28 Comments

The irony that it was fossilfuels, specifically petroleum, that *saved* whales from extinction is massive.

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Specifically kerosene that replaced whale oil in the 1860s long before the car.

Kerosene killed whaling. "As kerosene production increased, whaling declined. The American whaling fleet, which had been steadily growing for 50 years, reached its all-time peak of 199 ships in 1858. By 1860, just two years later, the fleet had dropped to 167 ships. The Civil War cut into American whaling temporarily, but only 105 whaling ships returned to sea in 1866, the first full year of peace, and that number dwindled until only 39 American ships set out to hunt whales in 1876."

"In the 1890s, Standard Oil began marketing kerosene to China's large population of close to 400 million as lamp fuel.[32] For its Chinese trademark and brand, Standard Oil adopted the name Mei Foo (Chinese: 美孚), (which translates to Mobil).[33][34] Mei Foo also became the name of the tin lamp that Standard Oil produced and gave away or sold cheaply to Chinese farmers, encouraging them to switch from vegetable oil to kerosene."

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Well spotted, Edward!

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Thank you.

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When I saw what MS and Matt T had to deal with in the congressional hearings from Stacy Plaskit I had to start paying for this blog, and it has been worth every cent. Thanks guys

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I agree with you!

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Perhaps the best money I’ve ever spent, for ANY publication. Keep up the outstanding work!

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You are literally working to save the world against titans of destruction and monsters without souls.Thank you.

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Proud to be a supporter of Public.

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Glad to be a subscriber, and glad you are putting the film outaide the paywall. Doomberg referenced Public and the film in an excellent article called "Windbaggery," and many of his subscribers were trying to figure out how to see it.

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It's good to be able to share this. Thanks!

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This is right up the PBS alley. Yeah, right!

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Is this a shortened version of the full documentary? In my searching on YouTube, I see one that is almost 2 hours long, but I somehow cannot access it. This is great! I want to find the full one and save it as MP4 before it is somehow removed.

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Whats urgently needed now is legal action

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I've been checking YouTube and still no documentary.

- Where can regular people watch the documentary.

I did a search and found this hit piece claiming Shellenberger is basically right-wing about the right-whales. I'm kidding...

Fox News is touting a dubious new documentary repeating misleading claims about offshore wind link to whale deaths

https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/fox-news-touting-dubious-new-documentary-repeating-misleading-claims-about-offshore-wind

PUBLISHED 08/29/23 5:14 PM EDT

"Thrown to the Wind was produced by anti-renewable energy activist Michael Shellenberger"

Believe it or not, it is better to have hit pieces like this rather than silence. I'll check again in a week to see if there is more.

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The video on this page and the original page will not play. Even the trailer will not play.

- What's going on.

Just searched for the documentary and it is not available anywhere that I look.

So, basically nobody can watch the documentary, including us.

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I watched it earlier. Shocking ignorance on the behalf of the supposed activists. We’re getting played here, folks.

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Thank you, Michael!

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Thank you for your important work and for thanking us. I don’t get to read everything but am very happy to support your work.

I hope someday you write about the local citizen groups that are pushing back on renewables destroying prime farmland and rural viewscapes.

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I'm very proud to support Public. I wish this film didn't need to be make, but am so glad it was. Keep up the excellent work.

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Where can we watch this?

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