And Then There Were
Beautiful morning—God has truly blessed us with a new day. No mistakes in it yet. I can watch the sunlight kissing the world, and like golden beauty touch everything. With the sun coming up in the east the shadows rotate in a whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, manner. We have windmills. I remember when the rumors started that we had 'wind turbine' companies wanting to start projects in our area. That was before we decided to 'buy the farm'. This was still in my in-laws name, we were just living on the home place, and would have nothing to say/do with any decision whether to participate or not in the wind energy project. As time went by my father-in-law kept his options open, until the inevitable happened and he passed away. We decided to stay and take up the challenge of carrying on here. We were blessed in two areas. We were still free to choose whether we wanted a turbine on our farm, and if we wanted rural water. Many farmers in the area were offered money for a type of lease from the turbine company, but we chose to pass. No one reason to put your nail on, just a myriad of little gnats we didn't like. I suppose we wanted to be 'king of our castle', or 'lord of our land'. A right we would have had to share had we signed up for the devil's money.
Why would I call it the devil's money? Well, now...a lot of little gnatty ideas fly out, but in reality the wind turbine idea is a public rip off in my humble opinion. Of course some folks may disagree, but here is what I see. One turbine on the landscape is somewhat elegant. With its curved white blades it reminds me of the beauty of sea gulls (I don't know why). The blades slice through the sky on a regular basis, and on a good moment they are sometimes quiet.
In the real world there are always good and bad sides to most everything, trade offs as it were. Building and maintaining wind turbines has created many jobs, but they have also been expensive albatross that sucked up taxpayer money, and will continue to suck up taxpayer money. I haven't seen a chart yet where they ever start paying for themselves but will continue to rely on subsidies. So, though they are touted as helpful to keep our electric bill down, we are still paying for it out the other pocket--and our electric bill isn't low or even lower. And whereas one turbine is rather elegant, two hundred are not. At nighttime it creates walls of red eyes winking and blinking staring in your face. Sometimes they are quiet, then there are the other times when even across the distance, and from all different sides they whoosh so loud it's worse than living next to a busy airport. And I underline worse.
Turbines have been credited with the slaughter of birds. Indeed, one local farmeress lamented that she could have benefited monetarily from a turbine, except for some dubious endangered bats that disqualified her location. Two years ago one of the turbines lost a blade. It was laying in the field where it had been flung. Good thing no one or no thing was underneath it. Some reports from other turbine farms that are scattered across the world tell us of people who claim health detriments from these giant structures supposedly gathering electricity. I just grabbed this sample off the internet. There are more pro and con articles than mud in a puddle, and I agree with points made on both sides. This is a anti wind farm article, and I know there are opposing views. Understanding comes from looking at both sides, and these are things never (much) discussed. When we dismiss people on either side as 'just a bunch of nuts out to stymie progress...' we limit knowledge.
"Canadian family physicians can expect to see increasing numbers of rural patients reporting adverse effects from exposure to industrial wind turbines (IWTs). People who live or work in close proximity to IWTs have experienced symptoms that include decreased quality of life, annoyance, stress, sleep disturbance, headache, anxiety, depression, and cognitive dysfunction. Some have also felt anger, grief, or a sense of injustice. Suggested causes of symptoms include a combination of wind turbine noise, infrasound, dirty electricity, ground current, and shadow flicker.1 Family physicians should be aware that patients reporting adverse effects from IWTs might experience symptoms that are intense and pervasive and might feel further victimized by a lack of caregiver understanding." For the rest of the article here's a link: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3653647/
So, do we need to choose sides? I wouldn't think so, but I do believe it isn't far fetched to say there may be some points on both sides. Some say the amount of money paid to the nearby residents makes a difference in their attitude toward wind turbines. I don't want to ramble or rant, but we have had these turbines since 2012, that's five years.
I can't remember exactly what or when my life changed. I do remember the year they began putting the turbines in. We had a small truck farm which I was the prominent planter and a major participator in running. From the seeding of transplants, planting of direct seedings, ordering plants and seeds--all of it I took a major part in. It was windy that year, and we watched the trucks running up and down the roads, the big cranes, and all of the what not. It was kind of exciting watching them put in the huge structures. Did I have aches and pains that year? Of course I did, I was almost sixty at that point. Did I resent the turbines? I can't say that I did, I just didn't want to lose control of our land by consenting to them driving all over it at their own whim.
It has been at three years since I've been able to much more than hobble out to our garden. My family won't even hardly let me utter the words 'I think I'll go out...', for fear that if I do go out almost anywhere, even down to the mail box, they'll have to drag me in on a stretcher. I used to walk everywhere. Long walks that had turned into shorter and shorter walks. Almost two years ago I was told I need a hip replacement. Indeed I do have problems with that hip. I receive looks on occasion suggesting that if I'd just get that hip fixed I could do everything just like the days before. If someone could assure me that a hip replacement would cure the chronic fatigue, muscle spasms, and lack of stamina I think I'd go for it. Part of the problem is even if I could physically walk for miles, I can't physically walk for miles. After a few minutes I begin to tire, and where I'm at is where I'm at.
Do I blame the wind turbines? Not really. I honestly don't know where this came from. I wasn't ever going to get old, or retire. Sometimes things happen we don't see coming. Another subtle suggestion about my 'condition' is that I've just sat around and been fearful of this coming on me, and I got what I concentrated on. Two things wrong with that. One see other statement, (I wasn't ever going to get old or retire.) and two I did very little sitting around, and certainly wasn't fearful of getting old.
Looking backward and forward, we should be open to the idea that we have enough wind turbines. That there is the possibility they may have both good and bad aspects. It may not be the 'sound', as some have suggested. For the most part they don't bother me. See the reference to 'chronic fatigue', I can sleep through almost anything, but until we understand their impact don't call everyone a wacko nut job just because it doesn't affect everyone the same. Some of us are more sensitive to stray electricity, be it in the ground or air, or wherever. The turbines aren't as 'green' as their promoters would have us to believe, nor as cheap and reliable an energy source.
"The wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about unto the north; it turneth about continually in its course, and the wind returneth again to its circuits."
(Ecclesiastes 1:6 ASV)
