Whale Psychiatrists and the 2024 Election

Wind Turbines Aren't Driving Whales Crazy - Ships Are Driving Them Dead

During a Joe Rogan Podcast, former President Trump mentioned whales were being driven crazy by noise from offshore wind turbines. That interview lead to a number of hotly worded online articles and newspaper columns that pronounced “….there is no evidence that offshore wind turbines are killing whales.”

The “no evidence” argument is about as persuasive as a bag of halloween candy to a diabetic. It doesn’t move the needle one iota. The general voter is not persuaded by what does not cause a problem. They want info on what DOES cause a problem.

Here’s a simple example that nearly every car owner has lived through. Car is making a mysterious noise. Take your vehicle to the local mechanic. Mechanic says “it’s not the muffler.” Okay, but what is making the noise? “It’s not the muffler!!!”

That’s what NOAA and whale researchers are saying in response to the recent wave of whale deaths: “What’s causing the whale deaths, well, it’s not wind turbines.”

But NOAA does know what is causing whale deaths. For the endangered North Atlantic Right Whale deaths are caused by entanglements and vessel strikes. That’s right - fishing nets and boat collisions are the big killers.

Why not just say what we clearly know - North Atlantic Right Whales are being killed by ships and nets, not turbines. And here’s what we are going to do to reduce these deaths…..sending alerts to ships in the vicinity of whales, putting trackers on whales, imposing huge fines or jail time for ships that collide with whales, and the list goes on.

Instead, the response is almost robotic. And it is not persuasive - there is no evidence that wind turbine are causing whale deaths. Ugh.

The package is more important than the message itself.

Stay charged!

Allen