THE ADVOCATE 477
VOL. 78 PART 3 MAY 2020
to watch a show tonight, darling. The wind hasn’t blown for three days. I
can’t watch television, darling. Darling, please, tell the wind to blow.’” He
also described wind turbines as “a bird graveyard”, noting that if the audience
members “go under a windmill someday, you’ll see more birds than
you’ve ever seen ever in your life.” In all fairness to the president, wind
power does apparently contribute significantly to bird deaths, though to put
this in context, The Mercury News reported: “According to the US Fish and
Wildlife Service, collisions with turbines kill between 140,000 and 500,000
birds annually. Other energy sources, such as coal, oil and power lines, contribute
to millions of bird deaths. However, cats remain the biggest threat to
birds, killing an estimated 1.3 to 4 billion birds each year.”
A 2018 article in Nature noted the phenomenon of wind turbines “overbearing”
each other as “some of the best blustery locations are getting crowded”
and as “to work best, wind turbines need to capture a clear and uninterrupted
stream of moving air. Anything that gets in the way—from mountains
and buildings to a rival wind farm—reduces wind speed and the
electricity generated.” The article pointed to the Netherlands for “a law that
guarantees each mill can continue to fill its sails with the necessary wind
(called its molenbiotoop, or windmill biotope) by restricting development
within 375 m. The law has led to some creative solutions: in 2010, a flour
mill in Spijkenisse from the 1860s was cut from the ground, raised and
placed on a 7 m-high concrete collar to allow houses to be built nearby.
Where there’s a mill, there’s a way.”
“Ladies. Please don’t forget the jumble sale. It’s a chance to get rid of those
things not worth keeping around the house. Bring your husbands.”—Highdowns
Parish Magazine.
UNESCO notes: “The outstanding contribution made by the people of the
Netherlands to the technology of handling water is admirably demonstrated
by the installations in the Kinderdijk-Elshout area. Construction of
hydraulic works for the drainage of land for agriculture and settlement
began in the Middle Ages and have continued uninterruptedly to the present
day. The site illustrates all the typical features associated with this technology—
dykes, reservoirs, pumping stations, administrative buildings and
a series of beautifully preserved windmills.”
B.C. place names: Esquimalt.
West of Victoria. The name is an adaptation of the Coast Salish name for
the tidal flats at the head of the harbour and is translated as “a place of grad-