Did Scotland axe 14 million trees to make way for wind farms.

In recent days, hundreds of social media posts have alleged that 14 million trees were chopped down in Scotland to make way for wind farms. “Environmental madness”, one widely shared tweet reads. “Scotland launched a number of wind turbine projects in an obsessive quest to cash in on renewables.

“The real tragedy is the destruction of 14 million trees, the mind-numbing hypocrisy of climate zealots, a hoax created by the UN.” Other posts, meanwhile, suggest the 14 million trees had been cut down “since 2020”.

But that’s not the full story.

According to the government agency Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS), 14 million trees were cut down to make way for wind farms in Scotland, but this had occurred over 20 years.

Meanwhile, over the same period (from 2000), 272 million trees were planted across the country.

That crucial fact is missing from an article published by the website Energy News Beat, which appears to have driven the recent surge in social media activity.

Notably, the omission comes despite the article drawing heavily on a two-year-old story published by Scottish news site The Herald, in which an FLS spokesman was quoted as saying: “That figure for felled trees should also be contrasted with that for the number of trees planted in Scotland over the years 2000 – 2019, a total of 272,000,000, and renewable energy developments fit well with this.”

He added: “The amount of woodland removed across Scotland’s national forests and land, managed by FLS, for wind farm development is not even 1 per cent of the total woodland area”, while the 14 million trees were a commercial crop that would ultimately have been felled for timber.

An FLS spokesman also explained that the 272 million trees planted did not include restock planting on commercial sites. In addition, the Scottish government requires that developers that fell trees to make way for wind farms must carry out compensatory planting elsewhere.

“On average, FLS will plant 25 million trees every year as restock planting of commercial crops,” he said.

So you have it and the debates continue to follow.

COP26 attendees, including Scotland, swore to end deforestation by 2030.

Scotland and all other attendees at the recent COP26 gathering agreed to stop all deforestation efforts by the year 2030. Scotland apparently took this to mean that for the next seven some-odd years, clearcutting entire forests is an acceptable way to “cool” the planet.

“Renewable energy and forests are key to Scotland’s contribution to mitigating climate change and FLS is successfully managing both elements,” claims Forestry and Land Scotland about the issue.

What the FLS spokesman who made these statements failed to address is the fact that once the 21 new wind turbines are erected on the clearcut land, there will be no more room to reforest the area – meaning fewer trees on the Scottish landscape.

Back in 2018, some 6,500 acres of woodland were cleared to make way for wind turbines, prompting accusations that the Scottish forestry chief had “desecrated” the land.

What was previously an unspoiled countryside saw total destruction to make way for just seven wind farms, which are highly unreliable, unsightly, noisy and just plain hideous.

Less than half of that land has been replanted or even earmarked for replanting, despite promises from FLS that everything would be made “green” again once the gargantuan metal monstrosities were installed.

“This has been happening in other parts of Europe for some time,” warned Dr. Benny Peiser, head of the Global Warming Policy Foundation think-tank, concerning the spreading virus of so-called “green” energy.

“People in Scotland are not as aware of it because the forestry is not close to population centres,” he added. “Many of these forms of renewable energy have far greater impact on the environment than simply building a power plant.”

“By building wind farms, they are destroying huge areas of forestry for very little effect and are desecrating large parts of beautiful countryside, which can only damage Scotland as a tourism destination.”

Between 2014 and 2016 in Scotland alone, some ten square miles of forests were clearcut for wind farm developments. What was once an unspoiled bastion of beauty and nature is now a rattling metal wasteland that is supposedly “saving the planet.”

“Nothing more than a scheme, exchanging one green (earth) for another green (cash), and that is all it is about,” wrote a commenter at Natural News about the subject.

Reference ~https://energysupply.news/2022-08-15-scotland-cuts-down-14million-trees-wind-farms.html