Why wind farms attract so much misinformation and conspiracy theory
Recent resistance
Academic work on the question of anti-winding agricultural activism reveals a scheme: conspiracy is a stronger predictor of opposition than age, sex, education or political inclination.
In Germany, winter and the academic colleagues of Kevin found that the belief in plots had much more influence on the opposition of the wind than any demographic factor. Concern, presenting adversaries with facts was not particularly successful.
In a more recent article, based on surveys in the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia, who examined the propensity of people to give credit to conspiracy theories, winter and colleagues argued that the opposition is “rooted in the visions of the world of people”.
If you think that climate change is a hoax or a beat of eco-contained [the whales] locomotive.”
Wind parks are fertile soil for such theories. These are very visible symbols of climate policy and complex enough to be mysterious for non-specialists. A row of wind turbines can become a target of fears concerning modernity, energy security or government control.
This, for example, Winter and his colleagues, “poses a challenge for communicators and institutions committed to accelerating the energy transition”. It is more difficult to take a vision of the whole world than to correct some invented discussion points.
What is it?
Under disinformation, often motivated by money or political power, there is a deeper problem. Some people – perhaps prevail over them – do not want to face the fact that fossil technologies, which have brought prosperity and a feeling of control, also cause environmental crises. And these are problems that are not resolved with the addition of more technology. This offends their feeling of invulnerability, of domination. This “anti-reflexivity”, as some academics call it, is a refusal to think about the costs of past successes.
It is also linked to identity. In some corners of the online “Manosphere”, concerns about climate change are painted as effeminate.
Many baby boomers, especially white heterosexual men like Trump, felt disoriented because their world has moved and has changed around them. The transition of clean energy symbolizes part of this change. It may be a good way to understand why Trump is unleashed “windmills”.
Marc Hudson, guest scholarship holder, SPRU, University of Sussex Business School, University of Sussex. This article is republished from the conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
