The Australian Conservation Foundation today joined with workers and local groups at a range of pro-renewables events in regional centres.
“The responsible deployment of large-scale renewable energy projects is vital for places like the Illawarra, the Hunter, Gladstone, Gippsland and Portland, so energy intensive businesses can stay in these regions, local workers have access to good ongoing jobs and we all benefit from a safer climate,” said Australian Conservation Foundation CEO Kelly O’Shanassy.
“While some politicians and commentators are trying to divide communities by seeding Trump-style disinformation about renewables, Australians overwhelmingly want to see an end to the climate wars and want ambitious action on climate change.
“Opponents of renewables spread disinformation about the impact of windfarms on human health and wildlife, without scientific evidence to support their claims and despite significant evidence countering them.
“Wild assertions about windfarms and infrasound have been debunked, as have unproven claims about offshore wind’s impact on marine species like whales.
“Renewable energy, when it’s well sited and managed, is a benefit to nature because it helps combat global warming which poses a grave risk to nature, including whales.
“The Coalition’s supposed climate solution, nuclear power, is a disingenuous non-solution.
“Small modular nuclear reactors are not a commercial reality anywhere in the world and other forms of existing nuclear power are expensive, unsafe and too slow to make a difference to the urgent problem of climate change.”
