this post was submitted on 12 Nov 2023
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How a false claim about wind turbines killing whales is spinning out of control in coastal Australia::Windfarm critics claim projects will harm marine life. Scientists say that’s not backed by credible evidence

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[–] youngalfred@lemm.ee 117 points 1 year ago (3 children)

The worst part is it's not just 'they'll kill whales, trust us', it's that they've cited a study in a journal to support their claim - but the journal says they have no record of the study being published or existing in the first place!

[–] NaibofTabr@infosec.pub 53 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Obviously the deep state is suppressing the truth.

[–] steal_your_face@lemmy.ml 37 points 1 year ago

The deep sea state

[–] Dkarma@lemmy.world 12 points 1 year ago

This is literally how q anon got started.

[–] T156@lemmy.world 17 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It does make you wonder whether someone has cooked the argument up with a language model along the way, and it's just fabricated a citation as they are wont to do.

[–] Default_Defect@midwest.social 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I don't think I've seen "wont to do" written out until now. Is that the spelling of wont?

[–] KairuByte@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

It is indeed!

The definition of wont will help anyone who doesn’t understand: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/wont

To be clear, this is not the contraction of “will” and “not.”

[–] Agent641@lemmy.world 11 points 1 year ago

Just like my highschool essays!

[–] NOT_RICK@lemmy.world 62 points 1 year ago (4 children)

Heard this argument in NJ from the NIMBYs as well. It killed our offshore wind project, unfortunately.

[–] NarrativeBear@lemmy.world 42 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Giant propellers in the sky kill whales got it, but propellers underwater are fine right? Behind a large cargo ship right?

Makes sense as to why airplanes no longer use propellers as well.

[–] topinambour_rex@lemmy.world 14 points 1 year ago

And those underwater propellers makes a lot of noises, reducing the ability of whales to hear mating call.

[–] Duamerthrax@lemmy.world 22 points 1 year ago (1 children)

They argument was that the sonar scans of the ocean floor was hurting whales, which while plausible, ignores that the navy is doing that constantly and the floor scans are temporary.

[–] arocketscientist5@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I’ve heard this in NY. What do these people think? That the whales are so annoyed by the sounds that they commit suicide?

[–] cactusupyourbutt@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

There are no noise-cancelling headphones to stop the U.S. Navy's 235-decibel pressure waves of unbearable pinging and metallic shrieking. At 200 Db, the vibrations can rupture your lungs, and above 210 Db, the lethal noise can bore straight through your brain until it hemorrhages that delicate tissue. If you're not deaf after this devastating sonar blast, you're dead.

not sure about whales, but sonar is dangerous if its loud

[–] brianorca@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

There have been necropsies of beached/stranded whales which found bleeding in the ears which would make them deaf and unable to echolocate for navigation or finding food. But generally it's blamed on Navy sonar, not temporary construction activity.

[–] GissaMittJobb@lemmy.ml 16 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Thou shalt not suffer a NIMBY to live.

They really do ruin everything, don't they

[–] NOT_RICK@lemmy.world 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

They sure do. I find this movement pretty self defeating though. Sea level rise will destroy the communities that fought against this

[–] Pretzilla@lemmy.world 11 points 1 year ago

Less likely during the selfish fucks lifetimes though

[–] Kushia@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

This is more than just NIMBYs in Australia unfortunately. There's a huge campaign pushing nuclear energy here over renewables. The current government is pushing renewables while the opposition party is pushing nuclear. There are a few mining companies and things who stand to make absolute bank if we went nuclear and the mining companies have a lot of political control here. The opposition party is largely in their pockets too.

This article is just one example of the relentless and unashamed attacks on renewable energy here in the complicit media. They have discovered that they can straight up lie to the public and us idiots will swallow it hook line and sinker without question. That's why you get such ludicrous articles like this here in Australia.

[–] makingStuffForFun@lemmy.ml 46 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Big wind. Killing whales. Seriously though, are they doing it on porpoise?

[–] Selmafudd@lemmy.world 15 points 1 year ago

Nar whal maybe

[–] books@lemmy.world 43 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I heard that the invisible vibrations from the turbines spinning makes your dick slightly longer and girthier

[–] ILikeBoobies@lemmy.ca 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It’s true, look at the Dutch

[–] Patch 1 points 1 year ago

Hey pal, their eyes are up there (like, waaay up there).

[–] Raxiel@lemmy.world 42 points 1 year ago

I was at the coast in the summer, not far from an offshore wind farm, and I didn't see a single whale in the sky, checkmate libs.

[–] LazaroFilm@lemmy.world 36 points 1 year ago (1 children)

That reminds me the pamphlet stating that cows milk would turn when a train passes too close to them.

[–] Jerkface@lemmy.world 10 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

This commercial had people thinking spaghetti grows on trees.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-ZtGoXkI58

[–] Agent641@lemmy.world 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Reminds me of the prank where Australians tricked foreigners to believe that kangaroos keep their offspring in a fucking pouch.

[–] Evil_incarnate@lemm.ee 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Australians make up bullshit all the time about their animals though. Look at the platypus (otter with a beak strapped on), quokka (it's a kids plush toy), and the "drop bear" (not actually a bear but a carnivorous marsupial).

[–] Jerkface@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago

Well you'd have to be fool enough to believe Australia is a real place to begin with.

[–] whelks_chance 4 points 1 year ago

The BBC did an April Fools day joke along these lines too. Perhaps one is based upon the other.

[–] zik@zorg.social 23 points 1 year ago (1 children)

That so ridiculous it's funny as hell.

[–] HessiaNerd@lemmy.world 11 points 1 year ago

My understanding is any time you have a construction project in a marine environment you can potentially put the local fauna at risk.

The specifics matter, however, and there are ways to mitigate risks.

[–] Strayce@lemmy.sdf.org 15 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

This reeks of astroturfing. I guarantee you the people behind it do not give a fuck about whales or marine life in general. They're the same ones spilling crude oil on the great barrier reef.

[–] Kushia@lemmy.ml 9 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

In Australia there's a push for nuclear even though we have access to some of the best renewables on Earth and it's way more cost effective to use renewables here too.

We even had some annoying ass shill kid doing the rounds in the media with a fake "movement campaign" proportioning to be the "voice of the youth". It turned out the little bastard was the kid of some wealthy family with direct support and ties to the paid off political party here who's pushing nuclear for their masters. He was sprung when some nerd compared the code in his website to that of the political party and large parts of it were identical.

[–] Siegfried@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I would love someone to make a fake campaing of how oil is killing us all... wait

Some people are just fodder for manipulation and to do the bidding of others who only care is their profit.

[–] Landmammals@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago

Meanwhile, sonar