Windfall

The Answer, My Friend, May NOT Be Blowing In The Wind: Thought Provoking, But One-Sided
I didn't have any set expectations going into the thought provoking documentary "Windfall" by Laura Israel. Having seen dozens of environmentally themed such films, I guess I just assumed that this would be one more extolling the virtues of green energy. And what could be more green and good than the wind? While "Windfall" certainly doesn't contradict the notion that we should be looking for alternate fuel sources, it posits that the enormous wind turbines that are proliferating across America aren't necessarily the answer to this dilemma. And it makes some compelling arguments that these are just one more tool to drive money into the pockets of big business, in many cases the same individuals who helped to bankrupt our country. And for what good? The side effects to communities who invite these wind factories in are more deleterious to the inhabitants than any positive impact of the potential uptick in energy production.

Israel stages her film as a fierce battle pitting...

Fair Warning For Rural Communities:No Landuse Legislation=Invitation to Exploitation
This is a bone chilling expose on how the industrial wind subsidiaries of the petro chemical industry exploit state and federal subsidies for wind power by preying on rural communities. The tactics documented in this film parallel what is documented in "Gas Land" and every rural community with natural elevation is at risk of these carpet bagger , traveling salesman pitches and manipulations.

The good citizens in Dutchess County NY like the good citizens who leased their land to natural gas frackers thought they were doing a good thing for humanity, for planet earth and had no idea what they were in for, what they became trapped in. This victimazation of individuals often begins with a careful cultivatiion of a relationship with the local selectmen or head of town council, thus preventing or at least frustrating any effforts to put landuse regulation in place in hime to head off the swift and powerful takeover of entire towns.

We see this played out in Maine...

Not what the one-stars say it is about!!!
You know, it's funny how arguments develop among Americans. We are certainly an entrepreneurial people, and so our conversations are so often full of tricks meant to hide underlying pecuniary conflicts of interests.
Reading the two one-star reviews, I am reminded of the tobacco companies' reaction to the scientific data of anti-cigarettes campaigns: these corporate interests decided never to deny the cancer-causing effects of cigarettes, rtaher merely to suggest that there "might" be "some doubt" about the "absolute" verity of the research conclusions. The idea here was merely to "obfuscate" things--a great word indicating that one tries to oppose by merely seeking to muddle up the capacity of conversations to lead to conclusions.

The two one-star raters are doing just that. They manage to miss the whole point, after making bold claims regarding their true-blue environmentalist credentials. The point of the film was less about wind power technology than about the...

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