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About The Film

It has taken decades to understand the urgency of protecting the Earth’s environment, and the importance of seeking alternatives to fossil fuels. At last, the development of a green energy industry is presenting the opportunity to heal the planet. Governments and businesses around the world developed green strategies to reduce dependence on gas, oil and coal. In Ontario, the Green Energy Act was created in 2009 to expand renewable energy sources to include alternatives, such as wind power.

Big Wind is a documentary about the unprecedented push to develop industrial wind turbines in rural communities, and how this is transforming the landscape in Canada and the world. The film investigates why governments are spending billions on wind power; how corporations are acquiring farmland to put up thousands of industrial wind turbines; the health effects experienced by some nearby residents; and whether these new “green� wind turbines are actually helping our environmental goals. It is a subject that is creating tension between corporations and residents, governments and citizens, and neighbours alike.

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About Wind Energy

An animated slideshow that offers an illustrated snapshot of the arguments for and against wind power in Ontario.

Turbine Locator

Enter your home or work address into the search location to find out where the nearest wind turbines are located in Canada through our interactive map.

Resource Centre

Browse through our library of perspectives on wind, including personal anecdotes, scientific information, economic reports, and the latest policy on the topic.

Orleans Hub: 'Big Wind' Destroys the Environment While Providing No Net Benefit The Telegraph: Wind farms will create more carbon dioxide, say scientists The Energy Collective: Can You Make a Wind Turbine Without Fossil Fuels? Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews: Wind energy: Increasing deployment, rising environmental concerns Institute for Energy Research: Big Wind’s Dirty Little Secret: Toxic Lakes and Radioactive Waste Environmental Impacts of Wind-Energy Projects: Ecological Effects of Wind-Energy Development windAction: Wildlife and renewable energy: German politics cross migratory bats CFACT: Wind turbines kill up to 39 million birds a year National Post: Wind farms causing thousands of bats to die of collapsed lungs annually in Alberta: top bat expert U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service: Land-Based Wind Energy Guidelines Wildlife Society Bulletin: Comparing bird and bat fatality-rate estimates among North American wind-energy projects The Toronto Star: Ontario Court Ruling Against Anti-Wind Environmental Tribunal Washignton Times: Wind Energy Company Pleads Guilty to Eagle Deaths in U.S. Canadian Wind Energy Association: Wind's Relationship to Environment & Wildlife Environment Canada: Report on National Greenhouse Gas Emissions Canadian Wind Energy Association: The Relative Cost of Potential New Generation Sources in Ontario Report Bloomberg New Energy Finance: Onshore wind energy to reach parity with fossil-fuel electricity by 2016 American Wind Energy Association: Technology Played Key Role In Wind Industry Growth CTV News: Canada loses trade appeal over Ontario's green energy legislation The Globe & Mail: Wind power?s prevailing direction in Canada? Big and foreign-owned The Globe & Mail: Ontario drives manufacturers away with overpriced electricity Glenn Schleede Report on Subsidies for Wind Energy Forbes Editorial: Germany's Green Energy Disaster: A Cautionary Tale For World Leaders The New American: 14,000 Idle Wind Turbines a Testament to Failed Energy Policies The Globe & Mail Editorial: Ontario is tilting at the wrong windmills The Globe & Mail: Ontario?s power policies an example of what not to do National Post Editorial: Scott Stinson: Ontario paying a high price for Green Energy Act Financial Post Editorial: Ontario's Power Trip: Power dumping Wind Concerns Ontario: Windyleaks Energypost: Wind industry shake-up as policy uncertainty drives 25% of suppliers out of business Wind Power Monthly: Wind subsidy freeze could hit jobs and growth Stop These Things: US Wind Industry Shudders as Senate Lines Up to Slam the PTC Subsidy Scam Stop These Things: Germany’s Unsustainable “Green� Jobs “Miracle� Collapses PRI: Spain's Ill Wind: Government Goes Back in Time to Gut Renewable Energy Subsidies Toronto Sun Editorial: Hudak will end wind, solar fiasco Spiegel Editorial: Germany's Defective Green Energy Plan Energy Tribune: The Corruption of Wind Energy windAction: Ontario’s big wind bonanza: Over 90% of subsidies funneled to just 11 companies Fraser Institute: Environmental and Economic Consequences of Ontario’s Green Energy Act Fraser Institute: Crony Capitalism Lurks in Renewable Energy Subsidies Programs Simcoe Reformer Editorial: The untold cost of wind and solar experiments The Copenhagen Post: Wind turbine compensation stirring discontent CBC: Wind turbine noise not linked to health problems, Health Canada finds National Wind Watch: Review of the Cape Bridgewater acoustic testing program and where it is leading Wind Concerns Ontario: Evaluating Ontario Regulations for Siting Turbines in Context of Findings from the Health Canada Study The Society for Wind Vigilance: Annoyance and Wind Turbines Wind Conerns Ontario: Response to Health Canada's Wind Turbine Noise and Health Study The Society for Wind Vigilance: Low Frequency Noise, Infrasound and Wind Turbines National Wind Watch: Wind Turbine Noise National Wind Watch: Unseen, unheard wind farms a blow to health Mothers Against Wind Turbines: Public Officials Risk Criminal Charges for Torture American Wind Energy Association & Canadian Wind Energy Association: Wind Turbine Sound and Health Effects An Expert Panel Review Canadian Wind Energy Association: Your Health Ontario Citizens' Coalition for Clean Affordable Energy: Facts and Myths Debunked The Society for Wind Vigilance: Low Frequency Noise, Infrasound and Wind Turbines Brown County Citizens for Responsible Wind Energy: Duke Energy's Shirley Wind Turbines Declared "Human Health Hazard" Canadian Family Physician: Adverse health effects of industrial wind turbines Steven Cooper: Are Wind Farms Too Close to Communities? Canadian Wind Energy Association: WindVision 2025 Plan Canadian Wind Energy Association: Installed Capacity Canadian Wind Energy Association: Why Wind Works Canadian Wind Energy Association: Wind in Ontario Clean Technica: Wind Power Spain's #1 Power Source in 2013 Clean Technica: Germany's Renewables Did It Again, A New Record WindOntario: Summary of Anti-Wind Position The Daily Mail: Wind turbines 'only lasting for half as long as previously thought' as study shows they show signs of wearing out after just 12 years The Daily Mail: In China, the true cost of Britain's clean, green wind power experiment: Pollution on a disastrous scale Eric Rosenbloom: A Problem With Wind Power SRSrocco Report: GERMANY: Renewable Energy Policy “Complete Failure�… Bring On The Dirty Coal Monsters Wind Aware Ireland: Economic Issues and Intermittency The Energy Collective: Energy From Wind Turbines Actually Less Than Estimated? Canadian Wind Energy Association: Community Benefits Canadian Wind Energy Association: Economic development opportunities for rural communities Ministry of Energy: Electricity Sector - Renewable Energy Initiatives Leader-Telegram: St. Croix County wind energy project dispute pits neighbor vs. neighbor South Western Ontario: Turbines not welcome in unique community, farmer says MasterResource: The Incompatibility of Wind and Crop ‘Farming’ Clean Technica: Homes in More Danger from Meteors & Cars Than Wind Farms The Windsor Star Editorial: Hydro Costs Are Crippling Ontario CBC: Ontario wind power bringing down property values The Daily Mail: Wind farms DO hit house prices: Government agency finally admits that thousands can be wiped off value of homes The Star: ARB ruling on wind power noise sets precedent Municipal Property Assessment Corporation: Current Market Value Assessment Review Board: Between Paul Douglas Thompson and The Municipal Property Assessment Corporation Canadian Wind Energy Association: Affordable Power Watts Up With That: Wind Energy Is Extraordinarily Expensive And Inefficient