, not wind turbines. The syndrome is mainly a communicated disease
causing medical panic related to either hysteria or NIMBY-ism.
Haidt’s ‘The Righteous Mind’ helps to understand the anti-wind political
aspects and how balanced information can help the wind industry to proceed with
the their environment friendly and cost effective energy programs.
Ontario residents are foolish to be consumed by fear of hypothetical harm from
the supposed health effects of living next to wind farms.