Unfounded claims about offshore wind threatening whales have surfaced as a flashpoint in the fight over the future of renewable energy.

In recent months, conservatives including former President Donald Trump have claimed construction of offshore wind turbines is killing the giant animals.

Scientists say there is no credible evidence linking offshore wind farms to whale deaths. But that hasn’t stopped conservative groups and ad hoc “not in my back yard”-style anti-development groups from making the connection.

The Associated Press sorts fact from fiction when it comes to whales and wind power as the rare North Atlantic right whale’s migration season gets underway.

  • @FooBarrington
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    16 months ago

    No, there are many people who explicitly don’t want to use less power. They usually point towards a correlation between societal development and power usage, and imply that using less power would mean we’re sliding back.

    • @[email protected]
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      26 months ago

      A very obvious example of post hoc ergo propter hoc. I’ve never heard anyone believe that, certainly not a majority.

      • @AA5B
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        6 months ago

        I’ve only heard it in the negative. “Economists used to believe that economic progress was tied directly to increased energy use but this data from the last ten years shows otherwise”

      • @FooBarrington
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        16 months ago

        It’s not a common position, but it definitely occurs. I’ve seen it on Lemmy a couple of times, and much more often on Hacker News.