The tipping point

On the surface it was yet another gathering of folks increasingly anxious about industrial wind factories being erected in their midst. There were those sounding the alarm about the hazard wind turbines pose to migrating birds, bats and other animals. Those offended by the disregard shown for the variety of species and sheer quantity of creatures that these machines displace or dice in midair.

There were those who don’t understand why the natural beauty of places like Prince Edward County, Amherst Island and Wolfe Island must to be sacrificed for industrial development. There were those, as well, horrified by a provincial government that appears intent on bulldozing its will over citizens and councils who disagree that their communities must be transformed in this way.

But while many of the messages and some of the voices were familiar—there was on Thursday evening, in a packed church in Picton, a palpable sense that something had changed.

No longer was this just a small and isolated group of folks talking to themselves. We heard from environmentalists, naturalists, farmers, health care professionals, economists, attorneys and those who have looked at the numbers and the technology and found massive gaps. We heard from folks from the County, Amherst Island and Kingston.

We heard from residents of Amherst Island who live in dread of the imminent prospect that 37 turbines will be erected on their tiny island just east of Prince Edward County. At least one of these 154-metre turbines will loom over the students in the playground of the elementary school—just 20 metres beyond the legal setback of 550 metres. On Amherst Island there will be no escape from the machines—no shelter from the imposing 40- storey industrial structures. Life on the island will change forever.

We heard, too, from folks who live and work on Wolfe Island. We learned that property values there have plummeted and that some landowners and farmers had come to regret hosting turbines on their land, warning “it just isn’t worth it.” We heard too, about the rising death toll of birds as a result of the turbines. At least one species, the red-tailed hawk, appears to have vacated Wolfe Island entirely—no longer a hospitable place to live.

We learned at least two dozen compelling reasons why an industrial wind factory should never have been considered for Ostrander Point or anywhere else on the County’s south shore. Yet it appears nothing will change Dalton McGuinty’s mind.

Judging from the turnout on Thursday and the varied voices of people who came out on a February evening to express their fears and objections, it is getting harder for the McGuinty government and its supporters to marginalize this dissent as the ranting of folks resisting industrial development in their back yards.

In his book The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference, Malcolm Gladwell seeks to explain how a series of seemingly minor changes can percolate for a while and then suddenly combine to reach a boiling point or moment of critical mass. According to Gladwell, once ideas reach this tipping point they act like a virus—spreading rapidly far and wide at great speed.

While it is not yet clear that efforts to protect Ontario from the blinkered zeal of its Premier have reached such a tipping point, it is clear that many and varied groups have begun to coalesce in opposition to the unfettered industrialization of rural Ontario in the name of green energy.

Soon it will become epidemic. Even Dalton McGuinty won’t be able to ignore it.

Communities and individuals are feeling under attack by their own provincial government. Physicians, engineers, farmers, economists, naturalists, environmentalists, mayors, council members and ordinary families are coming together to fight back—to safeguard Ontario’s rural and natural heritage.

That was the message for the Premier from Picton last week—the tipping point is near.

rick@wellingtontimes.ca