According to The New York Times and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), from early December of last year through the end of February of this year,  23 whale carcasses washed up on the Eastern seaboard of the United States, including 12on our New York and New Jersey shores. We are saddened by the deaths, and the causes—most likely from wind farms—certainly bear scrutiny. But does it mean wind farms should be stopped? Absolutely not, according to experts that include environmental organizations and a host of science-based government agencies.

From CNN to The Guardian, reputable news sources report that the construction of wind farms is not the cause of whale strandings or deaths and instead state that the theory is “cynical disinformation.” USA Today provides context by stating that, “Experts point to the United Kingdom, which has 2,652 offshore wind turbines and…autopsies have not found a connection between dead whales on their shores and the turbines off them.” And, as The Guardian reported, “NOAA fisheries research on the 183 total whale deaths found that 40 percent of them resulted from human interaction, either from ship strikes or netting entanglement.”

In fact, the recent whale strandings here and elsewhere are happening against a backdrop of enormous change to their habitat, any one of which can contribute to their deaths: more cargo ships in our harbors potentially result in more collisions with whales and other wildlife, ocean waters have heated up and food sources collapsed, and even the Gulf Stream itself may be at a tipping point because of climate change.

The hard truth of energy production is that it has an impact on wildlife. But the kinds of energy we have traditionally relied on in the United States–such as burning oil, coal, and gas–do more than just harm wildlife. They put the entire planet in peril.

The use of fossil fuels increases greenhouse gas emissions and drives all the disastrous effects of climate change, from floods that threaten lives and economies to pollution that causes asthma-related deaths among our children.

Additionally, as was stated in a November 2022 WaterWire about off-shore wind power, “People of color and low-income New Yorkers bear the brunt of noxious impacts from fossil-fuel powered energy infrastructure….”

To some degree, we are all in the uncomfortable position of choosing energy options that do the least harm.

Whales are ambassadors of all the troubles facing our oceans, yet this conversation is about so much more than them. It’s about how all of us will come together to deal with the impacts of a climate we changed, through our addiction to fossil fuels. It’s about slowing down the impacts that already disproportionately hurt the most vulnerable communities.

At the Waterfront Alliance, we know that the future of our communities–our jobs, safety, health, and infrastructure–are at risk from the effects of climate change. Those impacts are a direct result of the fossil fuel industry, and the reason we are committed to using advocacy and policy to provide cleaner energy options.

Let’s keep pushing hard for cleaner energy now, so that we don’t continue to make the future worse–for all wildlife (including whales) and all of humanity.