The green policies that kill what they’re supposed to protect

The politics of climate change will eventually turn, partly because the policies are often so un-Green in their effects. Wood-burning is not good for the environment. Nor is diesel. The government paid people to switch to diesel cars to help save the planet, thus damaging the breathing of thousands.

At the Global Warming Policy Foundation last week, Fritz Varenholt, an environmentalist, scientist and SPD adviser in Germany, reported the increasing split between Greens and conservationists there. You can either have constantly functioning wind farms or healthy bird populations, but not both.

The common buzzard and the red kite are now endangered in Germany. To get the amount of power generated by one typical coal-fired German power station from renewable sources, you need to annex about 500 square kilometres. By their nature, wind farms require lonely, often beautiful sites of great environmental interest. Their supporters are killing the thing they think they love.